Know Where You Are

Following a GPS visit to the Isle of Wight last week, I was wondering
what the point of universal GPS was and where it would lead us. I had a
huge thought: Knowing where you are is a fundamental human right.

We take this for granted as we generally know where we are.
Who might not know where they are? Prisoners, patients, soldiers,
children, workers, passengers –
What do we mean by 'where we are'? I am in a University of Brighton
lecture room, in the sculpture department, in the Grand Parade
buildings, in south Brighton, in Brighton, on the south coast, in East
Sussex, in Sussex, in the South East, in the South of England, in
England, in Great Britain, in the United Kingdom, in norther Europe, in
Europe, in the norther hemisphere, in the west, in the first world, on
Earth – etc

How can we ensure we know where we are? What steps need to be taken to
ensure people know where they are? What are the effects of not knowing
where you are?

Is the right to know where you are anywhere enshrined in law?

And while I'm on the subject:

I'm doing two GPS for Artists workshops with SCAN
<http://www.scansite.org/scan.php?pid30>on Feb 19th at Quay Arts, Isle
of Weight and on March 12 at New Greenham Arts so if you fancy a free
day out with a GPS unit and a camera and an introduction to GPS for
artists, please book up now.


GPS for Artists, Ivan Pope workshop, 19/2/05 Quay Arts, Isle of Wight,
UK; 12/3/05 New Greenham Arts, Berkshire UK


Places still available and it is free to attend. Booking essential.
Phone 01590 682824

Ivan Pope presents A Locative Day Out

The satellite based Global Positioning System (GPS) allows us to record
basic information about their location, direction, altitude and speed.
Using small hand held devices, artists can record and interpret this
data to create mapping, locative, durational and other works. GPS allows
us to take back knowledge of our whereabouts, and to annotate this
knowledge, or to reuse it as we wish.

Artists can use access to this locative data that forms the background
to all our lives, to add another layer of information to work. Whether
we want accurate information or chaotic disinformation, the gps
satellites transmit unceasingly 24 hours a day, not caring whether we
make use of their datastreams or not. We can anonymously take up their
offering and convert it to human data.

This one day live workshop will introduce the basic functioning of the
GPS and demonstrate GPS devices and software along with digital cameras.
Participants will be able to use GPS devices and digital cameras in the
field to create their own personal mappings of the locality. These
mappings will form the basis for a workshop in creating combined and
annotated maps and images.

We will spend the day looking at software and hardware and discussing
psychogeographic and locative issues while making our own maps, playing
gps games and adding to the global store of waypoints.

–
Ivan Pope
[email protected]

Studio website –>http://ivanpope.com
Absent Without Leave –> http://blog.ivanpope.com

> Following a GPS visit to the Isle of Wight last week, I was wondering what the point of universal GPS was and where it would lead us. I had a huge thought: Knowing where you are is a fundamental human right.

True, it is a fundamental right. No one should be made to suffer the
perils of not knowing where they are. But the fundamental question here
is, "Does a GPS device tell us where we are?"

How do we define location? If I tell you, in a casual phone conversation
(while you are sitting at a cafe with no maps on you), that I'm at N58
24.10 E10 18.20, does that tell you where I am?

If I'm lost in the desert somewhere and my trusty GPS device tells me my
coordinates, I'm no better off unless I can supplement it with
additional information and if I can, a simple compass would do me just
as much good.

On the other hand, I might be able to tell you during our phone
conversation that to my left is a wide river, on the other side of the
river is big old church. On my right is a street with some restaurants.
Do you know where I am? Do I know where I am?

Pall

Ivan Pope wrote:
> Following a GPS visit to the Isle of Wight last week, I was wondering
> what the point of universal GPS was and where it would lead us. I had a
> huge thought: Knowing where you are is a fundamental human right.
>
> We take this for granted as we generally know where we are.
> Who might not know where they are? Prisoners, patients, soldiers,
> children, workers, passengers –
> What do we mean by 'where we are'? I am in a University of Brighton
> lecture room, in the sculpture department, in the Grand Parade
> buildings, in south Brighton, in Brighton, on the south coast, in East
> Sussex, in Sussex, in the South East, in the South of England, in
> England, in Great Britain, in the United Kingdom, in norther Europe, in
> Europe, in the norther hemisphere, in the west, in the first world, on
> Earth – etc
>
> How can we ensure we know where we are? What steps need to be taken to
> ensure people know where they are? What are the effects of not knowing
> where you are?
>
> Is the right to know where you are anywhere enshrined in law?
>
> And while I'm on the subject:
>
> I'm doing two GPS for Artists workshops with SCAN
> <http://www.scansite.org/scan.php?pid30>on Feb 19th at Quay Arts, Isle
> of Weight and on March 12 at New Greenham Arts so if you fancy a free
> day out with a GPS unit and a camera and an introduction to GPS for
> artists, please book up now.
>
>
> GPS for Artists, Ivan Pope workshop, 19/2/05 Quay Arts, Isle of Wight,
> UK; 12/3/05 New Greenham Arts, Berkshire UK
>
>
> Places still available and it is free to attend. Booking essential.
> Phone 01590 682824
>
> Ivan Pope presents A Locative Day Out
>
> The satellite based Global Positioning System (GPS) allows us to record
> basic information about their location, direction, altitude and speed.
> Using small hand held devices, artists can record and interpret this
> data to create mapping, locative, durational and other works. GPS allows
> us to take back knowledge of our whereabouts, and to annotate this
> knowledge, or to reuse it as we wish.
>
> Artists can use access to this locative data that forms the background
> to all our lives, to add another layer of information to work. Whether
> we want accurate information or chaotic disinformation, the gps
> satellites transmit unceasingly 24 hours a day, not caring whether we
> make use of their datastreams or not. We can anonymously take up their
> offering and convert it to human data.
>
> This one day live workshop will introduce the basic functioning of the
> GPS and demonstrate GPS devices and software along with digital cameras.
> Participants will be able to use GPS devices and digital cameras in the
> field to create their own personal mappings of the locality. These
> mappings will form the basis for a workshop in creating combined and
> annotated maps and images.
>
> We will spend the day looking at software and hardware and discussing
> psychogeographic and locative issues while making our own maps, playing
> gps games and adding to the global store of waypoints.
>

–
_______________________________
Pall Thayer
artist/teacher
http://www.this.is/pallit
http://pallit.lhi.is/panse

Lorna
http://www.this.is/lorna
_______________________________

Hi Pall,
Yes, I know of course, GPS information doesn't tell you 'where you are'.
I wasn't really connecting the two in a literal sense. I just had this
thought that knowing where you are might be a fundamental human right
that is worth talking about. Thinking about this raises exactly the
issue you raise: what information do you need to 'know where you are'.
I'm interested in chrono-geography. That is, I like to look at location
and time. There's another layer on knowing where you are, i.e. what date
are you at etc.
I'm interested in theoretical aspects of location and psychogeography.
How would you define the information that anyone should be given in
order that they 'know where they are'.
Cheers,
Ivan

Pall Thayer wrote:

>> Following a GPS visit to the Isle of Wight last week, I was wondering
>> what the point of universal GPS was and where it would lead us. I had
>> a huge thought: Knowing where you are is a fundamental human right.
>
>
> True, it is a fundamental right. No one should be made to suffer the
> perils of not knowing where they are. But the fundamental question
> here is, "Does a GPS device tell us where we are?"
>
> How do we define location? If I tell you, in a casual phone
> conversation (while you are sitting at a cafe with no maps on you),
> that I'm at N58 24.10 E10 18.20, does that tell you where I am?
>
> If I'm lost in the desert somewhere and my trusty GPS device tells me
> my coordinates, I'm no better off unless I can supplement it with
> additional information and if I can, a simple compass would do me just
> as much good.
>
> On the other hand, I might be able to tell you during our phone
> conversation that to my left is a wide river, on the other side of the
> river is big old church. On my right is a street with some
> restaurants. Do you know where I am? Do I know where I am?
>
> Pall
>
> Ivan Pope wrote:
>
>> Following a GPS visit to the Isle of Wight last week, I was wondering
>> what the point of universal GPS was and where it would lead us. I had
>> a huge thought: Knowing where you are is a fundamental human right.
>>
>> We take this for granted as we generally know where we are.
>> Who might not know where they are? Prisoners, patients, soldiers,
>> children, workers, passengers –
>> What do we mean by 'where we are'? I am in a University of Brighton
>> lecture room, in the sculpture department, in the Grand Parade
>> buildings, in south Brighton, in Brighton, on the south coast, in
>> East Sussex, in Sussex, in the South East, in the South of England,
>> in England, in Great Britain, in the United Kingdom, in norther
>> Europe, in Europe, in the norther hemisphere, in the west, in the
>> first world, on Earth – etc
>>
>> How can we ensure we know where we are? What steps need to be taken
>> to ensure people know where they are? What are the effects of not
>> knowing where you are?
>>
>> Is the right to know where you are anywhere enshrined in law?
>>
>> And while I'm on the subject:
>>
>> I'm doing two GPS for Artists workshops with SCAN
>> <http://www.scansite.org/scan.php?pid30>on Feb 19th at Quay Arts,
>> Isle of Weight and on March 12 at New Greenham Arts so if you fancy a
>> free day out with a GPS unit and a camera and an introduction to GPS
>> for artists, please book up now.
>>
>>
>> GPS for Artists, Ivan Pope workshop, 19/2/05 Quay Arts, Isle of Wight,
>> UK; 12/3/05 New Greenham Arts, Berkshire UK
>>
>>
>> Places still available and it is free to attend. Booking essential.
>> Phone 01590 682824
>>
>> Ivan Pope presents A Locative Day Out
>>
>> The satellite based Global Positioning System (GPS) allows us to
>> record basic information about their location, direction, altitude
>> and speed. Using small hand held devices, artists can record and
>> interpret this data to create mapping, locative, durational and other
>> works. GPS allows us to take back knowledge of our whereabouts, and
>> to annotate this knowledge, or to reuse it as we wish.
>>
>> Artists can use access to this locative data that forms the
>> background to all our lives, to add another layer of information to
>> work. Whether we want accurate information or chaotic disinformation,
>> the gps satellites transmit unceasingly 24 hours a day, not caring
>> whether we make use of their datastreams or not. We can anonymously
>> take up their offering and convert it to human data.
>>
>> This one day live workshop will introduce the basic functioning of
>> the GPS and demonstrate GPS devices and software along with digital
>> cameras. Participants will be able to use GPS devices and digital
>> cameras in the field to create their own personal mappings of the
>> locality. These mappings will form the basis for a workshop in
>> creating combined and annotated maps and images.
>>
>> We will spend the day looking at software and hardware and discussing
>> psychogeographic and locative issues while making our own maps,
>> playing gps games and adding to the global store of waypoints.
>>
>

–
Business Blogging <http://blog.telememetics.com/blog.html>

Hi Ivan,
Well, I'm a little more concerned these days with taking a location and
transforming it into a non-location. But of course to achieve the "know
where you are" factor you have to include some sort of universally
familiar element. Like a landmark that everyone (or at least whoever has
to understand the location) knows. Of course, it would be interesting to
know what the world might be like if we could attain the kind of
automatic familiarity with numerical location identifiers that we have
with small numbers. Like when we see three trees in a park, we don't
have to count them. We just look and know that what we see is three. So
if we could just look at a set of coordinates and immediately picture
that coordinates surrounding area, but I don't really see that happening
in the near future.

Ivan Pope wrote:
> Hi Pall,
> Yes, I know of course, GPS information doesn't tell you 'where you are'.
> I wasn't really connecting the two in a literal sense. I just had this
> thought that knowing where you are might be a fundamental human right
> that is worth talking about. Thinking about this raises exactly the
> issue you raise: what information do you need to 'know where you are'.
> I'm interested in chrono-geography. That is, I like to look at location
> and time. There's another layer on knowing where you are, i.e. what date
> are you at etc.
> I'm interested in theoretical aspects of location and psychogeography.
> How would you define the information that anyone should be given in
> order that they 'know where they are'.
> Cheers,
> Ivan
>
> Pall Thayer wrote:
>
>>> Following a GPS visit to the Isle of Wight last week, I was wondering
>>> what the point of universal GPS was and where it would lead us. I had
>>> a huge thought: Knowing where you are is a fundamental human right.
>>
>>
>>
>> True, it is a fundamental right. No one should be made to suffer the
>> perils of not knowing where they are. But the fundamental question
>> here is, "Does a GPS device tell us where we are?"
>>
>> How do we define location? If I tell you, in a casual phone
>> conversation (while you are sitting at a cafe with no maps on you),
>> that I'm at N58 24.10 E10 18.20, does that tell you where I am?
>>
>> If I'm lost in the desert somewhere and my trusty GPS device tells me
>> my coordinates, I'm no better off unless I can supplement it with
>> additional information and if I can, a simple compass would do me just
>> as much good.
>>
>> On the other hand, I might be able to tell you during our phone
>> conversation that to my left is a wide river, on the other side of the
>> river is big old church. On my right is a street with some
>> restaurants. Do you know where I am? Do I know where I am?
>>
>> Pall
>>
>> Ivan Pope wrote:
>>
>>> Following a GPS visit to the Isle of Wight last week, I was wondering
>>> what the point of universal GPS was and where it would lead us. I had
>>> a huge thought: Knowing where you are is a fundamental human right.
>>>
>>> We take this for granted as we generally know where we are.
>>> Who might not know where they are? Prisoners, patients, soldiers,
>>> children, workers, passengers –
>>> What do we mean by 'where we are'? I am in a University of Brighton
>>> lecture room, in the sculpture department, in the Grand Parade
>>> buildings, in south Brighton, in Brighton, on the south coast, in
>>> East Sussex, in Sussex, in the South East, in the South of England,
>>> in England, in Great Britain, in the United Kingdom, in norther
>>> Europe, in Europe, in the norther hemisphere, in the west, in the
>>> first world, on Earth – etc
>>>
>>> How can we ensure we know where we are? What steps need to be taken
>>> to ensure people know where they are? What are the effects of not
>>> knowing where you are?
>>>
>>> Is the right to know where you are anywhere enshrined in law?
>>>
>>> And while I'm on the subject:
>>>
>>> I'm doing two GPS for Artists workshops with SCAN
>>> <http://www.scansite.org/scan.php?pid30>on Feb 19th at Quay Arts,
>>> Isle of Weight and on March 12 at New Greenham Arts so if you fancy a
>>> free day out with a GPS unit and a camera and an introduction to GPS
>>> for artists, please book up now.
>>>
>>>
>>> GPS for Artists, Ivan Pope workshop, 19/2/05 Quay Arts, Isle of Wight,
>>> UK; 12/3/05 New Greenham Arts, Berkshire UK
>>>
>>>
>>> Places still available and it is free to attend. Booking essential.
>>> Phone 01590 682824
>>>
>>> Ivan Pope presents A Locative Day Out
>>>
>>> The satellite based Global Positioning System (GPS) allows us to
>>> record basic information about their location, direction, altitude
>>> and speed. Using small hand held devices, artists can record and
>>> interpret this data to create mapping, locative, durational and other
>>> works. GPS allows us to take back knowledge of our whereabouts, and
>>> to annotate this knowledge, or to reuse it as we wish.
>>>
>>> Artists can use access to this locative data that forms the
>>> background to all our lives, to add another layer of information to
>>> work. Whether we want accurate information or chaotic disinformation,
>>> the gps satellites transmit unceasingly 24 hours a day, not caring
>>> whether we make use of their datastreams or not. We can anonymously
>>> take up their offering and convert it to human data.
>>>
>>> This one day live workshop will introduce the basic functioning of
>>> the GPS and demonstrate GPS devices and software along with digital
>>> cameras. Participants will be able to use GPS devices and digital
>>> cameras in the field to create their own personal mappings of the
>>> locality. These mappings will form the basis for a workshop in
>>> creating combined and annotated maps and images.
>>>
>>> We will spend the day looking at software and hardware and discussing
>>> psychogeographic and locative issues while making our own maps,
>>> playing gps games and adding to the global store of waypoints.
>>>
>>
>

–
_______________________________
Pall Thayer
artist/teacher
http://www.this.is/pallit
http://pallit.lhi.is/panse

Lorna
http://www.this.is/lorna
_______________________________