I've stumbled across a few websites recently that all share the same pursuit: recording and disseminating shared and individual experiences of place. The "Wiki" approach common to these--where individual contributions of information (aka "citizen journalism") and content add up to a multifaceted composite whole--produces kaleidoscopic results. Check them out. There must be others.
- Wayfaring: a synthesis of Friendster and Google Maps, you create and share personalized maps based on your whims and preferences (your favorite places to drink beer, scuba dive, etc). It's an evolving social network overlaid on an evolving geographic one. Social relationships, consumption, and the physical world, all at the same time.
- Citynoise: "a public photoblog where people with a love for the urban form, modern world, or a general appreciation of their environment gather to post stories, narratives and often upload photos of their favourite cities, hometowns, travels, or current locations." (via)
- 43places: "Share stories about places in your city and around the world." Provocative listing of where its members wish to travel: "Sillykitty wants to go to Amsterdam," for example.
- A View on Cities, "a site dedicated to the sights and attractions in some of the world's greatest cities."
- Archi-Tourist, "a free, Wiki-based travel guide to contemporary architecture around the globe."
- Panaramio, where users upload their photos and cross-reference them with Google Maps, augmenting maps with an ever-expanding, searchable layer of images.
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