Make Magazine, Issue 5, February 2006

 

The World is Your Canvas Sometimes you need something bigger than a piece of paper to express your artistic self. Like, the whole world. A GPS device, a little planning, and a lot of free time can help you leave a giant footprint--or any other shape--on the planet. Think of it as crop circles for the 21st century.

Aaron Roller of Sausalito, Calif., wanted to give his girlfriend something extra special for Valentine's Day. He'd been toiling at a start-up company all year and she'd been an extra good sport. Roller is the chief technology officer for Motion Based, Inc., a company that created a web-based application that turns GPS data into functional analysis and online mapping for training athletes. He realized that those patterns on the map could also translate into pictures on a giant Valentine card.

After a little visualization, Roller set off into San Francisco Bay with a twitchy river kayak, a GPS, and a dream. "I don't think I'd been out on the bay more than a couple of times in this kayak, but I had a mission," he says. Half an hour and two miles of paddling later, Roller had traveled the shape of a large heart and uploaded the image of his path onto the Motion Based mapping site (motionbased.com). I had to be carefully not to turn too sharply," he says. "And there is a little crook toward one end of the path where I had to navigate around a big boat in my way." His girlfriend loved the heart and the magnitude of the message.

While Roller says he is a fan of GPS drawing, he considers himself a dilettante. He points to GPSDrawing.com as an example of how elaborate you can get with your ideas. The site has several examples of impressive GPS art, including a large dollar sign in the Las Vegas desert and a larger-than-life tic-tac-toe game played on the streets of Hollywood (an exercise that took four hours of driving over a 23.6-square-mile pattern). Jeremy Wood, one of the founders of GPSDrawing.com, mapped out the grid the night before with his brother, and the two of them played the giant tic-tac-toe and mapped out their moves as they drove.

Wood has been drawing with his GPS unit since the day he bought it, and says he is merely building on an idea that is as old as humankind. "There is evidence of the concept all around us," says Wood. "Traces of trajectories can be found throughout history. They grow from footpaths to roads when we move." If you're inspired and planning to create a little GPS art of your own, here are a few pointers to get you started.

First, grab a GPS device. Any one will do, really, as long as it maps your every move and uploads to a software program. Aaron Roller used a Garmin eTrex Vista C GPS, which costs around $428 and gives you a 256-color readable map display to keep you on track during your journey. You can also opt for a more portable GPS like the Garmin Foretrex 201 if you're traveling light. The Foretrex 201 costs around $150 and fits sportily on your wrist, but lacks the easy navigational screen of the eTrex Vista C.

Design your image, and keep it simple. Save your detailed likeness of the Virgin Mary for your sketchpad or grilled cheese sandwich. The more complex the design, the more time and editing you'll need to execute it. For your canvas, choose an open space with very few obstacles. If you're planning a large route by car, remember that you will be restricted to usable roads. Walking in a field or paddling on an open body of water will give you flexibility.

Map out your route with a mapping program. Roller recommends tools such as Expert GPS, MapSource, or National Geographic Topo to help you plan your path. "You can download the route into your GPS and just follow the arrows," he says. When you're following your route, think of an Etch-a-Sketch. "Start at a point, and draw a single continuous line," Roller recommends. You may need to backtrack to stay in your pattern.

After you've finished your design, upload your data into a software mapping program such as Motion Based (motionbased.com). Jeremy Wood uses a custom-designed program called the GPSograph, designed by fellow GPS artist Hugh Pryor. It's available on the GPSDrawing.com site and enables 3D rendering and map/aerial image alignment. Motion Based has editing tools you can use to clean up the drawing and erase start and finish points and any glitches.