Map Reveal

motion responsive geographic installation, designed at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program | 2009

Concept

Map Reveal draws with geographic texture in response to motion. When installed, projected on the floor, the scale of the space is altered so that people tower over large scale geographic space. Map Reveal is a component of Imagined Location, a project that explores geographic alteration and recontextualization.

Map Reveal (Cars) includes the map-appropriate interaction of an automobile but twists the experience through the resulting imagery and interaction. Cars normally navigate space, but now they redraw the space. The scale of the cars to the imagery changes the map frame further by adding a third scale level to interact with the imagery and the people standing around it.

Map Reveal (Carpet) is projected on a carpet to frame the map as an object and to collage it with unexpected space. The familiar space of the carpet also encourages new types of interactions with a map; the user can touch the geography and sit in its space.

Production

Map Reveal was built using Processing and uses imagery from Google Maps. A ceiling-mounted camera tracks motion and pulls from geographic textures in response. A projector is also mounted on the ceiling and projects the resulting imagery onto the floor surface. Two remote-controlled cars are the interaction interface for Map Reveal (Cars).

Installation

The videos below are from an installation of both versions of Map Reveal recorded on April 30, 2009.