Section Sketches of Clayton and Trafford

These abstract section sketches (below) can reflect what surround people in specific space, with the proportion of the traffic lane and pavement, the height and scale of the building, the planting as well as the interaction between people and a person and architecture. On our pilot studies I tested this method, first in Trafford and Clayton.

Old Trafford

Clayton

After last Friday’s discussion, it is possible for us to present some of the data collected through these section sketches with the following: colour; lines of interaction; scale; areas covered by CCTV; boundaries; angle of sunlight (healthy); gray space of buildings; how people use the space with the specific behavior we observe; and lines of vision for standing, sitting and children’s level are studied and naturally incorporated in the sectional drawing of buildings and streets. This can be both on the day (visits) or on camera - which should show how the space performs and functions. With more detailed things inserted in the section sketch they could turn out to be simple or abstract. I think it’s interesting when we put the data in and translate it not only into diagrams/graphics but also this vivid way.

Never Get Lost in a City Again

The Situationist may not agree with this (with their love of the Derive and the subsequent new ways to experience a city it can bring about) but the BBC have produced a guide of six different methods to navigate cities without using maps, GPS, iPhones or anything similar. You can read the full article here.

Contemporary Art vs. Ancient Practice

The Map as Art (Princeton Architectural Press, 2009)

The above book may be worth a look: "The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography" by Katharine Harmon and Gayle Clemans. Sadly it is only on order at the library so who knows when it will arrive.

IBM THINK Exhibit

The IBM Think Exhibit is currently taking place at the Lincon Center in New York (September 23rd 2011 to October 23rd 2011) and combines "three unique experiences to engage visitors in a conversation about how we can improve the way we live and work."

A 123-foot digital wall is being used to visualize, in real time, live data being streamed from systems surrounding the exhibit. The data ranges from traffic on Broadway to solar energy to air quality. Inside the exhibit visitors are immersed in a digital environment, with 40 7-foot tall data screens that show them a 12-minute film: "A kaleidoscope of images and sound ... They are enveloped in a rich narrative about the pattern of progress, told through awe-inspiring stories of the past and present." Finally, at the conclusion of the film the 40 screens (or 'media panels') become interactive touchscreens.

IBM Think Exhibit Data Wall (Image: IBM Think Exhibit)

On the various mapping techniques being used the organisers have this to say:

"All the information we’re collecting becomes much more effective when it’s organized. We’ve used maps to organize data for millennia. Throughout history, maps have revealed patterns in what appeared to be chaos, inspired explorers, and guided development and innovation. Now, our maps are more powerful and insightful than ever. They’re dynamic, multi-dimensional, and collaborative. Today’s mapping platforms give us the ability to organize and express information about any facet from every perspective—in real time."

All of the information (the data) being collected is being used to inform models to predict future behaviour, from physical prototypes to mathematical calculations. New tools are reducing the risk associated with these predictions: "Supercomputers, analytics software, and networking technologies allow us to simulate the behaviour and interactions of vast systems."

Invisible Cities - Revealing Social Networks

Invisible Cities from Christian Marc Schmidt on Vimeo.

Above is a project by Christian Marc Schmidt & Liangjie Xia. Here is what they have to say about it:

"By revealing the social networks present within the urban environment, Invisible Cities describes a new kind of city—a city of the mind. It displays geocoded activity from online services such as Twitter and Flickr, both in real-time and in aggregate. Real-time activity is represented as individual nodes that appear whenever a message or image is posted. Aggregate activity is reflected in the underlying terrain: over time, the landscape warps as data is accrued, creating hills and valleys representing areas with high and low densities of data.

Invisible Cities maps information from one realm—online social networks—to another: an immersive, three-dimensional space. In doing so, the piece creates a parallel experience to the physical urban environment. The interplay between the aggregate and the real-time recreates the kind of dynamics present within the physical world, where the city is both a vessel for and a product of human activity. It is ultimately a parallel city of intersections, discovery, and memory, and a medium for re-experiencing the physical environment."

There is a potentially useful list of software on Wikipedia (here) that could be applied to different social networks/situations.

The Future of Digital Cartography?

Here is an interesting article from Cloud Sourced about the future of cartography.

Digital Cartography of course. While paper maps aren’t going to die, its a limited medium and all the fun stuff is going on in the digital sphere. Remember this – all paper maps are produced from huge amounts of data, 1s and 0s describing our planet down to centimetre accuracy. The AtoZ in the bottom of your bag, the grimy tube map stuck to the station wall and the dog-eared road atlas in the glove box are all renderings of digital data. Lets make it really simple: A Map = Data x Visualisation

Food for thought: The first 10 maps that come to mind

Aside from artistic translations of what a new map should be, I thought I’d go back to basics this morning and decided to write, very briefly, about the first ten maps that came to mind. This turned into twelve, but I think that thinking inside the box for a minute and really pointing out the basics can help in creating our own mapping techniques. As I mentioned, these are the first that came to mind, there may be others and these may not be everyone’s ten (or more if you’re on a roll). This is the order I wrote them down in but reading through them there would be a definite order in terms of scale and clusters of types.

ONE: The world map

So this is probably the most obvious start but it got me thinking about the techniques employed in actually creating it, before we knew it was round and way before we could see it from space. Maybe that’s another line of enquiry in itself outside of the remit of this research. There’s also the dymaxion version, as pictured above.

TWO: Friendship connections

Not too long ago, a Facebook whiz kid developed this map depicting connections. He used data from 10,000,000 profiles of Facebook users from around the world to create it and I feel it is a very telling representation in a number of ways. You can read more about it here.

“Visualizing data is like photography. Instead of starting with a blank canvas, you manipulate the lens used to present the data from a certain angle.”

THREE: The marauders map

Possibly the real reason I started this post is that this randomly popped into my head. I’m sure everyone is familiar with it as a fictional piece but I was wondering if there was an element of our investigations into programming Mr. Mindstorm, or the grown up version, that could take the basic ideas from here.

FOUR: The map from the Adjustment Bureau

Following on the film theme, the map used in the Adjustment Bureau is also pretty interesting. More analysis on this will follow in a later post.


FIVE: The London underground map

If lots of things go on under the ground then this is potentially the most well recognised. It’s one of the things perceived as being useful, despite all the other non mapped elements that are crucial in serving the city. It’s also interesting in the way it connects points and nodes. Variations and interpretations of this map have been done to death but it still goes on the list.

SIX: Situationists

Fresh in the mind from Friday’s presentations, the situationists map is somewhat of an icon for those looking at mapping from an A&U perspective. Out of interest, take a look at this .

SEVEN: Manhattan / City map

Possibly one of the most iconic city maps has to be New York, especially in the context of my own research last year. The city map in general offers us a top down view detached from experience and to some extents could be regarded as somewhat fictional, despite being the most useful of tools . Take a peek at this. The interactive map is interesting.

EIGHT: Road map / OS map

With the advent of GPS these are typically nowhere near as widely used as they once were. The first result of a search for “road map” brings google maps, aa route planners and other digital solutions. It’s the colour coding and layering techniques that are important here. The standard has been set.

NINE: Constellation map

The ability to make recognisable connections between otherwise random events? Mapping out cities based on this goes way back.

TEN: Radar

I’m not entirely sure why this was on my radar but its an interesting concept nonetheless. It was the technology that guides aeroplanes and submarines that first came to mind.

ELEVEN: Treasure Map

It’s the journey and the reading of objects and landmarks that’s particularly important in this case. I suppose I could have used orienteering as the example but where’s the fun in that. Also, it demonstrates how even with a limited amount of information you can still make sense of the physical reference.

TWELVE: Relief map

Ending on a slightly more serious note, this is another type that came to mind. This includes two and three dimensional types, and essential part of mapping physical geography. This is an interesting tool if you’re interested. Also see this for representational techniques.