Maps and GPS obsessions

Reading my friend Brad’s blog this evening, brings to mind my unnatural obsession with maps… and sets me off on a bit of a rambling blog… and not really related to design, other than the fact that my portfolio has perhaps a disproportionate amount of maps. As anyone around me knows, I tend to take my GPS receiver just about anywhere and save the tracks– that and bore everyone with some sort of stat about our location or speed. Google earth is my friend. Especially when i discovered I could convert my GPS tracks into files which Google earth can open (thanks GPS Visualizer). Knowing that, I do silly things like trace a track on Coronado Beach (see the striking red line):

…or check out the flight path over the Great Lakes (see turbulent green path):

How does this relate to design now? I don’t really know. Maybe there’s some environmental art project out there involving gps tracks across a large area. Sounds like a goofy trip idea. Mostly I enjoy maps for the daydream of what it may be like in so many different places and perspectives. Maps can also be beautiful at times in their abstract combinations of color and lines. I’ve sometimes wondered why the poles counter a circular continent with a circular ocean, balance in design, I suppose.