Geotag a Political Message
By eric brown
16 Nov 2008
The short:
This graffic was created using one of those Yahoo! GPS-enabled bicycle cameras. It automatically takes and uploads a photo every minute and records GPS data. The pink dots represent places where a photo was taken. I rode my bicycle along this pre-plotted course to spell "Obama".
Blog post here (text from post pasted below):
http://purplepedals.com/?p=314
The long:
After getting a hang of the bike and how it works, I wanted to figure out an interesting way to use it. The elements (bicycle, camera, GPS data) were a unique and exciting mix in my eyes...The GPS-reflecting, pink dotted map seemed the new and most interesting element to exploit in this GP-bi-cam, and I usually found it a very interesting thing to come back to and check after a day of riding around town (just a little behind the photos themselves).
So the thought of going on a bike ride with the purpose of drawing with the GPS dots came to mind. What could I draw and why? The idea of riding a word [not a typo] came shortly thereafter. I started small and rode the word "Hi" in Jersey City near my house and learned that it helps to ride large and make letters span several blocks, as an entire block can be covered in less than a minute...without a photo being taken.
The American election was imminent, and then it came to me..."Obama". I think he'll be a fantastic and inspirational leader and I wanted to do a little something to help him get elected, or at least ride his name real big somewhere! I looked at maps of NYC and immediately saw the grids of Lower/Mid Manhattan to be the perfect grid to write upon. A little trial and error, and I settled upon the right sized letters on the right streets (I even mostly went with traffic on the one-way streets!)
The chilly morning of Oct. 30 found me at 39th Street to begin. I held my map in front of the camera and waited for it to take a picture (I did the same at the end of the ride as you can see in the flickr set).
So I started to ride his name backwards beginning with the "a" and made my way in the most indirect route possible to West Village, finishing the "O" (and also right by my work!) I ended up being an hour and a half late for work, but excrement occurs, right?
So all you Americans out there get out today and VOTE!
Dogseat is an avid photographer and bicycle rider who enjoys wit, whiskey and weird whiskers. He also goes by Eric Harvey Brown. Check out his yBike adventures or his personal adventures to see what he is up to right now.
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