Response to Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your feedback. It is great to hear your comments and your take on my project. I wanted to respond to you, but am not sure how this will reach you.

I hope it does, eventually

1.
"The data being ethnicity of restaurant vs geographic area, bigger blobs equals more of that type of restuarant, and the largest blobs include all types of restaurant in each area. Please let me know if I've got this wrong."

Partly correct, the blobs are sized according to the amount of restaurants in that area for that ethnicity. Eg. CBD blobs are usually quite big and they sometimes intrude into say Parnell and Newmarket blobs. However the blobs on each page refer to one ethnicity so all Chinese foods are on one page, if layered on top of Italian, one can quickly see where the Italian and Chinese restaurants are, geographically. However, your comments show a good understanding of the project so maybe your comment I just highlighted is just a mis-wording (can't seem to find the right word!)

2.
"Could you have used another layer of information (like colour) to help differentiate the different data sets? "

I originally did use different colours but when I started overlapping them, it was hard to differentiate between the ethnicities and aesthetically, it looked really messy. By putting them all in one colour, it limited the amount of layers one could compare and made the act of layering more important since the person would have to remember what they are placing down and there is a constant flipping to compare a layer on the top with a layer closer to the bottom.

3.

"There is a question of scale here too, as smaller text would mean that the blobs wouldn't necessarily intersect, so perhaps its a curiousity of the mapping itself rather than the city."
True that the text size and the length of restaurant names have a impact on whether the blobs intersect or not, however, the concentration of restaurants in a particular area (CBD, Parnell, Newmarket) should graphically show a difference compared to a cluster in other areas (Takapuna). Not all areas are equal and I hope that I have balanced it graphically to show that.

4.
"It seems the insights from your mapping haven't realised their full potential in re-mapping our understanding of the city. Another axis or layer of information might help. What happened to your proposal to compare auckland's restaurant diversity with cultural diversity? "

If I had the time, I would have tried to find out the geographic, ethnic breakdown of the Auckland area. The Census only has a break down between large ethnic groups ie. European/Asian/Pacific Islander. My mapping breaks it down further to Italian, Chinese, Mexican. This detailed data for population is harder to find, but I agree, would have added an interesting comparison to the ethnic restaurants.

Cheers

Lyannie

Food by ethnicity - geographically

Intent

Food defines a culture -sweet,spicy, rich, tart-

yet what does it say about Auckland's culture?

From the vast amount of ethnic food available, it is quite evident that there is a diverse mix of culture in Auckland. Mapping each restaurant that appears in the yellow pages, by ethnic category, this project aims for two things.

One, to show the giant variety of restaurants available to Aucklanders, not all are listed.

Two, to see how one ethnic category overlaps in geographic location with another.
What has resulted is a multi-layered map that can only be viewed by a few layers at a time. The multitude of cultures represented by the restaurants outnumber the capacity to comprehend the vast diversity at one glance.

Pick and choose various ethnic categories as you like.

Perhaps the combinations you pick defines who
you are.

Ethnicities tracked: Algerian * Asian * Belgian * Brazilian * Chinese * Cuban * European * French * German * Greek * Indian * International * Irish * Italian * Japanese * Korean * Malaysian * Mediterranean * Mexican * Middle Eastern * Mongolian * Nepalese * New Zealand * Russian * Scottish * Spanish * Taiwanese * Thai * Turkish * Vietnamese *

Other exhibits

Other exhibits

Setting up

My exhibit

Setting up the exhibition

Changes

Since the last blog, many things have changed

1. At first I was thinking about printing out each ethnicity and then hanging them on a wall all next to each other. This changed and this sort of format would not allow overlapping which is where the strength of this scheme lies. By over lapping different ethnicities, one can easily see the differences of ethnic restaurants in each geographical area.

2. The overall look of the pages changed as seen above.

3. I decided on presenting the pages in front of a light box. Below hung the 29 ethnicities and one could pick and choose what ethnicity to compare.

a taste of what's to come

This image shows the Euro (unclassified) restaurants in the Auckland area...other ethnicities to come

Culture and food part 2

My idea has evolved a bit.

First image shows all European dining in Auckland area, listed geographically

I'm now planning to separate the different ethnic foods into a transparent layer. Each layer (about A1 size) will be hung and is moveable in the sense that the layers can be compressed or separated so that a person can walk between them. That way the ethnic foods can be compared as the viewer likes.




Second image shows the suburbs of Auckland, geographically.

Please comment

My installation:
Different coloured perspex, business card sized, hung on one wall of the gallery. For each perspex rectangle is the name of a restaurant and it's phone number. The colour of perspex relates to the ethnicity of the food served. The placement of the perspex on the wall is in relation to the location in Auckland Central District.

From a distance, the colours show the intensity and variety of culture in Auckland, on close inspection, the individuality of the names further differentiates each food outlet, yet it is all in English - the unifying factor.

What do you think?

Numbers and more numbers

It's been awhile since I've blogged so I thought I would just give an update of what I'm currently doing.

Step one: It is the mid-semester break and I'm getting started on data gathering. I have gathered data on Auckland's ethnic groups in each suburb (thanks Statistics NZ). Am now in the process of gathering in excel all the restaurants. I am compiling a list of restaurants and cafes by ethnicity and location and a name to identify so that I don't double count.

Next step: to group the restaurants and graphically locate on an Auckland map along with the Statistics NZ data.

MVRDV's project on Metacity Datatown is a great resource. I like the idea of creating a landscape from the data for maximum impact. This is what I want to do for the exhibit, create a data landscape...so projections will be needed. I'm not sure graphically how it is going to turn out but that is my intention. To graphically show as a landscape how culturally mixed, (or not) is Auckland through food retail.

Food Culture

Collecting food data will show how many restaurants exit for each distinctive culture. Perhaps this can be compared in a ratio to the population of Auckland. Is there a consistency ie. 20% Malaysian = 20% Malaysian population in Auckland.....most likley this correlation is not 1:1.

Auckland from google maps

Auckland at a glance from googlemaps. Places of activity are shown but the experience is not. Is there a way to go beyond just pinpointing a location?

Food map research

Mapping the hidden.

Taco Truck Lover Maps His Favorite Eateries Online
by Cyrus Farivar

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89990576

"steers people toward smaller, harder-to-find eateries" current trend of maps.

Fast food in Kansas city. On the left chockfull of outlets, on the right nothing!
Starbucks locations in US as of June 2008

Images sourced from http://www.caffeinemaps.com/ and http://www.fastfoodmaps.com/

Project proposal: Food & Mapping

Food is an important part of culture, Apple Pie - America, Fish and Chips - New Zealand, Sushi - Japan and the list goes on.

I propose to look at Auckland through my stomach. I propose to map out the eating places in Auckland and categorise them in as many ways as possible to see if a pattern emerges. After all supply and demand go hand in hand and whatever pattern emerges out of this will tell tales of the population that demands it! I don't know where this project will go but this is step one.

Step one: map out food places
Step two: analyse
Step three: conclusion leads to an intervention?









image source: ww.isrealli.org

International AUCKLAND

Auckland, is set apart from other cities in NZ, because it is the gateway into NZ...or gatekeeper for NZ. Either way it is deemed an international city....

Undoubtedly, there would be a wide variety of ethnicities here. Can I map them? What sort of pattern would emerge?

What constitutes an ethnicity? Language, religion and food. If mapped for the city of Auckland, what would emerge? A dominance of one over another? More importantly, is this the pattern that I am seeking or just a pattern that is convenient to uncover...am still wondering what patterns there are that will see Auckland in a new light.



(Image from complex.city.online.fr/?cat=3)

Orchid Fractal Analysis

How do crowds move?

The pattern they fall into is called OrchidFractal Analysis where people naturally form a swirling orchid pattern. It is part of human behaviour. It might be be interesting tosee how crowds in Auckland behave? Another avenue.

I'm still not sure so am exploring what I can do to discover patterns in Auckland.

http://www.geocities.com/Omegaman_UK/crowd2.html

A clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWdDXRUJLY0

Saw this clip on youtube. Don't know how to add it in the blog.
This clip is of a guy strking the columns then bars on his walk alongside the building. The repetitive nature of the sounds allows one to see the walk without having to look at the clip. Repetition or patterns in the city do not have to be physical but also audio...which opens up a world of possibilities if the other senses were to be considered.

My Project - emerging

I went around Auckland today, between the showers of rain, to take a few photos. I wanted to start exploring what I might do as my project. With the idea of memories in mind and the story of the mark on a wall by Calvino, I at first tried to capture images with memories inherent in them.








THEN I abandoned it because I realised that I was starting to take pictures that interested me.


It was then that I realised what I wanted to do. Much like the Berlin book cited earlier, I'm interested in the patterns in the city. These patterns can be static or momentary, repetitive or recurring. I'm going to explore this idea further and see what I can do with it.

ONE idea is to draw the patterns out of the city or instigate pattern making (eg. looking at the patterns of pedestrians and altering them.)

My memories

I grew up in Mount Maunganui and rarely went to Auckland. In looking back to my early memories of Auckland, only two are strong.

One is the image of Auckland University. I remember a big white gate. I don't think this ever existed on campus. It might be just a figment of my imagination that I have over the years elaborated with images from my experience.

Memories exist in a sphere of real experience and an infinite imagination.

The other memory is of large tree roots. Don't remember the tree, but remember climbing over the roots. This memory is also blurry. Though I feel as if it relates to Auckland, but it may have been acquired elsewhere. Memories may not attach itself to a place, it can be for many places.

Memory

Prout's MadelineMemories are triggered, sometimes by the most random acts. Auckland is full of these triggers, what can I do to activate these triggers?