Expanding maps

May 2, 2011 — Si

Google Maps is awesome but it’s not always the most detailed source and it’s not always possible to fix errors. That’s why I sometimes turn to Open Street Map. It can be described as the Wikipedia of Maps: it’s not guaranteed to give you what you need but is totally open to being fixed. Last time I tried it I found it horribly clunky. Since then, a few things have improved:

Google Mapmaker would like users to fill in the blanks on their maps but they don’t cover the UK and — to be honest — I’m not going to get that warm, wiki, fizzy feeling spending time improving proprietorial data.

That’s why I headed out today with the geeky intention of fixing OSM’s woeful representation of the village I grew up in.  I anticipated getting a leg stretch whilst I attempted to not look like I was casing the entire village.  Very quickly, to my surprise, my Hamiltonian wander was dosing me on novelty and nostalgia instead.  I ambled up lanes I’d never had a reason to see before for some reason.  Other corners recalled fun times when exploration was the name of the game and we would adopt the spaces where adults hardly ventured.

Tragically, hiding in the trees down the brook with my swiss army knife and walkman, doesn’t seem appropriate anymore.  I should probably get into video games.

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London room

February 9, 2011 — Si

It’s been over a month since I headed down to the big smoke. Now I’ve actually sorted accommodation for the next month or two I have time to pull some random nuggets out the experience bank while they are still fresh.

The plan, as you may recall, was to use the excellent Airbnb.com service (basically, premium couch-surfing) to buy some time to find a nice room in a nice part of London at a nice price. Whilst Airbnb proved useful for trying different areas, finding a place that matched all criteria was getting hard — particularly as I only wanted a place for 3 months. One week rolled into two and then three. I even contemplated going south of the river before the lovely landlady of my most recent stay made me a special long-term offer.

So, for the next couple of months I’m in the Blenheim Lodge on the Great North Road at East Finchley. It sounds posher than it is. I’m in the London Room, so-called because of the heavy theming for tourists: union jacks, London buses, telephone boxes and local landmarks all over. East Finchley itself is notable for being the constituency of Margaret Thatcher, the home of The Kinks and the birthplace of Jerry Springer (East Finchley Tube station during the war). This is such a random mix it must be true. Round the corner, on the way to Hampstead Heath, is Bishops Avenue – also known as millionaire’s row. This might be billionaire’s row these days. Huge LA-style houses, some of which are rumoured to be protected by ex-gurkhas.

I commute in on the propelled human sausage that is the Northern Line. Aside from this localised overcrowding, transport in London is pretty good. Everything is on Oyster cards which avoids faffing around with change. The tube is always fast, dry and warm. The Boris bikes are genius. Grab one from wherever and park it within 30 mins and it’s no charge. You can get a 24 hour window of use for £1, £5 for a week or £45 for a yearly membership. I’ve a widget on my Android phone that points the way to the nearest bike rows (with stats) and can whisper directions in my ear via Google Navigator to get me there. This feels reassuring like the future.

Enough for now: I just wanted to shift some backlog. Next instalment is likely to feature people and conversations.

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the end of jobs

July 30, 2010 — Si

The history of progress is a long list of people of losing their jobs. From farm workers, typing pools, messengers, coal men: you name it, some pesky innovation has come and made the human redundant.

Yet the population remains employed, by and large. The grandsons of blacksmiths become mechanics, cobblers to surf-boarders, typesetters to WordPress themers.

Technology relieves the human of the mundane, repetitive and physical work compelled by economics. Services and products get cheaper which makes everyone gets relatively richer to how they were. New product and services become viable.

Career-wise, the best escape from this logical encroachment is to head for the high ground of human creativity, rich interaction – anything with soul that cannot be automated or mass-produced. Anything else will be available so easily to be virtually free.

The safe money, following the wobbly arc of this logic, is on the wranglers of the intangible: artists, poets, philosophers, gurus and the like. Those not inclined this way will still be able to live in far greater comfort than is typical today, free to pursue whatever happens to take their interest. Historical quirks may have us calling them students.

History also suggests that once physical and leisure needs are amply met there’s a thirst for status, respect and possibly fame. This is a conundrum. Everyone might have 3 hour working weeks and personal Nutri-Matic drinks synthesizer but not everyone can be famous: it’s a limited resource.

People will scrabble for attention and recognition, awarding themselves titles, honours and distinctions until someone conceives a mirror which gives everyone the impression they are top of the heap. Then we are done.

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