It’s a new semester at ITP, and I have entirely new classes. My favourite so far is Everything is Spatial; long ago I had planned a web app to create travel guidebooks using web map data, so it’s totally up my alley.

We were assigned two readings: an intro to web maps and a comparison between Apple and Google Maps. As I read the comparison, I was struck by one difference between the two maps: Google prioritized transit, but Apple prioritized landmarks. This was interesting to me because a friend of mine, Jaycee, prefers Apple maps, and she happened to depend less on transit than me. I have an Android phone, so Apple maps is not an option for me, but even if it were, I doubt I would consequentially choose Apple. With IOS, Jaycee can choose from either of the two, but transit is likely less of a priority. It’s fascinating stuff.

We were also assigned a little exercise we did in class, to use leaflet.js to create a quick map and apply different map tiles to it. I chose Stamen’s watercolor style, and also added a bunch of restaurants that I like to eat at near ITP.