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A drifting map lays out the free, unplanned routes we take through an environment, being led only by the attractive delights of the terrain and our desire to discover.

Over a period of four days, I explored Birchfields Park, asking the people I met along the way to draw me their own drifting maps.  Which part of the park did they love? How did they travel within it?  Where did they most like to explore?

The map evolved as more and more of the drawings were combined, culminating in a dense alternative 'map' of the park and detailing the desirable (and perhaps not so desirable!) territories.

The map was displayed in the park on Thursday 26th of November, in the form of a new park information board (located on the map below).  Thank you to those of you who came for a chat; I hope the map will return again soon. 

Feel free to leave your comments at the bottom of the page.




 
 

Comments 

 
# Abbie 2009-11-22 21:09
This park looks very exciting! Brilliant drawings. Must definitely be worth a visit! I love the children's drawings too.
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# Amy 2009-11-25 09:48
Eeee!!! This park sounds amazing and worth a fun day out The image is really taking place. Maybe you should draw a little route right at the end to show the path you walked to get these images
Little Harry looks like he's having fun here hehe.

Good Luck with the exhibition!
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# Jasmine 2009-11-25 19:11
What a novel idea! It's interesting to see how people interpret their surroundings differently. It seems like a much nicer idea for a park map, much more interesting than a normal one and also has a nice community feel with everyone contributing. It's also good how the different maps join together to give an accurate picture. Very good!
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# Stan 2009-11-25 19:12
However did you manage to get them to all join up so well? Perhaps you could make it a little clearer which places people like and don't like.
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# Justin Credible 2009-11-25 19:18
I love the drawings, they really convey a sense of the individuals use and movement through the park. Do the pen colours represent the time of day the user did the drawings? This would help illustrate how the park reacts and adjusts depending on time and demographics.
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# Lydia 2009-11-25 19:38
As part of a shared communal space this looks great, I do love trees and the thought of exploring the 'weird trees' and the 'woodland walk' in the middle of an urban area excite me! I look forward to my visit.
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# Matt 2009-11-26 00:15
Looks like a good place to visit.
So can people draw the same place as others? Would be good to see different interpretations of the same spaces.. possibly relating to different ages etc.
Not sure how you would go about putting that into a map, but could be interesting... ie do children see things very differently from their parents?
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# Holly 2009-11-26 09:54
This park looks amazing! I like that people appreciate different places. I bet the people that developed the park would love to see this map.
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# Emma 2009-11-26 10:12
I think this map is a great idea, it will be good for new users of the park to see different individuals opinions on their favourite aspects, as it makes the spaces look more interesting and exciting than they would on a standard map. It makes you want to explore the different areas that people have highlighted as places they like in the park.
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# charlie 2009-11-26 10:26
cracking way of exploring people's perspective, it'd be interesting if you could click on the map at the various points highlighted and see a short video or pictures of the area to see the contrast between 'reality' and the perspectives sketched.
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# Victoria 2009-12-01 19:05
Very interesting...love how the map comes together but yet keeps everyones individual input illustrating how everyone sees the park through their own eyes.
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# Robin 2009-12-03 18:46
I've set up a processing app that combines motion tracking and blob detection. This would allow you to map desire lines from CCTV footage.
ccgi.robsteranium.plus.com/.../....

Let me know if you're interested...
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# Barbara Douglas 2009-12-04 08:43
Have finally got around to checking your website after our chance meeting on the train. I love the map and love the process of getting different people's perspectives/feelings of a place onto a map. I can't map-read to save my life - but I can read this one! What a delight!
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