As I uploaded a picture on Trover yesterday, I realized how much of a geogeek I still am. The story in a nutshell: while on a trip to the US I was awarded a window seat. Following Goodchild’s directive – fairly sure he said that not looking out of an airplane window and admire earth should be consired punishiable by law – I admired earth and took pictures, and left my GPS receiver on. The result: inflight geotagged pictures. Weak proof of being there where you have not really been before.
As much as I am interested in other topics (open innovation, marketing, science*, …) maps and technology are still high on my list. And apps that make location work for more people are on the top of that list. Trover, Foursquare, Localmind, you name it. My recent explorations on the iPad triggered that interest even more.
The clarity of the iPad is beyond amazing. I have revisited some of my earlier explorations on www.arcgis.com and they look great. Here is an image of a simple web app I made last year. I took public domain data to create a license plate map of Austria. If case you ever wondered what the regional license plate prefix is or what is stands for.
Continuing to clean up my home archives. I was able to decipher a 1985 printout I saved from college. Master Richie from Esri’s protopye lab refers to them as animated cartograms. I think we used the term diagrammatic maps in those days. Definology aside, the map shows the Dutch provincies, with their size in proportion to the number of inhabitans (source 1977 census). From what I can decipher, this was a Pascal exercise on a Prime mini computer. I think I made a C++ version as well. Early signs of geogeekism, which make inflight geotagging rather innocent.
By the way, it turns out that leaving your GPS on inflight is NOT allowed, so don’t try this at home. In some airlines, it is your captain who may give you permission. Inflight geotagging, it might very well become a new worldwide trend. I am already looking forward to that world map of inflight geotagged pictures. It just might get an honourable mention in the ArcGIS Online Gallery!
* not necessarily overlapping topics.
There are many reasons why you would want to contribute (note: not just attend) to the upcoming whereCampEU. Here are just a few:
1. Meetup with other geogeeks
You have to have a minimal level of map madness, if you want to enjoy a whereCamp. You will be able to meetup with other geogeeks, but not in your regular plan, do, act mode. Get ready to present to others, discuss the step in your project or to just code away.
2. No barriers, low on rulez
Be aware, this is an unconference. What you get out of this meetup is mostly up to you. We will be low on rulez (please do behave), in order to max out the result of this camp. That sound as a contradiction, but we strongly believe this will lead to great results (well, sometimes).
3. Experience the unexpected
As we don’t have a fixed plan, you may be in for a treat. We hope it’s beyond your wildest expectations! Hacking and mapping with great people all around you! Is there a better place to build great new things?
4. Amsterdam
Just one the reasons to come to whereCampEU is Amsterdam itself. Culture (Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh, Anne Frank’s house – book your ticket in advance), Nightlife (Redlight district, Leidsplein). Even better: stick around from Monday April 30th and watch Amsterdam turn Orange on Queensday. And just-in-time for this whereCamp, Foursquare provided us with a great list of Amsterdam spots.
How does all of that sound? The good news: you can still register for this unconference. See you there!
Net voor de Pasen uitgekomen, en ruim voor de GIS Tech te bekijken: de nieuwe basemap van Nederland. Natuurlijk slechts een subjectieve mening (…), maar ik vind dit heel erg mooi! Complimenten aan alle bijdragende partijen en personen (ze allemaal noemen betekent meteen een paar belangrijke vergeten; ik sla het dus over).Note: voor de tijdschrijvers onder u: het schrijven van deze blogpost en het maken van de kaarten heeft me een klein uurtje gekost. Ik heb niets gecodeerd, alleen standaard templates aangepast. Ik moest even puzzelen bij de provincie, maar daar ben ik snel uitgekomen. Daarover meer tijdens het Nationaal Opendata Congres!