Proposal: People are always working out ways of walking through campus, skirting around new buildings, towards a faculty not yet visited. So, rather than a map of the asphalt and paver paths already installed on campus, and rather than (or in addition to) adding names to these paths to orient users, or providing addresses or branding with fonts or colours or what have you, what I envision is a map of the paths people use, persistently updated and tagged with text, photos, audio, and video (all searchable, of course).The goal is to shift from a top-down map to a bottom-up map: in lieu of (or in addition to) a map measured and drawn and organized with layers of names and map icons, the Pedestrian Survey will generate a map which traces/tracks the space that is occupied, and collects some record of the things that happen in that space. With a good interface, this cloud of user-generated data will revolutionize wayfinding in a persistently changing place.
I proposed using iPhones to collect GPS and accelerometer data in order to trace in 4d (x, y, z, and t) the paths of people exploring main campus while taking photos, sketching, and writing about what they sense and what “senses” them (imagining the campus as an organism: sending/receiving/organizing). The paths followed were then collected into an online Google-Earth-based database and annotated with geotagged information (tweets, photos, sketches and video and audio recordings).
Methods: I hired twelve graduate students from the Waterloo School of Architecture, selected for their expertise in spatial narrative, photography, place analysis and/or social media, to explore the UW main campus and record their experiences using iPhones.
When: Jan. – Jun. 2010
What: Wayfinding Project, University of Waterloo
Who (Project Director): Donald McKay, associate professor 416.458.9675
Key duties: Survey design, Proposal, Presentation, Survey co-ordination, Data management, IT support, Survey report.
Software used: iTunes, iPhone, Picasa, Flickr, Hindenburg Mobile, TweetDeck, ReelDirector, SketchBook, Google Earth, Google Maps, Posterous Blogs, Photoshop, Indesign, OpenOffice, Keynote.