Even though I made Wednesdays “no-blogging days” so that I can get some rest, the SP Gass at Low Tech Times has an interesting article called There’s No Substitute for Looking At A Real Map. Open Source Geography (dot org, FYI), soon to be moving to its own site, fully endorses this notion of looking at a Real Map.
I am interested in SP Gass’s view on the accuracy of the AAA TripTic. SP Gass is talking about reference maps and how one’s on paper are much more usable. Beyond portability of a paper map, paper allows one to come up with their own route. SP Gass knows what he means when he is choosing a route. But without expert knowledge or human behavior factored in as a determinant in the route choice algorithm, the computer can never approximate what means, his geographic semantics. Dr. Martin Raubal at University of California-Santa Barbara teaches a course in Geographic Semantics.
Anyway, flexibility in route choice using online mapping software would greatly improve the service. As a Geographic Information Scientist, by training, I would suggest to Google that they open their street network dataset to allow a local crowd to suggest alternate routes. Another option would be to generate a sample of automobiles and collect GPS points along their chosen routes, rather than the predictive routes.
I am still imaging the algorithm and/or data-structure required to enable a sample link on a chosen route be chosen to improve the predictive path. Especially considering that the data would need to be split into nodes and links. Not to mention, the process of formatting. Unless of course, you are generating an cloud-enabled database with a G-Phone Android Program in which these points are collected real-time.
Is this possible? It seems like it should be considering bluetooth tracking and cell-phone tracking would be a great medium for updating Google Maps.
Also, check out Google’s Newest Feature: GoogleWalking. Its still in Beta, but there is a smattering of commentary around the web.
Google Walking Maps by Daily Wireless
Google Maps Walks the Long Way Around by Google Maps Mania.
And this list of 100 Google Earth Mashups isn’t particularly about GoogleWalking, but it is still useful information for improving the semantic web rich with digitized human knowledge.
