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Emotional Landscaping

Map the psychology of a city or town
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A device that would take measurements of a person's stress response to the inherent stimuli of traveling around or living in a certain city or town. The "lie detector" device would measure things like galvanic skin resistance, heartrate, and blood pressure. The data would be correlated to coordinates from a GPS. This would enable a cartographic representation of changes in people's emotional states as they meander through the city. An area with a lot of litter and homeless people would provoke a very different response than an area that was clean and nicely landscaped.

There are many variables to consider: Time of day, the psychological make-up of the person wearing the device, weather, mode of travel, etc.

The data would become more accurate as more trips were made with the device. Achieving uniformity in the psychological state of the wearer might be accomplished with drugs, hypnosis, or meditation.

The benefits of data collected would be numerous. City planners could decide which areas would benefit from an infusion of development, Tourists could see what areas were in keeping with their tastes, and prospective home buyers could identify areas that had a positive "vibe".

pithhelmet, Jan 26 2006

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       Reminds me of a recent idea that came up in conversation: A weather map that shows an area's inhabitants' average facial expressions as they step outside.
jutta, Jan 26 2006
  

       //drugs, hypnosis, or meditation// have never helped me achieve //uniformity// of anything. YMMV   

       This is more emotional mapping than landscaping. The variables you mention can be eliminated statistically with a large enough sample set.
BunsenHoneydew, Jan 27 2007
  

       Google Maps has a my maps feature. Where you and others can create and edit a map.   

       The edits could be : ) or : ( and the time. or eeek 9 pm.!   

       I guess you create the map and invite others to join.   

       So if you have an emotional robot, you could invite him her to join as well.
popbottle, Jan 13 2014
  
      
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