WhereCamp Zooms in on Portland
WhereCamp, the free un-conference for geo-locative enthusiasts, kicks off a Portland edition the weekend of October 17. Expect glimpses beyond Google Maps, digging deep into the future of location-based technology, both on and off the web.
Since it’s an un-conference, the attendees will create the schedule, and it’s an exciting time in web geography. The iPhone and Android are merging GPS with web-enabled devices. Mozilla added location-awareness to its browser. Mapping, and the technology surrounding it, is becoming more real time.
The event starts Friday with a “human mashup” art exhibition exploring “the ways art and technology deal with Momentum, Maintenance, Multiplicity, and Mobility.” Saturday is full of break-out sessions led by the attendees. Sunday, the real work begins with geo-based games, like PacManhattan, where the city streets become the classic arcade game.
Portland is a perfect home for a location-based conference. Its transportation system, TriMet, was the pilot organization for integrating transit information into Google Maps. Now Google has rolled out transit to 85 cities globally. Social mapper Platial, which we wrote about at Where 2.0 in 2006, is based in Portland, as are other map-related startups like WeoGeo and Cartosoft.
Webmonkey will be making the hike to WhereCamp PDX, bringing highlights and photos of the GPS-enabled geohackers all weekend. If you’re around, be sure to say hi. Otherwise, follow along online and let us know what you think.
