Alt, Artist uses GPS to map things the old-fashioned way: walking around
By Trent Wolbe 
posted July 9th 2010 1:52AM
posted July 9th 2010 1:52AM
Back in the day, our homeboys Magellan, Lewis, Clark, Rand, and McNally didn't have anything better to do than walk around, look at stuff, and make some maps. Then along came people like Google, hell-bent on semi-automating via satellite what used to be a really down-to-earth task.
In 2010, mapmaker and artist Jeremy Wood has found a way to get his kicks via satellite and pedestrianism. His latest project Traverse Me is a simple enough idea: walk around in the defined area with a GPS unit and end up with a 1:1 scale map of where he walked. Wood traversed the University of Warwick (avoiding paths and roads when possible) over 17 days and ended up with a plot of a very human-looking 238 miles.
While they certainly aren't very useful for getting from point A to point B, Wood's maps unveil a weird new kind of topography. They don't particularly want to make us visit the University of Warwick, but we certainly wouldn't mind hanging prints of some of these bad boys on our living room walls.
A bit confused how this was done. I have never known any consumer GPS systems to be that accurate (keeping in mind i don't really know the scale, but GPS tracking lines would still be somewhat jumpy rather than smooth as in the image.)
@R E
The gps on the moto droid is usually pretty accurate... and then comes interpolating.
@R E: "...rather than smooth as in the image." Are we looking at the same image? Because I'm looking at one with really jumpy lines. You have to consider scale. Also keep in mind, just because civilian GPS only has an accuracy of about 15m, that doesn't mean that the accuracy changes every second. I mean, it won't be 10m off in one direction and then one minute later 12m off in another direction.
@R E Speak as someone who has used a GPS device, they have smoothing built in to counter this.
the 15m accuracy means it could in theory jump from -7.5 to +7.5, so not really that big of a range on a map like this, and also why would it do this? Even if it was the smoothing would average it out.
@R E QStarz BT-1000X, etc, Bluetac, etc etc.
Been around forever, as long as you avoid the horrible non-GPSs in the iPhone, or the horrible Qualcomm GPS in Windows Mobile phones.
Just keep up with GPSPassion.com.
@R E I tend to agree that raw GPX lines would be jaggier than this image. He might have used a line smoothing algorithm to get that line drawing look.
@R E
It's like a giant etch a sketch for someone that has too much time on their hands.
Nice job. But art is starting to be about how you make it, what you use and how hard is it, and not about appreciating the final piece.
Now that's a twentieth century masterpiece
THIS IS SOME REALLY COOL STUFF DUDE!!!
@DaveBach
Crap, my "" and "" tags didn't show up in my post above.
@DaveBach
Crap, my SARCASM tags still aren't showing up. :(
A 1:1 scale map?
Where did he get the piece of paper big enough?
@Gregorian Hah, good point, well made.
Never heard of Openstreetmap then?
@1 That's what I was thinking.
@1 Where the article says "In 2010" it's referring to just this project. Try visiting the guy's website: he's been doing this stuff for nigh on a decade. And good stuff it is too. My favourite is http://www.gpsdrawing.com/gallery/land/bboat.htm, I think.
They actually DO drive the roads to make maps and verify changes.
It's not all done in an office building. Every street in your digital maps, rather it's Garmin, Tom Tom, Nokia, or Google, has been driven.
@Smurf
Then why do thos ass holes always tell me to turn the wrong direction on a one way street? Jus venting. No reply needed.