Saturday, December 21, 2013

How Geo-tags and Tags Change Historical Records

Imagine re-doing history to see where "Elvis checked in."  

That's how I spent 12,000 hours of my time. I helped a lot of dead people check-in as one friend jokes.

Applying geo-tags and tags to  people who never had the internet dramatically changes the lens of history. You can see the past - more revealed - as if social media existed in their time. 

Seeing Sheri Martinelli as a mutual friend of Anais Nin, Ezra Pound, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski, Marlon Brando, ee cummings and Charlie Parker makes you see her relevance as a muse. 



Patsy Cline checked in at Triangle Diner across from John Handley High to start a "path." Plotted paths of profiles show the where and how of a trail blazed - and intersections with notable people.  You can see places in history that had a great vibe and the melting pot of moments. A dream is mapped to answer how one goes from Triangle Diner to making world history. 




Plotting paths reveals things you never saw in written history. Like why did F Scott Fitzgerald move into the same building (38 West 59th St, New York) as one of his hate-mailers within months of seeing the letter?  Was this move a riposte? 



Suddenly Bob was his neighbor.

After geo-tagging the biography of Steve Jobs, I wondered why he never set foot in Canada. Not publicly anyways. Did he have a thing against Canadians? 




Notable addresses led to other inter-connected addresses. It was incredible to see how Steve Jobs, Michael Jackson, and Princess Diana got onto the same elevator from different floors of Carlyle Hotel. That's a metaphor for what you can see geo-tagging history.  

Geo-patterns defined pathways of trailblazers. You can see how destiny was shaped.  The people who made history at more than 400 places became legends.  Warren Buffett changed history less staying home than a globetrotting Allen Ginsberg who never seemed to have a salary.  

Jump2Spot is the world's largest GPS story atlas featuring where movie scenes, music history, art, invention, books and biographies took place. Stories are also geo-tagged at the world's most photographed spots. The present is also geo-tagged to see the future.