I'm late to this party. But I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents anyhow.
Been too busy to read the list lately.
Geography has been at the heart of the human experience forever.
People have been making maps of their world forever, as you know.
This sort of idea has become fuel for the fire of the latest map
hacking movement. Humans like to tell stories and, for some, maps are
a good way to help visualize these. Some of us (me included) are
relatively new to the map hacking game and are ignorant of the
terminology of cartography. Some of us are seasoned geographers who
know all the ins and outs of the "world".
The key to all of us getting together to do these projects and books
and companies is the latest generation of technology and data
available. The Google Maps type services, in addition to the amazing
data provided by the US Census Bureau, Open Street Maps, geocoder.us
and many other free data providers has opened up the world of map
hacking to the masses. You no longer need to know the language or
have the money and expertise to use the expensive and difficult to
use programs typically associated with this very specialized industry
in order to participate in it.
The interesting thing about the movement (such as it is) is that
everyone is largely working together to get things done. Since things
have opened so much there is a tendency for duplication of effort,
but this often results in better end-products. No one individual has
come to the fore as the Larry Lessig of the bunch, because policy
hasn't yet been the sort of hot button issue that other industries
have faced. The nice thing about geography is that if you can't find
the data you can always go out and create it yourself (see Open
Street Maps). If anything the guiding philosophy of geowanking is
"share and share alike" more than anything.
I have found this group one of the most open and accepting bunches of
geeks out there. They have welcomed me even though my knowledge of
the space is still quite limited, and this is a unique thing in the
often egocentric world of geekdom. They truly are interested in
solving problems with no strings attached and willing to help out
people who are interested in knowing more about geowanking. The
opportunity to innovate, contribute and make society better is what
drives me to learn more about map hacking, and I think that goes for
most of the people on this list.
On Jul 14, 2006, at 3:07 PM, Annalee Newitz wrote:
I'm in the early stages of researching an article about map hackers
for Wired magazine -- I know the term "map hackers" is vague, but
that will change. What I'm wondering is whether folks here have
been inspired by any particular philosophies or theories of
geography in their work? Is there a Norbert Wiener or Lawrence
Lessig of the geowank world? Somebody who is geeky but also policy-
minded or philosophical, whose ideas have inspired you to make map
tools or build geolocation tech?
Annalee
--
Annalee Newitz
writer: science, technology, pop culture, sex
http://www.techsploitation.com/
*
editor: other
http://www.othermag.org
*
contributing editor: Wired
http://www.wiredmag.com
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