I was reading an article about the FutureEverything gathering which started today in Manchester and happened to notice a nice story which explores the idea of map making in reverse.
According to the article a visual artist called Rosie Farrell decided to enter a competition held by Fab Lab which challenged anyone with a good idea to use the company’s equipment to make a prototype product.
Inspired by an anomaly on Google maps, Rosie chose to make a signpost for a town called Argleton which appears on Google’s digital map but which does not, in fact, exist.
Rosie now plans to put her physical map marker in the place where, according to Google Maps, the town should be.
This story caught my eye because it questions the idea that maps, especially digital maps should accurately reflect the physical world (as explored in my last post). Instead by translating something from Google’s digital map into the real world, Rosie has reversed the map making process: “Digitally the town exists but not in the real world,” said Ms Farrell, “I like the idea of taking an imaginary place and making something real for it.” (BBC News online, 18th May, 2010).
The original article also reports that the Eyewriter (which I love and which I saw as part of the Brit Insurance Awards exhibition at the Design Museum), has won first place overall in the FutureEverything competition – good work!
