While discussing geography, one of my classmates pitched an idea she’d like to try: follow a homeless person around for a day with a GPS, mapping their use of space (with consent, of course). Where do they really go? Where would they want you to think they go? I often think of the homeless as landscape fixtures, which is dehumanizing, but as much a product of their geographic consistency as of my lack of empathy.
So I figured this kind of thing must have been done, and a quick search turned up the animated heat map of the homeless in LA above. As with any heat map it’s mostly interpolation, but the movement over the course of several months is interesting. One of the cartographers that worked on it has some interesting comments on the process, too. SFGate has a less interesting and less detailed map of the homeless in SF. I think the much smaller scale of my classmate’s idea would be somewhat more personal and interesting, but I couldn’t find something like it in my hardly exhaustive 3 mins of search.
On a related note, the City of Berkeley is mounting an unfunded effort to crack down on public madness and panhandling. The curious can find the proposal and (5 hours!) of video from the March 13th City Council meeting on the City website.
Thanks, Lynette and Brian!