18 March 2012

PERSONAL MAP OF TRAVELS



Aaron Parecki, a resident of Portland, OR, is a man with a mission.  Since 2008 he has been using GPS technology to record his position every 2-6 seconds when moving, resulting in a map (see image above, click to enlarge) with about 2.5 million data points reflecting his travels about the city.  The years 2008-2010 are coded in blue, 2011 in red, and 2012 (thus far) in yellow.  The more intense the color, the more frequently he was at that location.


I created something similar, though much cruder, using Google Maps.  I simply posted a marker at each of the nearly forty places I've lived, then connected them chronologically with blue lines.  The resulting web covers the U.S., with outlying forays to Canada, Mexico, Alaska, and Vietnam.  The greatest concentration of travel is in southern Arizona, where I lived for 20 years.


What I wouldn't give for a personal map like Parecki's, spanning the travels of my entire life. Thanks by my friend Bill for turning me on to his project.

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