Global positioning system

THE MAP
THE MOBILE
AND
THE PHYSICAL
LAYAR AS
A CASE-STUDY
BY BERNADETTE SCHRANDT

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BERNADETTE SCHRANDT
THE MAP, THE MOBILE AND THE PHYSICAL:
LAYAR AS A CASE-STUDY

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THE MAP, THE MOBILE AND THE PHYSICAL:
LAYAR AS A CASE-STUDY

BERNADETTE SCHRANDT
[e-mail]
3089193
RMA THESIS MEDIA AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
MEDIA STUDIES
UTRECHT UNIVERSITY
SUPERVISED BY: DR. CHIEL KATTENBELT
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN MEDIA COMPARISON AND INTERMEDIALITY

SECOND READER: DR. SYBILLE LAMMES
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR NEW MEDIA STUDIES

JUNE 16 2010

SUMMARY
In this thesis the concept of performance cartography is researched in the realm of mobile mapping, an activity that has become more popular through enhanced technology. Specifically, the mobile
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application Layar is used to understand the changing relationship between the user and maps. Within this context, the performative will be investigated in two ways. Firstly, performance cartography is related to the act of mental mapmaking, where mapping can be understood as an activity in which information derives directly from our cognitive „databases‟. As enhanced technology increasingly enables the user to add cognitive information, it is imperative to investigate this process in more detail. In my thesis, I propose to look at these cognitive „databases‟ through a framework of the
„theatre of memory‟ as suggested by Giulio Camillo where several databases intersect through the act of spatial movement.
I here encounter my second point of investigation, namely performance cartography as an act of performance: the (embodied) act of staging in a specific time and place. The memories captured within both Layar and the user are only to be awakened by an interaction that includes the entire body; for it is the body that enables the user to navigate through the map. Within this section, the here- and nowness of mapping is discussed, which is

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