Jerritt Collord has added a new dimension to the collaborative Wiki concept - GeoWiki. It allows anyone to Geocode Web Pages. Jerritt explains how it works:
In GIS-speak, it will provide a way to collaboratively manage place names and descriptions and provide geography specific information services.
Ultimately it will play a role in the juxtaposition of information services and geographic location.
In terms of Wiki it will extend “accidental linking” into the geographic realm.
To use GeoWiki on this wiki, use once in a wiki page (except enclosed in “[[") the macro function like GeoWiki('address','2052.SE.Morrison.St.Portland.OR.97214') or GeoWiki('point','-122.4323','46.4553').
This registers this wiki node with the database. Then, you can call GeoWiki('near','1000','meters') and get back a list of other nearby wiki nodes and PTP nodes.
To map a wiki location, call [[MoinMap('wiki','MyWikiPage')]]. See also MoinMap
How do you get your coordinates? Go to Geocode and type in your address. Your latitude and longitude will come up.
Why not “map” the people in your neighborhood?
Retrieving any memory from one’s life is becoming practical. Mapping areas of interest around each neighborhood is halfway done. With neighborhood involvement, residents could get hands-on while creating a resource for the whole community. Gordon Bell’s project, MyLifeBits, scans his books and family photos. Cityblogs and Blockblogs - created at no cost - could establish long-term resource hubs. Content run by and for local people, could link to the larger community. Local news and features could be syndicated by topic and location and feature sections for classified ads and birthdays that month.
City Repair’s T-Horse (above) demonstrates how a space can be transformed into a place. Unwired.
Oral histories could be recorded and Geo Coded via Lat/Long in URLs or Blog Mapper, then available in the “blogosphere” from any web browser or on a CD/DVD. Portland Maps (or anyone) could use it.
Geocoding is the key. Related Daily Wireless stories include Narrative Geocoding, Transit Mapping, Neighborhood Netcams, Tracking Bryon, Unwalled Garden,l Talking Books and Tri-Mode community LANs.
But the real is often not the ideal.
Wendy Mackay documents Xerox EuroPARC’s now-defunct experiments with embedded social software, in which easily-available multimedia connections were spread through both the public and private areas of the workspace.
The goal was to foster casual workplace social connections by creating a sense of shared presence and making audio-visual communication easy. However, while they may have intended to break down existing social barriers, the system continued to reflect the real-world social roles and hierarchies of the group.
.gif)
