Fantasist’s Scroll

Fun, Fiction and Strange Things from the Desk of the Fantasist.

8/12/2005

Real Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Filed under: — Posted by the Fantasist during the Hour of the Rat which is in the wee hours.
The moon is a First Quarter Moon

Now this is really cool!
Once again, science-fiction becomes reality with a GPS-enabled, real “Hitchhiker’s Guide”. A prototype traveler’s guide that is more than just GPS-synced maps, this little baby gives you historical information and other tidbits that might interest a tourist based on where it reads you via participating networks. The author tested this on the 850-acre parkland surrounding Ashton Court, which is somewhere in the UK, from what I gather. I’m not familiar with it myself, but it must be a popular tourist destination. In any case, this little bad boy, called an “Explorer”, sees where you are on the GPS grid and serves you multimedia content based on that location. As well as showing you those cool maps that we’ve all come to depend on so much. (You know, I think Gibson wrote about something like this, but more personable, in some of his work, too.)

Anyway, the future is now. At least in prototype-land. Hey, it’s the best I can do for a Friday Fun Link on the same day I’m getting divorced. Get over it!

11/21/2003

Real-World Maps

Filed under: — Posted by the Fantasist during the Hour of the Rat which is in the wee hours.
The moon is a First Quarter Moon

Ever wonder how MapQuest gets their maps?

Well, apparently, they send out two techs in a car to drive around and record which way they go! No, really, I’m not making that up. Don’t believe me? Then check out this article on TechTV. It’s a brief interview with two of those techs based out of Chicago who do just that. Of course, they rely on GPS and a laptop to record the information, but they still have to get out there and actually drive it. Could be an interesting gig, if you like driving around all day. Anyway, it’s an interesting article.


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