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Jan 31
NYC, Random, Travel photos Comments Off
Maptastic
Jan 31
Technology google maps, maps Comments Off
In my opinion, one of the greatest innovations of the past five years is how location has become a part of everyday life. Google Maps or its equivalent has become a standard tool in many people’s life. When you’re looking for directions, a place, etc. you simply call it up; no more guessing where you are.
We’ve come a long way in the past five years, but a couple of recent experiences reminded me of just how far there still is to go.
First one: I can walk from NYC to Ottawa in 5 days.
As Wen and I were going home for Christmas, I decided to see what the directions would look like ‘by foot’. I was impressed that it would only take about five and half days to do that. That’s about 72 miles a day.
You get a great sense of how Google’s algorithms work here. The average human can walk about 3 miles per hour. There are 24 hours in a day. Ergo, 72 miles per day and 5.5 days to Ottawa.
My second moment came when I stumbled upon this nameless street when trying to find a cafe:
Of course, this street does have a name (Greenwich). And this example speaks more to the power than limitation of online mapping tools: they’ve become such a part of my life that a part of me almost questions why the street has no name, rather than thinking there’s something wrong with the program.
Competition is a Great Thing
Jan 31
Business competition, monopoly, ottawa airport, yow 1 Comment
I was going through my photos today and found this one:
Now, you might be reasonable asking: “Lindsay, why on earth would you want to take a photo of a photo of the Ottawa airport’s board of directors?” Because this is a great example of monopolistic excess.
When you arrive in the Ottawa airport domestic terminal, you’re greeted with this ad. It’s conspicuously placed so that almost everyone has to look at it. Since Ottawa’s the nation’s capital, a lot of politicians and assorted ‘important’ people must pass through the airport, and I’m sure the board thought this was a great way to get some exposure for themselves.
I, however, am neither important nor interested in the details of the board. What I’m more interested in, is what does not appear on the ad. There’s absolutely no way to contact any of these folks. If you’re like me, and it’s 1:30 am in the morning and you’ve been waiting for 45 minutes for your bags because a) there wasn’t a gate ready for your plane [think about that-that means that the tower assumed your regularly scheduled plane wasn't going to arrive. Does that mean they were assuming a crash?] and b) there were two other planes in the same boat and therefore no baggage crews, you might want to reach out to these folks to explain a teachable moment.
However, this ad is, instead, a monument to corporate self-gratification. There’s no way to contact these people and instead they simply gloat over you as you await your bags. No phone number, no email address, no website. Nothing It’s unintentionally the ultimate symbol of monopolistic hubris.
I know there’s not a lot that can be done to stop the monopoly that an airport’s going to have in a (relatively) small town like Ottawa, but some high speed rail would sure go a long way to making life a little more awkward for that board (Ottawa-Montreal and Ottawa-Toronto are the bread and butter of the airport). And that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
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