Imagining Future Landscapes

Google maps presents only a present view, but it should also present past and future views of both the information and the data. So it needs to be able to allow you to go back in time in both the information and the data dimensions of the model. Imagine Google maps one day had the ability to incorporate the nineteenth century USGS maps then as more and more old maps were added, the picture of the past evolution of the landscape would develop in the amount of detail that became available. That is what I mean by the evolution of the information dimension. So if you go to an area like the one around Mount Shasta, for example, you would be able to see  maps going back to the nineteenth century showing how the towns had developed. That would be the evolution of the landscape in the data dimension.

This then gives us some ideas of how we should go about projecting the future evolution of the landscape in that place. This future evolution is what we imagine the landscape will look like as it evolves. As more and more people integrate their plans into the projected evolution, they can do that by taking into account what they know about the historic evolution of the area, the idea being to respect what we know about both the Natural and Human history of the area.

Polygon Wood, Ypres, Belgium

This data about the past would include sketches produced by artists, as well as old photographs and historic records of events. That data would be then be available to inform the future plans for development of the region, and so from this process a kind of timeline should emerge. But the timeline that individuals see will probably differ because of differences in perspective and points of view. These differences should give us ideas about how knowledge and experience divides the society or societies living in a region. And these differences will show up as divergent timelines, and the divergences will be interesting as objects of study in themselves. Out of this process there should emerge a better idea of social justice than the one being handed around today.

See 1917: Arras, Messines and Passchendaele:

See The Ypres Salient 1914–1918: historical aerial photography and the landscape of war: 

As the centenary commemorations of the Battle of Passchendaele approach, this article is a timely demonstration of how archaeology can provide new insights into the landscape of the Western Front. Assessment of over 9000 aerial photographs taken during the First World War, integrated with other approaches to landscape archaeology, offers a new perspective on the shifting nature of the historic struggle around the town of Ypres in Belgium. The results not only illustrate the changing face of the landscape over that four-year period, but also highlight the potential of aerial photographic records to illuminate hitherto overlooked aspects of landscape heritage.

Fields of the Nephilim - Requiem XIII 33 Le Veilleur Silencieux

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See Fairies Frolic In Flanders Forest:

Ly O Lay Ale Loya (Counter Clockwise Circle Dance) Listen to the whole thing to understand what I am saying and the relevance of Mt. Shasta in this.

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See Bimbo Barbarella's live stream this afternoon for a bit about the genesis of this. Apparently I am not going to be on the show on Saturday after all. Never mind! Another time maybe.