Cyclists and Runners Trace Images on Maps by “GPS Drawing”

A GPS drawing of a character from the Atari 2600 “Pitfall!” game. Image: NY Times

When we profiled bicycle related mobile phone applications last month, we clearly thinking creatively enough. The New York Times had a very interesting article yesterday on “GPS Drawing,” which entails using your GPS-enabled phone to trace your running or cycling route on a map in shapes and patterns, such as faces, animals, or computer game figures.  

Once the figure is traced, users upload them to sites like everytrail.com and gpsdrawing.com (check out the Dog Drawings video). Jeremy Wood, an artist from London who maintains gpsdrawing.com, uses his GPS phone to trace his every movement while outside, which he has been doing since 2004:

‘People have been doing this for centuries, making big drawings so they could be seen by the gods,’ he said, citing the ancient Nasca geoglyphsin Peru as an example.

I suppose any excuse to get people to explore and appreciate their urban environment is a good thing. Have any readers been GPS Drawing themselves or know of people using these apps for interesting art projects, flash mobs, protests, or other reasons?