Real-Time Collaborative Mapmaking

savetz writes "Throughout October and November, citizens of Amsterdam were invited to wear a GPS tracker as they went about their lives. Their whereabouts were forwarded to a server which created a map of the city in real-time, based on "the sheer movements of real people." The site includes aggregate maps, and those created by individuals, including a subway driver, cyclist, and marathon trainer."

Comments

reminds me of the half a car joke

[Brigadier]

this reminds me of a story of two guys who at intersections would carry the back wheels of the car over wheel sensors. thus the traffic department would have to account for 64.5 cars passing through the intersections.

Re:reminds me of the half a car joke

[JaredOfEuropa]

Heh, they did something similar over here, when a new system for measuring speed over a stretch of road was introduced. The system would read the license plate at two points a few miles apart, and calculate the speed using the time difference.

During the test phase, a few guys got two identical Volkwagens and put the license plate of one on the back of the other. They then drove one past one checkpoint and immediately drove the other past the next, clocking a respectable speed of Mach 15 or so. The people looking at the stored photographs thought they were looking at the same car in both pictures and were as puzzled as the system. Probably didn't stop them for sending these guys a speeding ticket anyway *shudders*

real time vice-tracking

[sssmashy]

Finally, a way to track the "real people" movements of residents of Amsterdam. Now I can find the marijuana cafes and red-light clubs frequented by Dutchmen who know what they're doing, as opposed to settling for the crappy spots they push on tourists.

If you followed people around long enough...

[unfortunateson]

... you'd get a most excellent map of where the public restrooms are. Always useful when traveling to a foreign city.