March 20, 2024

"The real fun... begins when you start to use Google Maps in multiplayer mode: building shared lists of saved locations with and for others..."

"... remotely populating their digital landscape with little pins. It’s a simple action that conjures an increasingly rare sense of virtual care. Populating a shareable map is an exercise in memory. I started making shared maps as a way of staying in touch with faraway friends and as a key to my own psycho-geography, doled out to give dear ones a glimpse into my world.... When my German bestie told me she was planning a trip to New York... I nudged her to my favorite haunts; hearing her report back, I felt as if my past were intertwined with her present."

From "I Was Lonely In a New City. This Tech Trick Helped Me Belong/There is a comfort in having somewhere tried and true to go, especially when you’re a stranger in a foreign city" (NYT).

13 comments:

n.n said...

Andrea, what's for lunch?

Ask Siri.

Ask Alexa.

Alexa, stop spying on me.

I'm not, Dave.

Leland said...

The real fun begins when you engage with people without using an app.

tim maguire said...

If I were more organized, I'd probably do this too. You can learn a lot about yourself by looking at a map marked with the things that matter to you. But this is the sort of thing I like the idea of, but will never do adequately enough to be useful.

Howard said...

Google maps is bad for your brain. The skill of navigating is an evolutionary imperative that builds confidence and a strong memory.

Ann Althouse said...

If I were traveling to a new city and wanted to go for walks, I would love to have a map with "pins" from someone who'd really lived there for a while and had similar tastes to mine.

I'm wary of traveling to places where what I know is what tourist guides list — the "attractions."

Aggie said...

'Google Maps' 'Real Fun'

Sad.

rehajm said...

I just came back from suburban Toronto. In addition to finding out where my meetings were and where to gas up the rental car I used Google Maps to find the nice Inn to stay at instead of the chain hotel, a great indie coffee shop and two nights of fabu dining. One was an Italian bistro in a strip mall that made their own pastas, had Napoli pizza ovens and a comically large book of wine. The other was a hip, upscale Panera kind of place where I had a foodie al forno with chorizo and nice cheap glass of shiraz.

To heck with the pins, use the reviews within maps and verify with Eater or Curbed or Tripadvisor.

Leland said...

Why not go for a walk, observe which places seem to be popular, and stick your head in to see what makes it interesting? Wasn’t that the way before we had an app for it? Isn’t that what it means to be in the moment?

rehajm said...

Maps showed me the hiking trail around the branch of U of T and also the nature trail around the airport. I could have driven to the lake and used the trail system there but...still winter.

Ice Nine said...

>"gave way to lonely weekends spent not queuing up for clubs but crying on a floor mattress in Charlottenburg, anxiety taking hold at the thought of another aimless walk."<

I think maybe I see the problem here. Well, that, and the horror of app-deficiency.

She might consider, you know, talking to people...and just pretending that she is using an app.

MadTownGuy said...

I explore places, far and near, with Google Earth. Street View, where available, is nice for getting a feel for places, and there's the added bonus of seeing landforms, water courses and a few photos of the locales.

Anon said...

I think the reason this helped is she was sharing it with people. It gave her a way to connect.

mgarbowski said...

Congratulations, you "invented" social media interaction via a map.
Yes, using the net to connect virtually with far away friends is better than no contact.
Yes, allowing virtual contact to crowd out personal contact is counter productive.
None of this is remotely new. I live in NYC and have occasionally shared google maps with far away friends who visit the city. I never thought it was worth an essay.