BIOMAPPING - EMOTIONAL GEOGRAPHIES

Biomapping is a project that maps emotional responses to geographic locations. Emotions are read from an individual using a Galvanic Skin Response Sensor. This data is combined with that from a GPS Receiver and the results can be viewed with mapping software such as Google Earth to show where the emotional highs and lows of the day traveling were spent. Points of significance on the map could also be tagged with more info by the user, which could make the information even more useful for town planners, architects, etc.

From the project site: 'Bio Mapping is a research project which explores new ways that we as individuals can make use of the information we can gather about our own bodies. Instead of security technologies that are designed to control our behaviour, this project envisages new tools that allows people to selectively share and interpret their own bio data.'"

This concept appears to have the potential to be a very interesting design tool for architects and urban planners, although I am not so sure if the galvanic skin response is the most accurate way to "read" people's emotions. It might show that joggers are just as happy as sunbathers - if the map locations are missing tags.

see San Francisco biomap here.
A quite impressive map for Stockport can be found here