Walking, Camera in Hand Leads to Mapping
I’m a geek and a dork. I love technology. I love how advancing technology has brought about collisions of my varying interests. The latest one being my love of maps, my habit of noticing odd things most people just pass by and my recently rejuvenated (by virtue of a newly purchased camera) interest in photography. These have collided into taking photos as I wander, geocoding (embedding latitude & longitude and such data into the jpeg file) and then placing them onto a Google map, on the net, for everyone to ignore.
Rather than trying to explain here are three examples. These photos were all taken in one afternoon. I first “discovered” these sites one evening round about midnight while I was walking to a subway station and talking to friend on my phone about where and what I should eat. Several days later I returned to further explore these places in the light of day.
***Note about using these maps: Zoom all the way in using the controls in the upper left. This way my cluster of markers become easier to click on. Even so, some of them will still be too close to easily click. Use the “drop down” box in the upper left to more easily select individual photos. A “bubble” will pop-up when you select a photo by clicking the marker or using the drop-down box. This bubble will contain a short caption and a thumbnail of the photo. Clicking on the photo in the bubble will open, in a new tab or window, a larger, full-sized photo for a better view.***
The Cahuenga Branch Carnegie Library
While I was walking and talking on the phone my friend asked where I was. So, I looked up to spy a street sign when I saw this building. I exclaimed loudly into the phone. My friend was able to find the library on the net while we spoke. For a bit about the history and reasons of Carnegie Libraries click here. In short, it is the story of how an enormously wealthy man altered the course of America with his wealth. And I don’t mean, necessarily (though he was certainly guilty of it), though political means and corruption, but through idealism.
After going on a bit about the library, during the phone conversation, I spun around (still looking for street names) when I spotted this yard. It’s a very “me” thing to get excited about such mundane things as old streetlights. I just had to come back in the daylight to see what was here. While I was shooting these pics a small gaggle of neighborhood kids collected around me. They wondered and asked what I was doing. I did my best to explain that I was taking pictures for fun but I utterly failed. One little girl wrinkled her nose, pointed at a pile of rusty bits & parts with a flipped wrist, and asked “Of those??” Another boy, methinks in an effort to shoo away a weirdo, told me about a row of old streetlights, in working order, erected in the parking lot of a nearby shopping center. (These can actually be seen in the following Urban Goo map. Just to the right (east) of the Goo, oriented North South in the center of the parking lot.) He was right!! I’ve slated a return trip for myself to get snapshots of this array of historic lamps. Of Interest to note: The photo labeled “Streetlamp Yard 19″ shows three “pawn broker globe” lamps in front of the building. These three lamps can be seen as three small white dots in the Google Map satellite photo.
And finally, Urban Goo
This is a very “me” thing to notice. And I don’t just notice these things I ponder them at length and depth. In fact, this one is not all that great of an example of the phenomenon. I’ve come across ones that are much larger, blacker and that make noise as you walk across them. I guess I should warn you that some people may find these distasteful to view. Though, distasteful things abound in urban environments. If’n you are tryin’ to shut yourself off from these you be shutting yourself off from a lot in this world. In my humble opinion.