Radiomap: Screen-based Application

Radiomap was presented at the "DIGITAL BOUNDARIES: MULTICULTURALISM, IDENTITY, AND AWARENESS" Exhibition at the Teachers College, Macy Gallery. Thanks also to Hugo Ortega from Teachers College who organised everything. radiomap is available for download since a couple of days, but only upon request.

"Radiomap" is a screen-based application consisting of a photorealistic live map* of the world that is explored with the traditional mouse. At particular locations the participant tunes into live radio broadcasts that are located at the corresponding locations all over the world. The interaction is simple and intuitive and often results in strong experiences of holistic overview and interconnectedness for participants.

The radio stations are "real" FM radio stations that also broadcast on the internet. I selected the stations included in the database based on a variety of considerations. Among these most important are geographical location and “local colour”. Content “format”, file-format (real audio only), their bandwidth (quality) and reliability are considered as well. A sole station at the “periphery” is more likely to be included; its content matters less then its geographical location on the map. In areas with larger varieties to choose from, those stations are favoured that have a lively “feel” about them and report about local events, local news and traffic reports rather than just streaming music of a certain genre.

This interdisciplinary research explores interactive environments that create experiences of presence, global awareness, holistic overview and feelings of interconnectedness and further tries to understand what is necessary to create them. Some aspects of this relate to Telepresence yet there is one fundamental difference; it is not about the illusion of “going there”[2] but of bringing properties of “there” here.

Radiomap is created in collaboration with Stephan Huber, a media designer & artist from Hamburg, Germany. Stephan is also an experiended programer - and without his help this project would never have happened.

More about the "radiomap environment":
http://www.hohlwelt.com/en/interact/practice/radiomap.html
Info about the venue is available at:
SIG MM http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigmm/mm2004/
Stephan Huber: http://www.digitalmind.de/

The radiomap app is ready for download, and i am already receiving feedback from people.
Everyone that participated in an interview and/or left his address in the visitors book at the Exhibition of SIG MM at Macy Gallery has received an email. If you have not received an email i might not have the right address and you might want to get back to me. Thanks.

* map by “xplanet” by Hari Nair: http://xplanet.sourceforge.net/