Transportation Mapping

Submitted by jaime.haire on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 16:37

So, our original idea was to use the large wall map along with tranparency sheets/tracing paper to encourage visitors to map their commute.

Visitors would draw a line to show their path, indicating their mode of transportation by color (bike - yellow, bus - green, etc.) and then annotate their emotions, thoughts, and memories along that route. (interesting houses, bad pot-holes, lane habits, funny bus drivers,
irritating intersections, murals, slow stop lights, loud music from other cars, traffic patterns, driving advice, etc.) -- See FULL post for more --

The idea was to demonstrate how your mode of transportation might affect your experience with time and space. This is also a memory exercise. People may find their route overlaps with someone else's and they have a set of similar, or entirely different, observations. With enough participation, we might see patterns emerge and make new discoveries.

BUT -- I'm not sure how well this transparency sheet idea is going to work? Are there other ways we can do this? I have more thoughts that I'll post separately and please please please post any ideas you have for this weekend. It'd be great to start off strong!

-jaime

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9 comments on Transportation Mapping

  1. jaime.haire
    Tue, 01/13/2009 - 16:52

    Globe
    I am hooked on the idea of having a globe in the shanty! (Besides the one in the window, that is!) I was thinking I could buy a cheap one on craigslist and we could show the air travel or vacation patterns of the shanty visitors.

    How? poke a holes into Minneapolis/St. Paul and other destinations and attach small nails or hooks. Each person/flight could tie a string that goes from place to place, with different colors. I think it could look neat, but maybe we could also draw conclusions from it?

  3. lesley
    Tue, 01/13/2009 - 16:57

    love it.
    do it!

    and while we're on the subject of globes. here is a video about how globes are made.
    It's great!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgErv6M19yY

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  • lesley
    Tue, 01/13/2009 - 16:54

    i think that still sounds great Jaime.
    It dont necessarily have to be on that big map, though.
    I think one good idea would be to have a central question or task for the visitors. We have our mapping party at 1pm. We'll send people out. I'll post more about this too, but please everyone think about ideas. Ask your friends!

  • Emily
    Tue, 01/13/2009 - 17:25

    I still like the idea of mapping commutes, however, I'm starting to think that maybe having people do it in one of the little books might work better? Its a lot of info to try to get on the big map and people might be able to capture the subjective stuff (parts of the commute they like and don't) better in a drawing in a book than on the big map. It would be fun to then take the little book and intereprate it to later create a bigger map ... print it and display it the next week.

  • jaime.haire
    Tue, 01/13/2009 - 17:43

    Yes, I think maybe this could be addressed in books. So, here are some ideas for books:

    1. Map your commute (see previous entry)
    2. Map your car (and it's quirks), shoes, bike. Dents, scratches, bumper stickers, stains, enhancements, favorite parts, distiguishing features, etc.
    3. Collaborate on a 'choose your own adventure' book. For example, I could draw on the first page the route from my house in downtown st. paul to the intersection of selby-dale. at the bottom, it could say, "To keep going west on selby, turn to page 25" or "Turn right on Selby by going to page 34" or "Hang a left on Selby - page 9". Someone else would pick up where I left off by drawing on one of those pages.
      I really really like this idea as a way to travel the city. each page would be drawn and annotated by a different person, allowing you to see through their eyes (be it a detailed 1 block on foot or 10 miles on the highway).

      This would be easy to translate into an online exhibit, too!

  • Emily
    Tue, 01/13/2009 - 17:48

    I love the collaborative choose-your-own adventure book idea!
    It would be fun to see which routes people take us on.

  • lesley
    Tue, 01/13/2009 - 23:49

    awesome idea jaime for choose your own adventure map!lets do it!!!
    we could totally scan and publish those online.

  • callie
    Wed, 01/14/2009 - 22:46

    I love the idea of mapping different areas of the city in the little books. I envision us prompting people to map their commute or their neighborhood, or their favorite places in the cities, however they want to depict them, but then new people could add on to the areas that overlap with their own view of the cities and add their own thoughts. wish we had more space so that it could be a huge drawing board of the city and people could constantly add their own observations and commentaries. but i think it sounds like a great idea and i would love to add to it-however it turns out!