Hello

I was recently contacted by a person who works in environmental science.
this is how he descibes his work, he "needs accurate geo-referencing to
provide precise point-source locations for observations and data on terrain,
soils, climate, vagetation, cultural inforamtion and economic conditions. He
uses the data to develope descriptive, explanatory and predictive models
that relate the different layers of spatial informations."
whilst we were talking about GPS information i said that the data itself is
meaningless without other references, which is similar to this discussion of
location - knowing that i'm at N54.05038 W-2.80179 doesnt really tell me
anything. But he has worked with this data for so long, that he would know
roughly where that was, because he's worked with this data in many different
locations across the north of england, and the world.
I've never met anyone who can really 'read' GPS data, without software to
relate it to a location. Usually i'm thinking about recreational users of
GPS, not professional users - like the park rangers, or mountain rescue
people that Jen H mentioned. As with any other information, its more about
having the experience to read it. The environmental scientist I spoke to has
the relative databank in his own memory - linked to GPS data, rather than on
a device.

Jen

Jen Southern
Www.theportable.tv

> 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.
>>>>
>>>
>>

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