charlesrg
A crowdsource template database for people to add Hubs, Cogs, Cranks etcetera.
It would be nice to publish parts to an online parts database so other can take advantage of other contributions instead of each having to design their own.
I believe that would be usefull as I had to spent a long time hunting for Alfine 11 DI2 specs to add to BikeCAD and feel if I could share it others could save their time.
Component database
I have set up a section of the forum inviting people to submit parts that they've configured: bikecad.ca/forum/4. If you save a BikeCAD design that has a particular handlebar, stem, headset, fork, set of wheels, saddle, etc. to the BikeCAD design archive and then share the link for the design on the forum, I can take the data associated with whatever standard parts you've modeled and add those parts to the library of standard components in future updates of BikeCAD. Although this section of the forum has been around for a few years now, it has not had much response. I suppose one issue with this system is that it's incumbent upon me to validate the dimensions for the submitted components and I don't always have access the the parts or specs for the parts submitted.
Crowdsourcing
Why not just add anything that people have posted to the forum section? If you have verified it, list it as verified, and if not, list as unverified and invite comments. After some number of comments that it is correct, perhaps by trusted users, then you could remove the unverified tag. Until then, people could use it at thier own risk. Also, specifically invite shops/builders to submit parts that they use. You can probably assume that they measured correctly.
Crowdsourcing
Thus far, I have accepted everything that has been e-mailed to me. No one has actually used the forum yet for the intended purpose. However, I remain open to accepting components that way as well. Having a flag next to each unverified component is a good idea.