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Earth Technology

Mapping a World of Human Activity 36

misterbarnacles writes "A Cartography of the Anthropocene maps the various ways that global humanity connects and is interdependent. From the article: 'Using data gathered from U.S. government agencies, anthropologist Felix Pharand-Deschenes has created a collection of maps that illustrate the various circulatory systems that connect humanity: cities, roads, railways, power lines, pipelines, cable Internet, airlines, and shipping lanes. The maps are remarkable cartographic documents of our current age, but also serve deeper research and educational purposes.'"

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Mapping a World of Human Activity

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  • by Tastecicles ( 1153671 ) on Wednesday November 09, 2011 @07:38PM (#38006480)

    I used to use a simple program to monitor a couple IRC chatrooms; it created a timelapse map of interactions between members. It was fascinating to see the map literally breathe, but it also served a more important purpose in studying the interactions of those members with a 'bot script I created to run alongside. The results surprised me.

    I went in expecting just one or two of the nerdier members interacting with the bot (the regulars knew it was a bot, the transients didn't) to "teach" it new responses to key words and phrases. What I found was pretty much everyone in the chatrooms interacting with the bot to the point of saturation. In fact I had to upgrade the hardware just so it could keep up.

    I didn't have to look at the chat logs to see this behaviour, it was all on the maps and the ever increasing 'bot database.

    FWIW, the mapping software was called PieSpy [jibble.org]. I have since, unfortunately, lost the 'bot database and am not in a mind currently to recreate it.

  • Better Link (Score:5, Informative)

    by ideonexus ( 1257332 ) on Wednesday November 09, 2011 @08:49PM (#38007266) Homepage Journal
    I think a Link to the Original Images [globaia.org] is preferable. These are much larger, there are more of them, and some are javascript rollovers.
    • by zzyzyx ( 1382375 )

      Thanks for this. This is very annoying to see posted a bunch of images resized just to fit the stupid layout and then have to play the "via" game.
      For this one I counted 5 hops :
      Shareable
      via MyModernMet
      via Visual News
      via inhabitat.com
      via The Telegraph

      Some of them linked to the globaia website but none to the actual relevant page.

  • While this is great news for the FBI and CIA and the other groups I shall not name (given my past SECRET clearance), there are other connections as well.

    Just today one of the people who has been reading my twitter posts (mostly thru RTs) finally realized my pic was at the exact same place her pic was at, on Mount Washburn at Yellowstone Park, and, in point of fact, had been taken within a day or two of when mine was.

    Even though we were both from Seattle and this was quite a distance away.

    A good analyst woul

    • by khallow ( 566160 )

      A good analyst would realize that pictures taken by different people have value-added connections that indicate shared values, aspirations, and other connection points, which is how, if we wanted to actually stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons like the other 15 nuclear nations in the Middle East and adjacent countries that aren't in NATO, we could find agents to tap and trace them.

      Three things. First, there are two current nuclear powers in the Middle East, Israel and Pakistan. Second, pictures of Yellowstone don't give you any value concerning Iranian nuclear programs. You have to have pictures from the relevant locations. And that's the thing that Iran and any other country with half a brain has figured out. Don't let people take pictures of your secret locations and the above analysis can't be done.

      Finally, we already know Iran has a nuclear program. That knowledge hasn't stopp

      • What has slowed them down is a fairly clever bit of sabotage and perhaps killing a few people in key positions.

        Yes, and slowing down plus creating a lot of additional hatred is the only thing these measures will ever achieve. Unless you continually bomb their universities and research facilities, a developed country that wants to build a nuclear weapon will at one day or another be able to build one. (Of course, it also doesn't help that the US and Israel already have many more nuclear weapons than Iran, it's neighboring country has recently been attacked and conquered by the US, and the US and Israel have de facto

      • Three things. First, there are two current nuclear powers in the Middle East, Israel and Pakistan

        Bzzt. Wrong.

        There are more.

        • by khallow ( 566160 )

          There are more.

          Name them.

          • You don't have clearance.

            • by khallow ( 566160 )
              So your claim is bullshit. Why am I not surprised?
              • by Xest ( 935314 )

                We know other countries have tried, like Syria, but thus far failed, but the vast majority of other countries simply couldn't afford a nuclear program, let alone succesfully follow one through unnoticed by the rest of the world. Potentially some of the ex-soviet states could have hidden arsenals but I don't think that would be possible as Russia is a key member of the NPT so would likely admit to that and force decommissioning of those arms in those countries as happened with the Ukraine. Certainly if as he

  • ... you are not important enough to show.

I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

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