Everyday Cartography
by Peter Bradwell
Projects like OpenStreetMap and the related 'Mapchester' show how technology ' often GPS-based ' can be used by the public to map and draw out the hidden secrets of place. Time-lapse movies from Cabspotting and eCourier in particular sketch the curious arrhythmia of a cities heartbeat, while the Greenwich Emotion Map fused its results with Google Earth to create a compelling cartography of people's experience of walking through South-East London.
It seems that meaningful community-led efforts to develop visions for the future of places ' the kind suggested in the pamphlet 'People Before Structures' - will thrive not only on new methods of excavating and presenting urban information, but on who the information is used by and with what 'authority'.