I like the idea of using maps to tell stories. I particularly like the idea or using a map to show an emerging story. A couple of years ago I had the idea of creating a personal Journey Planner map for the Tube, showing the bits of the Underground network that I had used in a year. The map would grow the more journeys I went on. This sort of map would of course be useless for planning journeys to new places – though I could just point my nose in the direction of the gaps and be sure to go somewhere new.
Leagues ahead of my uninitiated idea is a campaign I saw yesterday in the Guardian in an article about ad agencies’ suggestions for rebranding the Euro. The proposal from ServicePlan in Munich is to track the journey of Euro notes through the Euro zone. See concept website here. Individuals would take part by scanning euro note serial codes using their phone, uploading the code to a database along with their geolocation and a photo, and over time see where else this same note travelled.
Over time a picture could emerge of currency travelling across the breadth of the Euro promoting some sort of shared identity.
I like the idea, but as I type I realise I don’t quite understand how each note’s onward journey is tracked. If it relies on other people registering the same note, then that is one serious ad campaign that would be needed to get enough people involved…and even then the story would get cut short as soon as someone the note in a suitcase under their bed!