Comments on: “Design in the age of intelligent maps” http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/ mind/tech bazar from outer space Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:45:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.1 By: Near Future Laboratory » Blog Archive » Urbanism, Data-Driven http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-488173 Near Future Laboratory » Blog Archive » Urbanism, Data-Driven Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:45:05 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-488173 [...] conversation related to this short essay that Kazys Varnelis and Leah Meisterlin wrote, and with Nicolas poked a stick at. Bears repeating, with some [...] […] conversation related to this short essay that Kazys Varnelis and Leah Meisterlin wrote, and with Nicolas poked a stick at. Bears repeating, with some […]

]]> By: 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » The Data-Driven Urban Computing http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-488125 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » The Data-Driven Urban Computing Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:19:56 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-488125 [...] See also Nicolas’ “Design in the age of intelligent maps” [...] […] See also Nicolas’ “Design in the age of intelligent maps” […]

]]> By: Nicolas Nova http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-488068 Nicolas Nova Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:13:14 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-488068 As a person trained in psychology, I am indeed amazed by the use of the word "intelligent", it's clearly too much of a stretch. In the blogpost I did not mention it because I now read this word not as the "cognitively intelligent" definition but rather as "cognitive/decision aid" and of course there's absolutely no intelligence (in the human/cognitive sense) in there. To me, there's a confusion between availability of information (representation of patterns, information hidden in databases, new connections) and the acquisition of this information by people who have a glance at the mash-up. To put it shortly: 1) there's no "intelligence" per se in the map 2) showing new connections/patterns on a map does not make you more intelligent, it simply gives you more information to take a decision. And designers make the assumption that this information are meaningful and enhance a decision process. As a person trained in psychology, I am indeed amazed by the use of the word “intelligent”, it’s clearly too much of a stretch. In the blogpost I did not mention it because I now read this word not as the “cognitively intelligent” definition but rather as “cognitive/decision aid” and of course there’s absolutely no intelligence (in the human/cognitive sense) in there.

To me, there’s a confusion between availability of information (representation of patterns, information hidden in databases, new connections) and the acquisition of this information by people who have a glance at the mash-up.

To put it shortly:
1) there’s no “intelligence” per se in the map
2) showing new connections/patterns on a map does not make you more intelligent, it simply gives you more information to take a decision. And designers make the assumption that this information are meaningful and enhance a decision process.

]]> By: Julian Bleecker http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-488062 Julian Bleecker Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:43:05 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-488062 I think so long as these things continue to be called "mash-ups" they'll be about as intelligent as something called mash-up ever could be. What is intriguing here is not so much the possibility that a map could be "intelligent" (it cannot) but that there are practices that make it at least possible for a wider audience to create, configure and manipulate geographic data. It's not the data-driven map on its own, but who is doing this kind of interleaving and imbrication of data. The GIS stuff — creating layers of data and using that to help make decisions or figure out where crime is happening — all that is as old as salt. Something exciting happens when the means of achieving that old-as-salt stuff gets out of the disciplinary claws of the GIS trade with their $12,000 software packages and such all. What Google has done, to their credit, is make the tools available for free, and make the practice legible. But, really..no more calling them mash-ups. It makes this practice sound like a week's leftovers stewing in a pot of boiling water. And lets leave intelligence for humans — or at least hope that can be the case. I think so long as these things continue to be called “mash-ups” they’ll be about as intelligent as something called mash-up ever could be. What is intriguing here is not so much the possibility that a map could be “intelligent” (it cannot) but that there are practices that make it at least possible for a wider audience to create, configure and manipulate geographic data. It’s not the data-driven map on its own, but who is doing this kind of interleaving and imbrication of data. The GIS stuff — creating layers of data and using that to help make decisions or figure out where crime is happening — all that is as old as salt. Something exciting happens when the means of achieving that old-as-salt stuff gets out of the disciplinary claws of the GIS trade with their $12,000 software packages and such all. What Google has done, to their credit, is make the tools available for free, and make the practice legible. But, really..no more calling them mash-ups. It makes this practice sound like a week’s leftovers stewing in a pot of boiling water. And lets leave intelligence for humans — or at least hope that can be the case.

]]> By: fabien http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-487994 fabien Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:58:47 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-487994 The vision carried by the title of the essay is misleading. There is a stretch from revealing the invisible to actually acting with intelligent capabilities, even through "meaningful" interactions. I do not expect a map to be any different than an intelligent fridge in that matter. The vision carried by the title of the essay is misleading. There is a stretch from revealing the invisible to actually acting with intelligent capabilities, even through “meaningful” interactions. I do not expect a map to be any different than an intelligent fridge in that matter.

]]> By: AG http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-487989 AG Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:57:57 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/07/17/design-in-the-age-of-intelligent-maps/#comment-487989 (Oh, I meant to tell Jef: That's not a map of Manhattan. If I had to guess, I'd say Chicago.) (Oh, I meant to tell Jef: That’s not a map of Manhattan. If I had to guess, I’d say Chicago.)

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