Comments on: Virtual Maps http://figuresmag.com/archive/virtual-maps/ The Social in the Visual Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:37:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: Nicola http://figuresmag.com/archive/virtual-maps/#comment-632 Nicola Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:23:39 +0000 http://figuresmag.com/archive/virtual-maps/#comment-632 Responding to the issues of mapping that are being raised here, maybe locative media is worth considering. It is a technological system related to urban space where the participant/user can move in physical space while negotiating with the media. Located art therefore, is the art of media and wireless systems, as is the case with the UK’s locative media group, Blast Theory. They utilise digital and wireless technologies to make interactive performances and video work encouraging critical discussion. Their current work developed form Uncle Roy All Around You (2003), is Rider Spoke (2007-2009) where the audience cycles through a city holding a computer looking for a discreet place to record a message, the data is then stored and they go and hunt for other participants messages. As they state: "The piece continues Blast Theory’s fascination with how games and new communication technologies are creating new social spaces…It invites the public to be co-authors of the piece and a visible manifestation of it as they cycle through the city. It locates the venue precisely in its local context and invites the audience to explore that context for its emotional and intellectual resonances". This adds a different dimension to the idea of mapping the city. It offers a more experiential idea of mapping, where you negotiate both a virtual-visual map and the physical context in real-time. Following this, how could access to additional information, like smell, noise etc., be included with maps? This would definitely add to the 'noise' that Stuart speaks of, so how could this be managed, so that it could still be functional - whatever that means? To see Rider Spoke's latest incarnation at the Rock's in Sydney (Feb 2009), see Nick Dent's article: http://www.timeoutsydney.com.au/aroundtown/rider-spoke--review--53.aspx Responding to the issues of mapping that are being raised here, maybe locative media is worth considering. It is a technological system related to urban space where the participant/user can move in physical space while negotiating with the media. Located art therefore, is the art of media and wireless systems, as is the case with the UK’s locative media group, Blast Theory.

They utilise digital and wireless technologies to make interactive performances and video work encouraging critical discussion. Their current work developed form Uncle Roy All Around You (2003), is Rider Spoke (2007-2009) where the audience cycles through a city holding a computer looking for a discreet place to record a message, the data is then stored and they go and hunt for other participants messages. As they state: “The piece continues Blast Theory’s fascination with how games and new communication technologies are creating new social spaces…It invites the public to be co-authors of the piece and a visible manifestation of it as they cycle through the city. It locates the venue precisely in its local context and invites the audience to explore that context for its emotional and intellectual resonances”.

This adds a different dimension to the idea of mapping the city. It offers a more experiential idea of mapping, where you negotiate both a virtual-visual map and the physical context in real-time. Following this, how could access to additional information, like smell, noise etc., be included with maps? This would definitely add to the ‘noise’ that Stuart speaks of, so how could this be managed, so that it could still be functional - whatever that means?

To see Rider Spoke’s latest incarnation at the Rock’s in Sydney (Feb 2009), see Nick Dent’s article:

http://www.timeoutsydney.com.au/aroundtown/rider-spoke–review–53.aspx

]]> By: stuart http://figuresmag.com/archive/virtual-maps/#comment-580 stuart Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:44:15 +0000 http://figuresmag.com/archive/virtual-maps/#comment-580 I think it comes down to use: What do we need from the map or the street view or the aerial photograph? Are these doing similar jobs or very different ones. One of the difficulties with photography as an information source is that it can include more information than is necessary. The camera can catch everything around the subject it was intended to capture. Sometimes this extra information can hinder the understanding of the subject. It can be a noisy medium in this regard. I think it comes down to use: What do we need from the map or the street view or the aerial photograph? Are these doing similar jobs or very different ones. One of the difficulties with photography as an information source is that it can include more information than is necessary. The camera can catch everything around the subject it was intended to capture. Sometimes this extra information can hinder the understanding of the subject. It can be a noisy medium in this regard.

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