Mapping the City: reflections on urban mapping methodologies from GPS to Community Dialogue

In this paper we shall explore two very different ways of approaching representation of place by means of applying GPS technologies. In the first case we present the work of Christian Nold which is focused on developing new participatory models for communal representation that combine innovative art, design and ethnographical methodologies. The projects are initiated in collaboration with a broad range of local institutions such as a community groups, arts organisations, universities and local government in cases where they have identified a particular context where there are social, cultural or political tensions and they feel they do not know how to mediate or deal with these issues. The second case is about GPS mapping of the citizen's use of public parks in Aalborg, Denmark. In collaboration between Aalborg University and the Municipality of Aalborg a GPS based park survey was carried out based on the municipality of Aalborg's landscape division general interest in knowing more about actual park user's use of the parks and the park user's preferences in relations to specific areas in the parks.