Mapping Hacks

Preface

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Invisible layers of information that are arguably already implicitly available

in the people and objects in a landscape will become visible and explicit.

The relationship of physical and virtual objects will become obvious as well.

We’ll be able to use a variety of devices to tap into geocoded text, images,

media, and maps. Tags will link nearby objects to a universe of commentary

on their history, value, safety, and meaning. Suddenly, any point in space

will be able to be annotated, and those annotations aggregated. Locative

annotations might include:

• Environmental or actuarial details

• Historical and cultural information

• Community events and activities

• Micro-local commercial and public service information

• Personal/social stories and preferences

• Qualitative/quantitative psychogeography

• Games and amusements, e.g., geocaching

• Locative spam (!)

Right now, our interfaces to this world are clunky at best, based on heads-

down interfaces in which a hiker might miss the beauty and glory of the

great outdoors by being over-interested in his interface device. As these

interfaces become refined, we will gain a new kind of control over what we

see and hear in our environment, selectively filtering and displaying the lay-

ers of information linked to the physical environment. We’ll click floating

graphic objects off and on like “digital Post-It notes.” Each individual’s

physical reality ...