geomantic

Recently released by members of the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, MA comes this code that uses Geographic Style Sheets (GSS) to drive the map rendering process for web maps in native HTML 5. What this means, according to the developers, is that individuals can style their own maps enabling them to create and communicate their own narratives. Also, users can access and style data streams to view edits in real-time to provide a very rich and dynamic cartographic display. An example from  Open Street Map is provided on the Cartagen web site. And, oh by the way, Cartagen is an open source project with resources for developers on the project wiki.

I still have to experiment more to fully understand the potential of this project. I tried Cartagen briefly using in Firefox 3.5, I was immediately asked if I wished to allow Cartagen to use my location. After I granted the permission, I typed ”Washington, DC” into the text box labeled ‘Go Somewhere’. It quickly brought my browser to its knees and sent my processors into overdrive. Need to work with this a little more…