Map Man of SW8| Thursday 29 September, 2005 |
 I map 'cos I can |
The basic idea was to photoblog the Stockwell Urban II boundary. These are the blue pins in the map. Urban II is not a new make of designer jeans but an EU project to help fund organisations or groups within the boundary that will benefit the community in Stockwell. If you live in Larkhall - hurrah! North of Clap'ham then chances are that youre already not short of a bob or ten.
But being onionbagblog, I wanted to build in a cycling theme as well. The London Cycle Network Route 3 (catchy title) runs through the Urban II area, and this is represented with the green pins. I did suggest sticking in some red pins geo-blogging sightings of mainstream knobber media whores during July in Stockwell, but this would have taken up the entire map.
I've learnt a lot about longitude and latitude, not to mention camera diplomacy after inadvertently capturing a rather shady deal taking place on a nearby estate. The photography itself was shot over a period of a week back in July, walking, cycling and even running the Urban II boundary (legging it actually after seeing the shady deal).
It really is quite clever how different communities in such a small area seamlessly blend into each other. You can be walking through Little Porto along South Lambeth Road and then minutes later and you're in the Ethiopian heartland of South London along the Wandsworth Road. Take a turn towards Battersea and the estates become bleak, but get back on track and you're on course for the affluent areas on the outskirts of Claph'ham Junction.
My blue pin border of the Urban II boundary more or less matches up with the official map provided by the Stockwell Partnership. Longitude and latitude are tricky concepts to be accurate with online, and I'm rather pleased with the matching up of my map and the original I was working from.
You can use the slide scale on the left to either zoom in or zoom out. Hold down your mouse on the map and drag around to navigate areas. The Satellite and Hybrid buttons are great. Give them a go and you'll see what I mean.
When you click on a pin, a speech bubble appears. This contains a headline, a brief description and a thumbnail picture. Click on the thumbnail and a new window opens up with the full scale image. There's still some minor tweaking to do.
And so what's the point? Well why not? I made the map 'cos I can. If nothing else it will serve as a record of the Stockwell for a few days during the summer of 2005. Given the images that the knobber media whores tried to tarnish us with during this strange period, I like to think I am providing a small, but significant representation that is now out there in the public record.
