Special places archive

January 2005

On the road in north west Scotland

As author Frederik Ramm says, Oh dear! This is what happens when a mad tourist straps a camera and a GPS to his Land Rover and shoots 2,968 photos. Perhaps he is mad, but there is a fascination in viewing these journeys on the web. You can set off on a trip, and the website will automatically display the pictures in sequence, with your position on the map continuously updated. It is a mechanically recorded experience, with no aesthetic judgements about when to take a picture or where to aim the camera. I have not done much driving in Scotland, but I have done enough to say that this website evokes the experience very strongly.

If you are interested in the technicalities, the website includes lots of detail about the digital photography, GPS position logging, XML data structures, co-ordinate systems, data preparation, file compilation, and web publishing.

Screen image

Map and photograph of a journey on the A835 from Braes of Ullapool to Braemore Junction. The latitude, longitude, speed, heading, date and time are all displayed on the screen.

filed under Scotland + Landscapes | edit

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