mytbc

Projects, hoozoo!

There’s something reassuringly manly when it comes to maps. While I’m sure the stereotype about women not being able to read maps is untrue, maps are very manly. If you give a map to a man, he can spend hours poring over it, studying it in detail, lost to the world.

Initially, he will be studying it for funny place names (for example, in Glasgow, there’s an area called Springboig, which I love the name for), and then he may study it for places with similar names (Gallowhill in Paisley, and Garrowhill in the east end of Glasgow). Exciting stuff, eh?

But after that, he gets to why he really loves maps. Planning where to visit. I am a nightmare for this. I love maps. I really, really do. And I love to plan out routes that I am going to cycle. I have hundreds of them, all in my head, and every time I look at a different map, I plan out more.

And so, it was with this love of mapping, along with a love of cycling, that I came up with the idea for my honours project this year.

Basically, the idea is that one will duck tape a mobile phone with built in GPS to the front of their bicycle, and I will write a small program that will log the GPS data while a person is out on a bike ride. This data will then be uploaded to a website, which will display a map (yummy) of the ride, along with some statistics, speeds, altitudes and so on, and it will all be very exciting for all involved.

Now, all I need is a name for it…

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There's something reassuringly manly when it comes to maps. While I'm sure the stereotype about women not being able to read maps is untrue, maps are very manly. If you give a map to a man, he can spend hours poring over it, studying it in detail, lost to the world. Initially, he will be studying it for funny place names (for example, in Glasgow, there's an area called Springboig, which I love the name for), and then he may study it for places with similar names (Gallowhill in Paisley, and Garrowhill in the east end of Glasgow). Exciting stuff, eh? But after that, he gets to why he really loves maps. Planning where to visit. I am a nightmare for this. I love maps. I really, really do. And I love to plan out routes that I am going to cycle. I have hundreds of them, all in my head, and every time I look at a different map, I plan out more. And so, it was with this love of mapping, along with a love of cycling, that I came up with the idea for my honours project this year. Basically, the idea is that one will duck tape a mobile phone with built in GPS to the front of their bicycle, and I will write a small program that will log the GPS data while a person is out on a bike ride. This data will then be uploaded to a website, which will display a map (yummy) of the ride, along with some statistics, speeds, altitudes and so on, and it will all be very exciting for all involved. Now, all I need is a name for it...