What self-respecting computer geek hasn’t marveled at the view of his or her rooftop from space?
If you’ve played with online maps, you know how cool it is the first time you zoom in to your neighborhood, locate your block and, voila!–spot your house. Once you’ve gotten the satellite’s-eye view of your patch of Earth–satisfying evidence that you are part of the planet–you’re ready to track the movements of your favorite TV characters.
Google mapping isn’t just for reality anymore. Online maps bridge the gap between virtual and real worlds. Nowhere is this demonstrated better than in the charting of fiction TV characters’ movements.
Handy map “mashups” purport to document the geographic comings and goings in the parallel universe of TV. Click on the digital pushpin on the “Sopranos” site and get a video clip, a description of the location and a recap of what scene happened there.
They’re mashups because, like musical blends that were the first to be called by that name, they are created by merging data from two or more Web sites. Such sites have been steadily growing in popularity. Nobody’s promising total accuracy (and warnings about computer viruses, the lack of security and the ease of accessing personal information should be noted). All they’re promising is fun.
Map-based tributes to movies, notably the wine tour in “Sideways” and landmarks in “The Da Vinci Code,” also are online as helpful hackers apply technology to pop culture.
The trend started with hackers, of course. Until recently, computer programmers had to hack into major mapping systems to figure out how to plug in their own location data. The big mapping site owners–Google, Yahoo and Microsoft–realized the creativity and smarts of the hackers could be beneficial to business. Not only did they get free exposure from a mashup, but the hackers were discovering new ways of using the technology.
The map site owners now welcome outsiders, even publishing directions for digital mapping, letting hackers inject latitude and longitude data, right down to street addresses.
Whether used to pinpoint favorite bars, traffic jams or homes for sale, the mashup mapping culture is growing. Nearly all are created by fans and bloggers, not by the studios or networks responsible for the series.
MASH IT UP
Google Maps Mania (gmapsmania.com) tracks all kinds of mashup sites. Here are a few TV show mashup sites:
– hbo.com/sopranos/map–At HBO’s mapping site for “The Sopranos” you can view where people were whacked or bodies are buried, among other things.
– mibazaar.com/apprentice–Evidently somebody cared enough to map the hometowns of Donald Trump and the contestants on “The Apprentice.”
– stolasgeospatial.com/seinfeld.htm–“The Geography of Seinfeld” shows actual addresses and locations used in “Seinfeld” scripts, including the Soup Nazi’s store.
– doctorwholocations.org.uk–Thanks to a fan in England with too much free time, a map of “Dr. Who” filming locations. ” ‘Doctor Who,’ unlike ‘Star Trek’ which always used the same rock for its location filming, was surprisingly varied in its choice of quarries,” says a blurb for the site.
– wayfaring.com/maps/show/5027–California filming locations of the soon-to-be CW show “Veronica Mars.”
