World's biggest drawing created with the help of GPS and DHL

There are all sorts of creative uses for GPS, but here's a fellow who says he sent a self-designed GPS "device" in a briefcase to DHL with express travel instructions. He plotted the shipment's movement and ended up with the drawing you see above. We're a bit confused. First, he says he developed a GPS device with extended tracklog and battery time. Okay, but... using what, exactly? Also, we've received some things from DHL, and we have a hard enough time just getting them to deliver stuff to the right address, let alone make circles in the Caribbean in the name of art. To be fair, his documentation looks complete, so serious kudos to him if this is all for real. Peep the travel instructions document that he says he gave to DHL along with shipping receipts and video after the break.

[Via Hack a day]

Update: Ah, well that explains why DHL went out of its way to do a bunch of backtracking loops over the ocean -- it was an ad (supposedly in the name of art). From the "artist's" site: "The best advertising is developed with society. using [sic] a GPs [sic] and the express shipping company DhL [sic], i [sic] drew a self-portrait on our planet. i [sic] used the technological aids of our time to make the world's biggest drawing, along with advertising adapted to the contemporary era. a [sic] campaign the recipient wants to see and which is interesting enough for people to want to share it with their friends."Way to sell out, Erik. [Thanks, Chris]

[Jeremy K. @ May 25th 2008 1:36AM]

WOT?

[gad get @ May 25th 2008 1:43AM]

The Firefox add-on?

[BananaBoat @ May 25th 2008 1:55AM]

They should have drawn a gigantic dong.

That's what I would have done.

[Number_41 @ May 25th 2008 2:17AM]

Last I checked,

thats no where near the caribbean

N41

[Number_41 @ May 25th 2008 2:20AM]

Also, the thing looks like a freaking bomb with that switch. How the hell did it get through customs? Seriously.

N41

[v3xx @ May 25th 2008 3:45AM]

it's a young steve jobs showing his master plan. probably has several copies for motivation, maybe a wallet size and a large one over his bed.

[Hraefn @ May 25th 2008 8:05AM]

@BananaBoat: Well, he might have planned to do that, except that Mother Nature beat him to it: http://www.snopes.com/photos/risque/rita.asp

[Ellianth @ May 25th 2008 11:03AM]

obviously Rita loves the cock!

@all you people saying there's no island down where that big loop is: HELLO!! this is DHL we're talking about. driving/flying a boat/plane to the middle of nowhere seems like something they'd do.

[ben @ May 25th 2008 12:39PM]

@Hraefn Notice how when you put your cursor over the picture it says "Click photo to enlarge"....

[mymaclife @ May 25th 2008 12:57PM]

DHL can't get anything anywhere on time so the chances of this happening are as likely as him shitting on the moon.

[Rjay @ May 25th 2008 2:15PM]

I have also created an art piece using GPS and advanced delivery methods. It is a direct reply to this artist's original artwork.
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/4220/fingerxv9.gif

[OneLove @ May 26th 2008 4:43PM]

@Number_41 you obviously dont know where the caribbean is.

[biff Superman @ May 25th 2008 1:42AM]

fake to the bone

[Ed @ May 25th 2008 6:31AM]

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-faaaaake. I'm calling shenanigans on this one.

[Big John @ May 25th 2008 1:43AM]

That gigantic loop in the Southern Atlantic Ocean seems strange. No islands there at all...

[C.K. @ May 25th 2008 1:54AM]

The Azores islands.

[Hardcore @ May 25th 2008 3:59AM]

You might want to learn where the Azores islands are before making such a suggestion.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Azores,&sll=33.961586,-13.425293&sspn=6.940428,15.512695&ie=UTF8&ll=57.891497,-15.820312&spn=75.246829,248.203125&t=h&z=2&iwloc=addr

[pundit @ May 25th 2008 4:05AM]

Although there appears to be nothing there, the closest islands would likely be Tristan da Cunha. Azores is wayyyy off.

[Evan W @ May 25th 2008 5:10AM]

I was going to say Gough Island but Tristan da Cunha is pretty much the same thing. Neither is close enough though, still a good 1000 miles off.

Btw I think they misunderstood which loop he was talking about and gave the location of the bow-tie thing above it, just a simple mistake anyone could make.

[professor dick weed @ May 25th 2008 5:30AM]

who cares! he can however a big a loop he want between points! And no one cares how much gay island knowledge you have! Besides i think it's closer to the Krenitzin Islands! So there!

[Big John @ May 25th 2008 10:40AM]

Yikes, some people need to stop taking things so seriously.

I'm talking about the loop in the SOUTHERN Atlantic Ocean. The Azores are to the north. Off the east coast of South America.

It's obviously fake, folks.

[Basic @ May 25th 2008 10:59AM]

I just accidentally a big a loop he want between points!

is this dangerous?

[m @ May 25th 2008 1:46AM]

ugh... a self-portrait. "world's biggest ego" is more like it.

[alex @ May 25th 2008 2:35AM]

oh, the carbon footprint of it all!

[spencereholtaway @ May 25th 2008 4:46PM]

I'm glad someone said that before me! First thing I thought when I saw it. Then the idea that he did a giant self portrait sunk in... oh dear.

[alex @ May 25th 2008 2:21AM]

I work with GPS a lot and I have some serious doubts that the created image looks anything like this. Since this box was transported inside an aircraft cargo container inside an aircraft so GPS receptions was probably poor to non existent most of the time... lets see the raw data.

[m @ May 25th 2008 3:31AM]

all you have to see is the video. he's not connecting the dots.

[couchpundit @ May 25th 2008 1:51AM]

Quoting Stan Marsh: "Holy Sh*t, It's Jesus!"

[Smart People Play Tuba @ May 25th 2008 2:01PM]

That's what I thought when I saw it too . . . arms outstretched, beard, some weird "hair" loops that might be a crown of thorns.

Then I read it was a self-portrait.

The man makes the very first "global artwork," an opportunity to make some kind of grandiose, all-encompassing statement, and it's just a damn portrait of himself. Nice ego.

[Derek Bradley @ May 25th 2008 1:53AM]

Thats the South China Sea, not the Caribbean...

[Amerist @ May 25th 2008 1:54AM]

WTF? If this is real then it's proof that some people have too much damn money and time on their hands.

[LittlSister @ May 25th 2008 9:25AM]

I dunno about this (fake or not) project, but it's always "too much money" when about Art and never enough for war or human stupidity.

So great mentality!

[C.K. @ May 25th 2008 1:57AM]

Do you mean South of the North Atlantic Ocean or South of the South Atlantic Ocean?

[Dylan @ May 25th 2008 2:04AM]

I'm surprised that's briefcase (considering this all checks out) traveled all over the world considering a first glance under the hood looks as though it's rigged with enough plastic explosives to blow Mr. Outstretched-Arms-Hinting Christian-Implications-I-Was-Created-By-A-Guy-With-Much-Too-Much-Time-And-Money-on-His-Hands-Man's nose from its current locale into Australia.

[Ethan @ May 25th 2008 2:05AM]

Why would they turn a ship for him? Is he really rich? Oh wait, no, he's an 'artist.' And I suppose if his job is basically to stimulate the human sense, co-ordinates are about as cold as it gets.

[alex @ May 25th 2008 2:22AM]

With DHL its air transport .... but as I stated in my previous post the whole thing seems rather unlikely that if you plot the data points. That the image created would look anything like this.

[Bob @ May 25th 2008 2:27AM]

I've never seen an airplane make such pretty curves. It's usually waypoint to waypoint, pretty direct, without big graceful circles over the middle of the Pacific...especially when they're trying to do it on a timeline.

[Wwhat @ May 25th 2008 6:05AM]

Agreed I call BS, I am willing to believe parts are real, but he then 'enhanced' it liberally (or should I say republicany), no way DHL pointlessly makes 50 loops above the atlantic not to mention over russian airspace, not even if this is a (semi-)covert DHL ad.
Oh and incidentally, DHL trucks are metal all around aren't they? and that would shield the GPS, not to mention that freight in airplanes is also contained on all sides by metal.

[Ethan @ May 25th 2008 6:15AM]

Okay, turn a plane. Regardless of whether it's real or not, it's an irrelevant piece of work. Even if it's an ad it doesn't really extol to virtues of Air couriers, this is more like an elaborate explanation of why your package was delayed.

[vdogg89 @ May 26th 2008 10:14AM]

@ Bob.
If you watched the video, you would see that the plane didnt do fluid curves, but they did small point to point lengths, just when you zoom out, it looks like a fluid curve

[Peter Smith @ May 25th 2008 2:18AM]

I don't like being negative but this has fake written all over it. I can see lots of ships looping out to sea just to create this picture. Not.

Fake and meaningless. I'm sure he had couriers obeying his every request in deepest Africa (and I've been there around DR Congo, there ain't straight roads and there) and couriers drawing fingernails in East Timor and North of PNG, out at sea amongst the pirates. Not. Bollocks.

What a waste of money. Donate to charity.

[Xboxman @ May 25th 2008 2:32AM]

Of Course they would never do such a thing....

Then again money makes people do anything...

[your mom @ May 25th 2008 5:18AM]

shut the F up! Nobody cares that you've been to the Congo! For Christ's sake he can make whatever loop he wants between points, it's art! Stop taking shit so literally and being a hater! Guess what... I've been to your Mom's house but no one cares!

[LTM @ May 25th 2008 2:21AM]

So that's why my Dell laptop took so long to get to me from DHL!!

[poopy_pants @ May 25th 2008 2:31AM]

fake and incredibly stupid

[Jonathan Worrel @ May 25th 2008 2:37AM]

God?

[Josh @ May 25th 2008 2:41AM]

I am very willing to belive the fact that the drawing he sketches in the video is nearly exact to the "path" his package takes, and that the video shows him being transported by a small personal watercraft in the Maldives...but he drew a self-portrait of himself? I would make the worlds largest drawing of boobs if DHL were willing to do my bidding.

[Philster @ May 25th 2008 2:48AM]

Totally fake. Nice try, though.

[Jeff @ May 25th 2008 2:53AM]

Nice ad for DHL. That's what this is. It's not even a "fake" per se, it's just a viral DHL ad. Watch the video on the hackaday site. Sheesh - if that's not product placement, then I've never seen it.

[Jamie Marsden @ May 25th 2008 11:33AM]

Well, the WHOIS/DNS data checks out. The site is owned by a photographer from Sweden, and is registered there. The journey as indicated on the pdf starts in Stockholm.

There does not appear to be any connection between his hosting service and that used by DHL, or dhl.se

I suppose that this doesn't rule out viral marketing, but it probably makes it a little less likely - I don't see why they would have chosen him, or started there, given that DHL is a German company and presumably have their head of operations/marketing there.