[Geowanking] Waypoints are in a narrative, or a narrative is in the Waypoints?

[Pall Thayer]

Here's something I wrote the other day + a project as example:

On narrative, abstract and location - 
http://pallit.lhi.is/~palli/NarAbsLoc.pdf

Hlemmur in C - http://pallit.lhi.is/hlemmC/

Pall

Rich Gibson wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> So I am interested in 'geospatially enabled narrative.'  Basically stories 
> with a geospatial component.  This might be as simple as 'we drove down to 
> Santa Rosalia <link to see map> to go fishing.' Or more complex, with odd 
> convuluted ideas of sequence and space.  A story that derives its 
> organizing metaphors from waypoints will be fundamentally different from 
> one that derives from track logs.
> 
> In this context 'Waypoint' means a point, while 'track log' means an 
> ordered sequence of points.  Either one could have additional data 
> associated with each point.  
> 
> One idea would be to put bits of narrative within waypoints, and then 
> allow a person to draw an arbitrary line across a map and 'play' the story 
> by assembling the sequence of waypoints that are nearest to the line at 
> each point.
> 
> I could see this is a way of exploring diaries of trips.  Where each entry 
> is tied to a place, or a waypoint.  Depending on how you drew the line you 
> could get back a narrative or diary that mixed different trips or 
> different eras.
> 
> Drawing a line through from East to West towards the bottom of Wyoming 
> would, based on my personal stories and resources, generate a narrative 
> mixing several of my trips in the area with the Oregon Trail diary of a 
> journey from 1852 that my Great Great Great Grandfather was on.
> 
> Using track logs of actual trips, or proposed trips, would come up with 
> comments and notes and such from trips and stories past, but mixed up and 
> presented in the order that you will experience those locations.
> 
> If you travel the Oregon Trail from West to East you are 'breaking' the 
> historic model, at every step you are ahead of where they were.  But if 
> that is what you are doing, then you may want to read narratives that 
> reflect your experience.
> 
> That whole model reflect the idea that the stories, or diary entries, are 
> stored 'in' the waypoints.  If we think of GPX files, where waypoints are 
> in XML tags, we get something like: 
> 
> <wpt lat="41.311340" lon="-105.584107">
>   <name>LARAME</name>  
>   <desc>Fort Laramie</desc>
>   <cmt>Fort Laramie was created in 18xx to protect emmigrants 
> and settlers and to serve as a ...(narrative deleted)</cmt>
> </wpt>
> 
> But then it gets a bit ugly...or at least, the data modeling gets messy.  
> What about narrative like 'we passed by Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff and 
> then camped acrossfrom Fort Laramie the next day.'
> 
> I get the issue that a waypoint can contain zero or more 'stories,' but a 
> 'story' can contain zero or more waypoints.  But, heck, that is okay...
> 
> Anyway, that is my thought of the day.
> 
> Cheers,
> Rich
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-- 
_______________________________
Pall Thayer
artist/teacher
http://www.this.is/pallit
http://pallit.lhi.is/panse
_______________________________