How Did You Drive Home Today?

View June 16, 2010 in a larger map.

I pressed the start button on my phone's copy of Google's My Tracks in Lot #7 at the BCIT Burnaby Campus. I pressed it again when I entered the parking levels of my building in New Westminster. What the program did along the way was to note the course I took on the trip home from class. Occasionally, at times I predetermined, it announced facts about my trip. It told me my average speed and distance travelled and a few other items of information.

When at home, I pressed a button to upload my map to Google Maps. This is what you're seeing above. The darker orange line shows the roads I took to get here. Click my end point to see a pop-up box with more stats. It's possible to save so much data nowadays. I could save data from different days and compare statistics about my average commute. Whereas talking about my drive home used to be more poetic, now I am able to provide solid, scientific evidence. There is practically no limit to the amount of mathematical information we can collect about life now. Get me a larger hard disc, please!