Eric's Locative Blog- Spring 2009

FINAL PROJECT... "Downtown Dérive: San Francisco"

2009-05-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

"One of the basic situationist practices is the dérive [literally: “drifting”], a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances. Dérives involve playful-constructive behavior and awareness of psychogeographical effects, and are thus quite different from the classic notions of journey or stroll." - Guy Debord

http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/314

The Project:

In the spirit of the dérive, I embarked on a passage through the varied ambiances of downtown San Francisco, armed with my video camera and GPS tracking software on my iPhone to document the experience.

I focused on the experience of downtown San Francisco on foot, leaving behind the idea of destination or preconceived direction. My movement through the space was determined by the psychogeography of the urban environment. I allowed the contours of the city to guide me, reacting to the "constant currents, fixed points and vortexes that strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones".

The relationship to locative media was achieved through the use of GPS to track my movements. Incorporating the GPS track of this experience into Google Earth allowed a site specific documentation of the process.

Focussing on public symbols designed to guide movement through the urban space, juxtaposed with the experience of moving through the space on foot, I documented the psychogeographical effects of the urban environment in relation to my movement through it.

The resulting video shows the locative experience through mapping, as well as the actual confrontation of pedestrian movement with the environment.

The video is a documentation of the process. The editing is designed to emphasize the psychogeographical experience of a downtown San Francisco dérive.

The following video illustrates the documentation and experience of the process...

http://gallery.mac.com/ecaselton#100333

Making Locative Mainstream (final paper)

2009-05-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

Imagine traveling through an area you know nothing about, and being able to get information fed to your cell phone, or even the dashboard in your car. Imagine these features as standard as a car radio. I can imagine locative media becoming a mainstream feature in the future, as our mobile devices become increasingly advanced with integrated GPS systems.

In order for this to happen, we must examine the possible uses for this technology, as well as potential objections or reasons for disinterest. The usefulness must be both practical and interesting to a large majority, not just the tech savvy or media minded artist. With these technologies, the artist can benefit greatly from the advancement of the tools. There is a need for a large consumer interest in order to generate enough revenue to grow the technology effectively. With growth, the barriers between the artist and the technology will begin to break down. Software interfaces with GPS could improve accuracy, and the feature set of the software could be broadened. As the artist gains more control over the tools, the work produced will benefit greatly.

What kinds of features would need to be emphasized to get attention as a key feature for consumers? What objections could the general public have to the technology? What reasons would consumers have for being disinterested in the technology, and in what ways could the technology be made to become more interesting to the mass public?

Social Revolutions

In the article “Know Your Place – Headmap manifesto and the spatialised internet revolution”- http://www.sirc.org/articles/know_your_place.shtml -Elanor Taylor observes about the Headmap manifesto: “The Headmap manifesto is clearly not just a geeky vision of a future of 'doing cool stuff' with phones. The particular combination of a free wireless internet bandwidth with mobile, location-aware personal computers is seen not just as a technological innovation, but as a social one.”

We have already seen how social networking sites such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc., are forming the way people use the internet. The next phase of social networking brings these ideas into the real world using locative media. The Headmap manifesto tackles the topic of “social software and spatial interfaces”. For example, according to Headmap, people will be able to locate their ‘closest friend’. In fact there are already several applications on the iPhone which do just that. A search in the iTunes App Store will find applications such as, ‘Amigo Mapper’, and ‘Locate My Friends’, which display the location of friends on a map, updated live. Friends would have to register an account with the software and allow a set group of friends to see their location. Objections to using this software are mostly cultural. Why would I want everyone to know where I am at any given time? A few years ago, the idea of sharing updates about what you are doing would have raised similar objections. More and more, social networkers are updating their Facebook status or Twitter with such information. The cultural barriers of sharing information about current activities are dissolving as users of social networking sites grow accustomed to updating their status. Soon the same will become true for location services as well. Then the question will be, “Why wouldn’t you want friends to know where you are? Are you hiding something?” One could argue privacy concerns, but young people are already giving up privacy by sharing pictures and status updates on these social networking sites. As social culture becomes less concerned with privacy, sharing one’s current location becomes less objectionable as well.

Ubiquitous Internet

The cultural impact of a ubiquitous internet will change our relationship with place.

“Emerging out of a Do-It-Yourself punk culture, projects like the London-based "Consume the Net" sought to build a nation-wide peer-to-peer infrastructure of free wireless nodes throughout the United Kingdom. Similar grassroots projects helped catalyze communities of artists globally from Berlin to San Francisco. In suggesting that ubiquitous Internet access would change our relationship with place by overlaying a second virtual world over the physical one, the free wireless movement was a seminal source for locative media's ambitions.” - Beyond Locative Media by Marc Tuters and Kazys Varnelis - http://networkedpublics.org/locative_media/beyond_locative_media”

For many consumers, limitations of internet access confine the usage of these tools to home internet or hotspots. Even with these hotspots, most people don’t carry a laptop computer with them everywhere they go. Even as the internet becomes more available everywhere, accessing it presents yet another hurdle. This will be overcome as our personal devices, like cell phones, integrate internet access interfaces that are cheaper and easier to use. Screen size and clarity is increasing, and context sensitive touch screens make interfacing with the internet easier and more natural. Less interaction with the device itself using predictive software will make using the internet outside the computer workstation more inviting. The software interface could adjust to a user’s location, providing more relevant front access. For example, a person at a shopping mall could turn on the mobile internet browser in their personal device, and be presented with a list of shops in the mall. Selecting a store from the list would then provide more information about that store. If the same user leaves the mall and goes to the parking lot, the browser could automatically switch to a map with the location of their car displayed on the map.

Common Features

Locative tools are currently available as almost standard features in everyday devices such as cell phones, navigation systems in cars, etc. The primary interest in GPS features is for navigation. Most consumers understand the value of an accurate navigation system with a comprehensive map as a visual guide. This is the most obvious usage for GPS and widely accepted. Getting this type of technology into the hands of the masses opens up the possibilities for other uses such as geo-tagging, location based education or gaming, even localized advertising. One limitation the technology has is prohibitive cost. Navigation systems often cost hundreds of dollars, and many consumers don’t find them necessary enough to justify the extra expense. The good news is that these devices are getting cheeper and GPS is becoming more commonly integrated into smartphones, which are also getting cheeper. It’s only a matter of time before it’s a standard feature, as common as cameras are in cell phones today.

Relationship to the Aritst

The importance of consumer interest becomes relevant to the locative artist as the tools mature, providing more possibilities for works produced with the tools. Using open source tools such as Mscape is cumbersome to many artists, while highly refined software such as Photoshop, is becoming second nature. As consumer interest in locative media increases, commercial developers will build and improve locative media software. With software that is easier to use, the artist will be able to focus more on their work than on the tools. If the tools become more intuitive and more feature rich, they will begin to become second nature, freeing the artist to produce work without a thought as to how to get the tools to do what the artist wants. Having this freedom will encourage artistic processes beyond software limitations. As more features become available, and user interfaces become more intuitive, the artist will have to think less about how to use the tools and what is possible, so they will be able to focus more on what they want to show or say.

Making Locative Mainstream (final paper)

2009-05-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

...more to come...

FINAL PROJECT... (Beyond Mapping)

2009-05-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

The idea was to move through an urban setting on foot, following impulse to determine which direction to go.

The inspiration was Guy Debord's "Theory of the Derive".

The theme was walking vs. driving.

Here's what I did:

Starting in downtown San Francisco at the parking garage on Mission and Fifth, I set out to track my Downtown Derive with the GPS in my iPhone using an app called "Trails". I brought my video camera along and documented my walk through the downtown area. I had no destination in mind, or predetermined direction planned. I pocketed the GPS device, using it only to track my movements. I did not look at a map.

My plan was to videotape all the "walk" signals I came across at each intersection, to be edited together in a rhythmic fashion at a later time.

As I wandered through the urban landscape, I let the city itself guide my path, deciding which direction to go based purely on impulse. The psychogeography of the landscape was my guide, pulling or pushing me in one direction or another. I found that I was drawn toward areas of high foot traffic, moving from block to block, pulled toward centers of activity. It was not my intension to follow the crowds, but the directions I tended to go were highly populated.

The scenes I video taped were initially based on my plans to focus on traffic signals. The experience in the actual environment was quite different, of course, than I had anticipated. There were so many things I could have focused on, and having the plan saved me from just recording a bunch of random stuff. I focused on my theme of walking, getting a variety of scenes to support the chosen theme.

The next phase of the project was to map the path I had taken. I loaded up the GPS path in Google Earth, and found that it was quite different from the path I had actually taken. Using the GPS path and the video as a guide, I was able to accurately retrace my steps, drawing a path in Google Earth.

In the map, the GPS path is blue and the accurate path is drawn in green.

The next phase of the project will be the video. I will incorporate Google Earth imagery with the street level video, edited together to express the mood of the environment using the theme of walking through urban landscape.

The Wall in San Bruno

2009-04-11T19:21:00.001-07:00

click image to enlarge.

Blue Lines- major routes

Red X's- demolished sites

Green Flags- schools

Blue Shopping Bags- shopping centers

Brown and Green House- my house

Living with the wall...

2009-04-11T18:38:00.000-07:00

The neighborhood I grew up in was bisected by the wall. ( San Bruno )

The house I grew up in was right next to the wall. ( green and brown house south of wall )

My elementary school, Crestmoor Elementary, was demolished by the wall. (green flag just east from my house )

My middle school, Parkside ( south green flag ), was also on the south side, but many of my classmates from both Crestmoor Elementary and Parkside middle school lived north of the wall.

The local shopping center, Bayhill, was demolished by the wall, while the local mall, Tanforan (north blue shopping bag), was north of the wall.

Major routes, ( blue solid lines ), I-280, 380, 101 freeways, Skyline Blvd, Sneath Lane, El Camino all were cut off by the wall.

Living with the wall, life in San Bruno gets torn apart, separating families and friends, classmates and coworkers. The neighborhood gets very congested with traffic and tensions between neighbors rise as we fight for access to local amenities.

All our transportation routes have been cut off, while visiting friends and family becomes near impossible and even dangerous as law enforcement focusses on wall security more than protection in the neighborhood.

Gangs form to take advantage of divided authorities while law abiding citizens are forced to watch their backs and struggle to meet basic needs.

Mapping Project

2009-02-28T16:20:00.000-08:00

Beverly Hills, CA

As I examine the map, starting from the building I lived in, I remember the buildings nearby and trace them onto the Open Streetmaps Project. I draw the buildings 'psychogeographicly', remembering places I saw as I walked through the area. This map is a work in progress, so far based only on my personal experience.

Beyond Mapping...

2009-02-27T18:48:00.001-08:00

Conceptual Locative Video solution.....

Having drawn buildings on the Open Street Map of the neighborhood I lived in while in Los Angeles, I struggled with other ways to use mapping and passage through public space for art. or "art"? what is locative 'art'? Tracing the outlines of buildings on top of a satellite image started to feel tedious and unnecessary. When I looked at Google Earth, I saw that the buildings I was tracing were already built with Sketchup and they are modeled in 3D, even with images pasted onto the 3D building models. Google Earth is already moving toward a virtual 3D environment of the space I was trying to remember and build. In other words, the system is way ahead of my current thinking. How do I get beyond that?

I want to build a conceptual video piece that follows the psychogeography of the landscape, while presenting images not necessarily associated with the currently available media. The idea is to wander through the space, choosing direction based purely on impulse, rather than predetermined destination. The inspiration for this wandering is based on Guy Debord's Theory of the Derive.

http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/314

As I move through the space, and encounter intersections, a choice will be made as to which direction to go. As I document each intersection with video images, I will compile a set of significant images based on a predetermined criteria for each image. These images can then be assembled into a rhythmic presentation of the criteria that is predetermined (through video editing). The result will hopefully convey a movement through the public space, based on the predetermined criteria, emphasizing the mood of the geography. The 'mood' will be set by the images shown in the edited video.

The mood I intend to emphasize is walking versus driving. Our experience of a space is completely different depending upon how we pass through the space. Driving in a car is a totally different experience than walking, even though we move through the same space.

My video experiment will be based on walking, exploring the intersections on foot, then later assembling the footpaths into a rhythmic assembly of the spaces experienced.

Stay tuned for this video walking experiment....

Mapping Project

2009-02-22T17:17:00.000-08:00

Beverly Hills, CA.

Starting in the neighborhood where I lived when I was in Los Angeles.

As I map this area, I recall the places I passed through, the buildings I saw, the moods of the neighborhoods. Using OpenStreetMaps, with the assistance of ariel imagery, I will draw buildings and recall my personal experience with the places on the map. The unexpressed psychology of the landscape unfolds as I map places I've been, remembering my passage through these areas.

in response to "Trimble GPS Tutorial"

2009-02-10T13:18:00.000-08:00

In the section "Other ways to work with Differential GPS" an example is given regarding the accurate locations of every bus in a fleet of busses.

What if every car on the road was included? Could a system like this be a starting point for a central control center for everyone's cars? In other words, could cars be totally automated by linking them to a control center, entirely computerizing their mobility and eliminating human error from the equation?

response to Street Maps and GPS Revolution

2009-02-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

Since GPS started as military tech and eventually became available to the public, should we wonder what military tech exists today that is not yet available to the public?

The ultimate Earth mapping would consist of a conglomeration of mapping projects, not just one. In addition to a fully 3-dimensional virtual Earth, the Ultimate iteration would have to include real time information, as I discussed in the previous blog.

How close are we really to that realization? If we consider the top secret military factor, we might be closer than we think...

in response to "Beyond Locative Media"

2009-02-08T14:57:00.000-08:00

The idea of every object being tracked and mapped is both interesting and scary. Combine this with every inch of the globe being mapped, and the entire world could exist in two places- reality, and virtual reality.

Imagine a mapping system far more detailed than Google's current version, even far beyond their street view or Google Earth. In this new virtual reality representation of the world, the map is no longer built with 2-dimensional satellite images and street images, but could become a photo realistic, fully 3-dimensional environment. Combined with the information from every object- (made possible by a world of ubiquitous computing), this virtual reality version of the world could reflect the locations of everything on the grid, starting with every car on the road, and ultimately every person on Earth. All live, in real time.

Ideas for 1st mapping project...

2009-02-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

Paths of Astrological Constellations. (Zodiac)

Choose a map area with Google maps. (somewhere within San Francisco)

Save an image of the map.

Create an image of each of the Constellations of the Zodiac.

Choose a starting point on the map.

Using Photoshop, overlay the Constellation images onto the Google map, matching one point for each image to the starting point. Use a separate layer for each constellation image.

Using one constellation layer at a time, save a separate image for each map. (12 total)

Print out each Constellation map.

Create a path (draw it on the map) for each Constellation on the map. Each path should begin on the designated starting point, and end at the same starting point.

(make copies as needed)

Gather participants at the starting point.

Give a map to each participant, according to their astrological zodiac sign.

Everyone will follow their own path, either solo or with others, walking the path of their astrological sign.

As they walk along their paths, if anyone meets with someone from a different sign, they should each take a picture of the person or persons they meet.

When everyone has returned to the designated starting point, compare the images and discuss the paths taken.

Welcome

2009-01-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Eric's Blog.