Smarter Streetviews

No different than interesting people, the coolest maps are smart, with the best Points of Interest. They have great character (cool filtering). Not just looks.

Why do 80% choose Google Maps (Streetview/Satellite)? The best map has the best data.That's the universal rule for any data visualization. You're only going to be as good as your data. 

Cartographic "data" can always be enhanced instead of staying static with the same old names on a map, with familiar looks day after day. 

A "Deep Map" adds a fresh, colorful 3rd dimension. Far past dynamic Waze traffic reports.

Here's E.T.'s view flying on a bike in 1982 over White Oak Ave (between Tribune & San Fernando Mission) in Porter Ranch (CA).  

Here's a widely available Streetview from a photo collection, not in Google Streetview: 

Did you know Kobe Bryant in his last flight flew by where E.T. flew? Red marks E.T.'s  take off route below. Green marks Kobe's last flight path along San Fernando Mission Blvd:

It's possible to know every point of interest Kobe last flew over by routing a flight path: 

He flew over where Frank Zappa was based in 1961. Today there's interesting info available at all notable addresses he flew over. The 3rd dimension of cartographic data.

With a Deep Map, you can enhance locations, creating the ultimate Streetviews with already collected visuals. For Blonde On Blonde (1966), Bob Dylan was photographed by Jerry Schatzberg at 375 West (NYC), a building no longer there. 

It took PopSpots  5 years to find this address, scouring old photos. A location can also callout old photos already archived in online collections, showing buildings no longer there today. Ghosts: 

Other music locations still exist in current Streetviews that can be enhanced and visited, like for Bob Dylan's album cover Highway 61 (1965), photographed by Daniel Kramer, at 4 Gramercy Park West (NYC), once home of his manager Albert Grossman. You can enhance an existing Streetview with a personal photo and album cover (a PopSpot): 

This cartographic data already exists as do collectors' photos to enhance what we can see in GPS or by searching streets. 

The hard work has been consolidating geographic collections - collection after collection, geo-tagging stories one biography at a time, finding each address. One is surveying the land for the most interesting culture and visuals. 

The Points of Interest then need to be themed by genre (food) and subgenre (pizza). Geographic experiences also need to be playlisted across genres (Willis Tower is a scenic point to see Chicago, then have Chicago style deep dish pizza at Pizzano's).

Over a decade, I personally collected and connected 333,000 Points of Interest curated for food, music, movies, literature, art/inventions, old/artistic photos, biographies and journeys worldwide. It was laborious: 12-15 hours a day (mapped while isolated from society in a forest at first), but a labor of love unlike going everywhere in Google Streetview.  

These are Places you want to taste, see, hear, feel and touch. Tasty pizza or soup nearby. 

The last 4 years was spent next to a library, culling info not online, but only in memoirs, cultural books and documentaries. Bob Dylan nearby and afar. 700+ addresses now centralized. 

The data got smarter over time with intersections of notable people, sharing routes, with unique regional identities and patterns emerging. I saw things you could not see in history without mapping biographies. The aggregation flavors a street in a new way. 

English Literature grad Janie Tsao worked in IT for Sears Roebuck 1975-1983, now Willis Tower, which has an incredible view of Chicago (above), whose movie locations have the highest box office success for non-Blockbusters (a film scout's paradise).

Janie later pioneered Wi-Fi and home networking in LA, starting Linksys (1988), as a mother of two. She started in her garage with spouse Victor, who worked at Taco Bell in LA.

There's a community that collects interesting "locative media" to use a term cited by William Gibson in Spook Country (2007). Some specialize in movie locations, others in music, history and other topics.

Some location IDs can take years to find. It is like a music fan's treasure hunt, in search of the Holy Grail. I still have not found the swimming hole dubbed the Ball Pump where R.E.M. was among 30-50 friends who would sneak onto private property to skinny dip 1979-81, outside of Athens (GA). It inspired Nightswimming (1992). An important biographical footnote.

Cenotes have been beautiful to map.

For me, collecting cartographic culture is in anticipation of new ways cartographic info can be projected in GPS, maps, augmented reality and maybe even handheld holograms (or 2D light projections) one day.  A map is any kind of geographic projection. 

U2's Bono is seen above behind a blue car walking by 10 Cedarwood Rd (Dublin), where he grew up, a projection at United Center (Chicago). Gavin Friday who named him Bono lived at 140 Cedarwood. Guggi lived at No 5. Geographic memories are projected. 

Geographic captions can also get poetic with deep thoughts. Below is “Xenon for the Peggy Guggenheim” (2003) by Jenny Holzer in Venice projected at Palazzo Corner della Ca’ Grande. She has many geographic thought bubbles worldwide. 

For now, as an explorer of culture, I desire a smarter Streetview with greater character and richer Points of Interest. This 3rd Dimension of cartographic data "deep maps" what can be shown at a place, adding deeper flavor.

Part of my collection has been shared with a community of 114,000 New York City followers I manage in social media. I'm always trying to show rare interesting blind spot stories in streets. "I lived there and had no idea." 

Times Square is the most photographed place in history and it's been interesting to have visuals and stories for 125 years at almost every address. The depth of cartographic artifacts has been incredible. Truly the Crossroads of the World....where the "medium is the message."

Imagine a map that had more info than just names of places. One that can tell you what notable stories happened inside any building, show biographies of its people, defining taste across geography. 

A map that can connect you to a like-minded place anywhere in the world. It goes far past the nearby radar. One where you can follow footsteps of notable people or similar tastes. It can also shine a light on your blind spots. That's the 3rd dimension of cartography.
 

The trick is how best to package the most interesting Points of Interest in a personalized way as soon as you land at the airport (for example), and are on the go. 

Welcome to Barcelona. A concierge can tell you where to go like Alexa with presentation for rapid transit. Not shoving 100s of items at you but a handful. Useful for a GPS guide in a car, phone, taxi/bus, hotel/home.  

As illustrated above, cartographic visualization (map tiles) do not necessarily have to show Road Maps primarily. The best maps have the best data. Not data you already know. Blind spot data is primary. 

On-the-go, screen real estate could even get small and be text-only. 

Audio guided tours might be enhanced with geo-tagged songs. Music can Spotify a map. A soundtrack for geography: 

An enhanced car GPS guide might only be a glance-worthy jukebox of postcards showing Top 5 places to eat lunch, find a pizza slice or have craft beer. Or it might even enhance hands-free voice-activated call and response tech. Where can I eat? 

Here's where your favorite singer or Anthony Bourdain had lunch. Best meals for $10. This is all about smartly tiered visual/audio decision making. The 1st decision isn't how to get there. But where to go for a call-to-action. The location pitch is the #1 map tile.  It has to pitch much better than a pin on a map. 

Road Maps can be ancillary visuals if you don't know how to get there. But they're also unneeded primarily if you are local and know how to get to there. The majority of a user's experience should be *interesting* blind spot data and visuals you cannot find on most maps. The unfamiliar and desired. 

Taste-driven Places like Songs also have to be playlisted for personal experiences. It's all about connective attributes connecting personally. 

I see a day when cartography will have influencers like Youtubers or Instagrammers, who are licensed guides. Bob Dylan himself can guide you to his Places. He might even pop by to speak live virtually wherever you are. There can be MixTapes of Places by star guides. It's not the world of GIS as we know it today. 

It's all about having collections and curators who package geographic highlights. "New Data" not in GIS to power the most interesting cartography. And that's exactly what the world of digital gardens is doing. 

The world of collections can be vast. But simply imagine if everything you collect in your living room can be tagged for display to represent your personal taste (something regularly swappable). A digital garden is like your book or record collection on display, but linked to another collection. 

That in turn can branch you to other cultural trees to explore related worlds.  Digital gardens are "mutual friends" connecting to each other in a culturally genetic way. My record collection can be connected to Bob Dylan's or Anthony Bourdain's. I can then find like-minded Experiences. That in turn can connect directly to Places to experience live. 

Geographic matchmaking is about connecting personal tastes in geography. There might even be a day where friends leave things for you. Scavenger hunt treats at friendly Places. A personal treasure hunt. 

This is a direct-to-location blogging platform. One that needs competition for the best content (best "data") to yield the most rewarding Points of Interest. After this, there's nothing more powerful than a direct-to-location consumer world. 

Like Michelin Guide, data needs to have minimum value standards to be effective. 3 stars (worth a journey in itself), 2 stars (worth a detour) and 1 star (worth a stop). A reason to travel far by car.

The map with the best data will win, but there are also artistic values in how cartographic artifacts are combined in an overall experience. Vibe matters for engagement.  

In recent years, I focused on Food and Music (passionate daily calls to action for me), which can diversify deeper into cultures abroad, places Google could not reach. There's even a map of soup. 

There's also an incredibly invisible Native American and Black History behind food and music we love. The jazz, blues, rock, soul, funk, disco and hip hop we regularly hear. The chocolate, fries and tomato sauce we taste. Taste of the conquered has migrated worldwide to Places to create like-minded experiences. 

History is not just generated by aristocratic literacy and conquest but also by songs and oral culinary recipes of the conquered, surviving even longer, prevalent at cool Points of Interest. 

I want to go past Wikipedia into the blind spots of geographic perception. Blind spots are the most treasured spots of explorers. 

Points of Interest are all about geographic influence and taste migration.  Permanence weighs heavier than trendiness for locative notability. And survival of the conquered in history covers more culture than anything else in the world.