technogoggles

Navigating Risk

I've taken a few cabs lately and all have had the tom tom.  I can see why they'd want to employ such a relatively cheap device to reduce the 'risk' of their knowledge being exposed.  But what has sat nav technology done to the kudos of the taxi driver in exposing their uncertainty?  What has it done to 'the knowledge', the cornerstone of their reputation and business?  Are knowledge tests now redundant?

I also find it interesting how people, particularly women travelling alone, are using cameraphones to take images of cab drivers / driver licenses when taking a cab home to mitigate the risk of attack or abuse. 

What other social uses does the cameraphone and the 'image' have in discreet social situtions to help us stay safe?  Occasions / need states anyone?  I've seen people use them when they've been in an accident - but that doesn't require the upload of the image to a remote server necessarily, it can stay 'local' to the phone itself.   I guess things like tickets, reference numbers, identifiers of all sorts when moving about would be handy to capture in case you lost them and your phone.   With 3G providers desperately looking for need states and 'killer apps' it may be worthwhile looking at social risk as much as social pleasure [entertainment] to sell their services. 

Walking the line

Representations of space, in this case the London Underground tube lines, just do it for me.  For whatever reason maps make me go weak.  The notion of 'control at a distance', the sense of  'managing' something in the abstract appeals to me [maps are such a 'man' thing aren't they?].  Anyway, I know, there are lots of beautiful images of the underground [and some bloody useful one's too].  This one is another addition and is neat because it is released under a GDFL licence

Created from GPS data and similar to the sort of 'bottom up' geograhic data structures that are starting to eat away at the Ordance Survey and other State bodies that charge for geodata. The Ordance Survey is consequently wising up and helping people to convert data into different formats [perhaps so that people will use their data too rather than workaround it though until they have a less restrictive terms of use this is hard to imagine]:

The aim to increase the intercompatibility and usefulness of spatial datasets throughout Great Britain is what we call 'joined-up geography', and it is a central strategy of Ordnance Survey.

Sign this petition if you disagree with State bodies charging for 'public' data for use by individuals and non-profit making organisations and want to push for a more open[source] database.

Spatial formations

 My usual fascination with all things spatial has been satiated for today.  Just seen the BBC Streets of Cardiff project which has a  nice Google map type app, though it's somewhat counterintuitive in its navigation.  It weaves in some good naratives from users - though it takes you to a flat page for the content rather than have it to hand on the same interface as the map.  Such user-generated content should perhaps be drawn in dynamically - it would feel much fresher.  Gripes over - it's good stuff.

Secondly, and a more tangetially is the work by the Office for Subversive Architecture who aim to change  our experience of 'the urban', disorietating our ingrained sensibilities of what it means to live the city.  Through the lens of a periscope in a submarine in Bristol, a small house on top of a roof in East London that you can't access and a more blatant kind of PR stunt to promote Hoegarden in London and Manchester. 

US Military and open gazatteer of the world!

Link: NGA: GNS; Names Files of Selected Countries.

This is an amazing resource.  The US military has a series of files, open to the public, of every place name in the world [or at least it purports to have - who could check?].  It's awesome.  It even has the phonetic spellings for place names! Should you need to hitch a lift to some small town in Vietnam that hasn't seen a foriegner since Jonny left in 1972 then you can now tell the cab driver and he'll understand you.   The gazatteer is not to a very granular level - for instance Crouch End, where I live is not listed but the higher level Hornsey, is. 

Now you know why the military have this.  And why they have a column, curiously empty, of "populated place classification"?  Collateral damage? 

Anyway, it's a fantastic resource to build with [though you'd have to be creative to create an sql datadump of the files... ] 

related links:
UK  place names via http://www.geograph.co.uk

Geo-ogle: Google maps the UK

I've tried to find better things to do with my time lately than surfing memes and blogging.  The clement weather has helped - sunshine opens up far more of the world to use.  However, it's raining again so.... more Google magic as they map the UK, courtesy of navtech.  As an aside Google are  also challenging yell with a comprehensive local search  - I have a Thai sauna only 1 mile away!  Great utility ;-)

So, Google Maps tells me that my journey to work is 8.9 miles ...

Start address:	N8 9TJ
End address:	W12 7TP
Distance:	8.9 mi (about 17 mins)

But it also says it should take about 17 minutes.
Now, I cycle. To be told that your journey time should take 17 mins when in fact it takes nearly three times as long is gutting.  Moreover, the route they tell me to use does not take into account contours, topography, hills!  If I were to take their route I'd be going up and down faster than a newlywed's nightie.   Actually I'd be going up and down very slowly but the analogy breaks down there.

Anyway, no more whingeing, it's a great service and  Google will hopefully enable people to build on the service like they do with the US data to create things like mappr. 

Where would BBC data 'fit' in such a service?  What could the BBC offer to a public service geo-location tool.... ?   What other info would you want?  Weather? Civic information? Local events and information?

The sun's come out again.  Time to move away fromthe screen...

Addendum
It would seem that Google get their info from Yell so it's hardly competition.

Mosaic and The Power of Data

Link

I've been thinking quite a lot lately about data analysis, partly because I've got to do some work on an interesting dataset and partly because I've belatedly come to see many of the benefits of data mining and manipulation.  Audioscrobbler's USP, based as it is on personal data in the form of  music played, to produce individual and group profiles which in turn drives playlists aka personal radio, is an excellent example of datamining providing the USP.  In many ways del.icio.us is the same - their site is their API and that is driven by user data.  In both cases the data is used transparently.  You agree to its use because you see the  personal benefits.  You trust them.

But there are morally questionable uses of personal data.  Like credit card data.  Experian the reference agency which pulls together people credit histories and meshes it with all kinds of other data has a product called Mosaic.  This basically knows, or purports to know who you are and what you want based on age, wealth, ethnicity, housing type, and of course things like your credit record.  It's like Acorn on steroids. Retailers love it to plan product ranges in store and even to plan the location of stores themselves.  Now political parties are using it to know their audience better and to potentially determine their communications strategy to appeal most to voters and not just  swing voters in marginal seats but all of us.  This is especially significant given that according to research:

Labour's 167-seat majority in 2001 could have been removed if just 136,108 voters in 83 of the most marginal Labour seats had cast their ballots for second-placed candidates.

This ability to see what voters want is, I think, a huge threat to political ideolgies such as they are.  The focus groups of Philip Gould under Blair were legendary for their effect on policy and surveys are constantly being done by political parties to keep up with their electorate.  But things like Mosaic, which will only become more powerful in their ability to predict even in real time in response to events and political campaigns, could mean that we have a government shorn of any belief let alone ideology and is constantly reactive to public opinion.   

see also:
The myriad of bad news stories around credit fraud which only serve to strengthen the case for Experian and others to collect more and more data on us without our explicit consent in the mispaced belief it makes a difference. 

Yahoo! We're Going To Hollywood But We'll Have to Use a Google Map to Get There

Link: Wired 13.03: The UnGoogle (Yes, Yahoo!).

Interesting article in Wired about the different strategies of Yahoo! and Google. I find it quite amazing how Yahoo! have managed to consolidate their position as a cornerstone of content and services and quietly become the most innovative web services company around.  What I didn't realise is how their approach is more pragmatic than a great vision: they try to be first to market and deliver what the user wants.  Google on the other hand seem to be more idealistic and principled.  But whilst competitors, they are seemingly on divergent paths:

Yahoo! and Google are headed in different directions. Google is on its way to Redmond to battle Microsoft later this decade, while Yahoo! is going Hollywood. Late last year, the company announced the opening of a new entertainment division, run by former ABC television exec Lloyd Braun. The division, based in Santa Monica, California, incorporates the company's movies and music services along with games, news, sports, and finance.

More interestingly is the path that Yahoo! wants to be on:

What does Yahoo! have to offer Hollywood? It's a new distribution channel. Semel imagines Yahoo! delivering rich content to any Web-enabled device at any time, a vision that could make Yahoo! the obvious next step in Hollywood's Internet strategy. "I can easily see using my credit card to pay Yahoo! to watch a first-run movie on my computer in five years," says UBS Warburg analyst Ben Schachter.

Semel doesn't just want to deliver movies. He's intent on making Yahoo! more personal. Customizing the site down to the neighborhood level will make it more appealing to users and indispensable to advertisers. "If you are looking for a plumber or a pizza parlor, you don't want one 3,000 miles away," Semel says. "You want your search to be customized just for you. [source: Wired].

Geography is going to be so key which to a Geo/Sociology PhD grad nerd like me produces a warm, wet feeling down the leg area.  But I think Wired as I'm sure it won't be long before Google start to monetise the local search with relevant local 'content' and that's currently Yahoo!'s baby.   

see:
Google Maps
Yahoo Local Search
Batelle's search blog for all things search related

GPS Tracked Car Insurance

Link: Business 2.0 :: Magazine Article :: What Works :: GPS-Tracked Car Insurance.

Business 2.0 have picked a bunch of 25 companies that are outfoxing the competition through innovative solutions. Their choice for technology innovation is an idea piloted by Norwich Union that allows them to measure bad driving and alter insurance premiums accordingly through the use of GPS. In 2004 Norwich Union installed 500 GPS units in the cars of clients.  Each month they 'measure' the driving habits and alter the insurance premiums accordingly.  Lord knows how they actually measure 'bad driving' through the use of GPS - could they actually see if you mounted that kerb, maimed that pedestrian or ate that apple whilst riding the arse of the car in front? Insurance companies seem to be at the bleeding edge of technological advance when it comes to making us [financially] accountable for our behaviour and even for our genetic heritage.
Anyway,it would seem that the technology is not so much used to track bad driving so much as whether you are driving at all.  In particular driving between the hours of 11pm and 6am when most accidents occur, apparently.   This enables the company to set up an entirely new pay-as-you-go product.  It is tailored to the 18-21 yr old market who's premiums are usually so high.  Ingenius.
What next? Life insurance packages that track whether you're in the boozer? 
The rise in the use and trade of personal and demographic information is a fascinating thing. From the flawed but powerful Acorn index to the credit rating  data that companies like Experian produce.  All this data is on the one hand defining and representing us, but could be used to  control and manage us - through things like insurance postcode lottery.   

Unrelated but interesting also:
The Business 2.0 blogs. 
John Batelle's article in Business 2.0 on local search being employed by A9

GPS and Reality Gaming

Link: we make money not art: Back Seat Gaming.

I love this idea being devloped at the Interactive Institute in Stockholm.  This, to me, is a great innovation.  Gaming is a good way to pass time - especially when you're trapped, like when a passenger in a car.  The one constant when travelling, with the exception of the UK where the norm is gridlock, is that you're moving. The landscape is changing. Changing landscape, GPS and a captive, restless audience = GPS game. Simple. Fab.  Anyway, it's still in the research phase so I'm not going to get too carried away.

Admission: I'm not a gamer.  I spent 6 months back in 1992 playing Super Mario on a Nintendo 24/7 with nothing but microwave faggots, reefers, and cheap lager for company.  Half a year of my life is a black hole.  Gone with nothing to show for it but some dodgy aquaintances from Liverpool.  I dare not get sucked in again. I'm weak. That said, I love the developmenst in gaming.   Alice has found a funny account of what could happen if EA get their way and move gaming into 'mainstream culture' and take games into reality TV land.   Sims on acid!
[via Wonderland]

 

Map London

Link: UO FACULTY OF CARTOGRAPHY - HomePage.

In the UK the Ordnance Survey owns all the geographic data required to map, well just about anything.  It is Crown Copyright.  You have to buy a license to use the data and it is strictly enforced - even not-for-profit organisations need licenses such as the Online Fellwalking Club [OFC] much to their chagrin.  The OS has trust Fund status by the UK Govt so that although 'we' paid for all the mapping in the first place 'we' are not now entitled to use it as we see fit.  More in the coffers for the depleted No. 11 war chest.  In the US geo-data is free.   

As an aside, if the mapping is not based in the UK i.e. it's foreign then it is outside the copyright - an example being the Red Army maps of the UK and, possibly, Michelin. 

Anyway, cut to the chase, the OU has a collaborative project to map London and give the data away for people to play and build things with and hell, just use.  Good on them.   They're using GPS to get GPX data to then synthesise and get useful maps.  Then they annotate with 'real-world semantics' like one way streets etc. and then populate it with useful information.  It's fascinating to see what sort of data is available - like photographs of the East End from the East End postcard group to add to build on basic geo-data.   Like a collage - a useful one - in progress. 

[via pasta and vinegar]