[iDC] Net (dot) Geo. The emergence of the geospatial web

[Ryan Griffis]

John,
Not to belabor your point (which is generally right), but even if one  
can dismiss the military origins of GPS on an international scale as  
history, its conceptual development well predates the satellites  
operated by the US Airforce. GPS is only one component of a larger  
conceptual and technological infrastructure.
Geographer John Cloud has a nice history of GIS here:

http://www.geography.wisc.edu/histcart/v6initiative/11cloud.pdf

best,
ryan

On Jan 22, 2009, at 6:00 AM, idc-request at mailman.thing.net wrote:

> This as a foot note when talking about political dissent and  
> critical practices???
>
> This should read: funding approved by the US Congress (as it  
> 'approves' a Department of Defense budget every year, sometimes  
> discussing specific weapons systems such as the GPS) and was  
> deployed AND controlled (not merely used!) by the DOD.
>
> Again, if the essay uses the term "political dissent" in passing, a  
> deeper discussion of the relationship of this ENTIRE system to the  
> military would seem necessary.  If you limit your discussion to the  
> play that occurs within Consumer Techno-Capitalism, playing with  
> the toys spun out of the Military -Industrial system...
>
> This has been a recurring amnesia in the development of 'locative'  
> media since its 'beginning' in 2004. The assumption is to newbies  
> when they get their GPS-enabled telephone that there are ONLY  
> positive impacts on their life (as the marketing is clearly  
> communicating to them), and that there is nothing remotely negative  
> in being/becoming more-or-less dependent on that system and, in  
> some worst-case scenarios (political dissent!), LOCATED by that  
> system!
>
> It is very important to recall that ALL the developments that you  
> mention in the article rest on this base.  And, if suggesting a  
> call to 'political dissent' via this tool, you are doing a  
> disservice to your readers not to be more explicit as they might be  
> the ones to pay a dear price for carrying their telly with them  
> next time they are dissenting!