by Elzaphan Murage
TL;DR
- With Proto, you can curate your experiences in real life into a lifelog, adding your own personal commentary and handwritten notes to a decentralized map.
- Just like the unique annotations found on historical pocket maps, we are bringing a sense of wonder, nostalgia, and ownership to the concept of lifelogs in the digital world.
- Proto allows for decentralized ownership and empowers you to document and preserve your experiences securely.
- It combines the excitement of exploration and personalization, to create a trusted guide for digital adventures and a platform to create cherished memories.
The Pocket Map
The 16th century was a time of unprecedented change that saw the very beginning of the modern era of science, great exploration, religious and political turmoil, and extraordinary literature. During the 16th century, advancements were also made in the theories of mathematics, cosmography, geography, and natural history. In this century inventions related to the fields of engineering, mining, navigation, and the military arts were prominent.
In an enchanting article for the National Endowment for the Humanities, Mary Alexandra Agner transports us to the sixteenth century, a time when adventurous travelers relied on something quite special for their journeys — pocket maps. These weren’t your ordinary maps, mind you. They were adorned with vivid descriptions of roads and destinations, carefully crafted by the printers themselves, to make them irresistible to potential buyers.
What’s truly captivating about these pocket maps is the collaborative effort that went into creating them. Talented engravers would contribute their skills, while printers added their own insightful commentary to boost sales. But it didn’t stop there. The owners of these maps would personalize them with handwritten notes in the margins, turning them into cherished keepsakes. And the printers, who were also the publishers, were more than happy to oblige when customers asked for their favorite poems, the latest political tracts, or even a news sheet to be bound together with the maps. Some printers even went a step further and cleverly integrated maps into playing cards, catering to the needs of gaming travelers.
Pocket maps in the sixteenth century introduce the actors in geolocation: owners, printers. Owners want to personalize maps with handwritten notes and printers, a desire to make their maps irresistible, which meant adding the insightful commentary or customizing the pocket maps for the owners.
Present day maps
Three types of maps exist:
- Commercial maps: Commercial maps are centrally maintained by organizations. These are your Web2 organizations such as Google Maps and Foursquare.
Commercial maps are proprietary and come with restrictions and requirements. Besides individual usage preconditions (i.e. the Terms and Conditions), there are copyright restrictions and the lack of access to the raw geodata by the curator - Open-source maps: Non-blockchain-based open-source maps (hereinafter referred to as just open-source maps) are maintained by a community of voluntary individuals (cartographers). The most prominent example is OpenStreetMap.
- Blockchain-based maps: Like open-source maps, blockchain-based open-source maps and are maintained by a community of voluntary individuals.
Creators Versus Curators
In the sixteenth century, the printers, were also the publishers. in the present day, we have creators and curators. Creators design and build the underlying infrastructure, algorithms, and protocols required for the functioning of these maps. They are involved in the initial creation and implementation of the technology. Curators are more involved in the ongoing management, curation, and governance of the location data. They are responsible for managing and maintaining the accuracy and reliability of the location data on the blockchain-based maps.
- Community-based curation of static geospatial data : Blockchain-based map services leverage financial incentives and open-source approaches and help provide accurate and current details about real places like stores and virtual locations like areas with traffic or crime.
- Maintaining hardware nodes that enable alternative navigation systems for dynamic geospatial data
Atlases are not just a navigation aids
With Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, San Francisco-based writer Rebecca Solnit has proved that atlases can be more than navigational aids. The book, featuring 22 maps and 19 essays, provides ample evidence that atlases can allow readers to look at familiar geographic regions in new ways — and can also be strikingly beautiful pieces of art.
In this ever-evolving digital landscape, Proto adds a touch of nostalgia and a sense of ownership to the concept of lifelogs. It captures the essence of exploration and personalization that made those historical pocket maps so captivating, all while embracing the exciting possibilities offered by Web3 technology.
Proto offer you the opportunity to create their own lifelogs. Lifelogs are like digital diaries that capture check-ins, messages, and images, and they are stored on the blockchain, fully owned by the user. It is about recreating that sense of wonder. It’s like having a Web3 version of those beloved pocket maps, but unlike with commercial maps, with Proto, you become the publisher, adding your own colorful commentary and personal handwritten notes.
Proto allows you to create a digital space that reflects your own stories and cherished memories. So, why don’t you let Proto be your trusted guide as you embark on your digital adventures, leaving behind your own trail of colorful commentary and treasured moments.
Stay tuned on this blog and follow us on twitter to learn more about how we’re building this network.
