IMMAP
PROJECT REPORT
Cesar Torres Bustamante
Landscape Architecture Department
November 2010
01.
PROJECT SUMMARY
Immap is a mapping project that reviews intricate economic and demographic relationships of
immigrants in the United States. The project emerged in response to Arizona’s Senate Bill
1070, a law that authorizes local police to check the immigration status of anyone they
reasonably suspect of being in the United States illegally. This law generated debate between
advocates who say it will help combat illegal immigration, and opponents who affirm it is a
breach of civil liberties and an invitation to racial profiling of Hispanics by police (some say
that the law will create tensions between police and Hispanics).
Arizona’s 1070 law raises some issues regarding legal and illegal immigration in the US.
According to nationwide surveys conducted in 2008 and 2009, Hispanics are the ethnic group
most likely to be illegal immigrants (three-quarters of undocumented immigrants are Hispanic)
and Americans also see Hispanics as the racial/ethnic group must often subjected to
discrimination (almost one-in-four Americans said Hispanics are discriminated in society)1.
Immap proposes to device representational strategies that engage mapping technologies selfreflexively. It focuses on Mexicans, the largest group of Hispanic-origin people in the United
States (66%), and also the highest percentage in unauthorized migrants (56% of
unauthorized population)2. The project actively maps relationships derived from immigrants in
the US, constructing a 1:1 map in which the viewer is in the map. Rather than an isolated
object, immap becomes a scenario in which the viewer is located, addressing networks of as
trajectories for inquiry and speculation. To better understand and critically act on the extent
and repercussions of this current situation, information needs to be mapped tangibly: the
mappings that immap proposes develop an interactive interface that allows the user to
physically manipulate and engage with the information.
The areas that the project will start mapping are economic and demographic, answering the
following questions:
•
In terms of demographics, how is the immigration landscape of the United States
constituted? How has the immigrant population demographics changed over time?
•
What is the economic contribution through remittances from Mexican immigrants into
US economy? How have remittances also shaped Mexican economy?
Immap intends to construct representational strategies that answer these questions by
proposing an innovative technology device that places the viewer in a data-scenario, able to
navigate through hand gestures. Such design solution allows an interpretation and active
engagement in understanding information, fostering self-reflection and questioning of social
environments. Immap proposes a shift from “map” into “mapping”, inviting the observer to
take part into the design process at a 1:1 scale. !
02.
INTRODUCTION TO TOPIC
Traditional representational methodologies predominant in landscape architectural practice
have long identified various regimes for the depiction and mapping of landscapes, such as
plan, perspective, maps, axonometrics, etc. These conventional depictions prioritize the visual
and formal qualities of existing landscape conditions. As techniques, they tend to displace
objects from their wider context and create neutral artificialities that refrain from
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1
Pew
Hispanic
Center,
“Hispanics
and
Arizona’s
New
Immigration
Law”,
accessed
on
October
31,
2010,
http://pewhispanic.org/factsheets/factsheet.php?FactsheetID=68
2 Jeffrey S. Passel, “The Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant Population in the US”, Pew Hispanic Center, accessed on
October 20, 2010, http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/61.pdf.
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emancipating more diverse phenomena. For example, perspectival representation is primarily
used for “pictorial/compositional operations of picturesque space-making, [compromising] its
agency in the exploration of landscape” 3. Although James Corner and Elizabeth Meyer have
advocated the need for methodologies that engage more directly with the phenomena of
landscape 4(Corner 1999, Meyer, 1997), there has not been an extended examination and
development of techniques that not only privilege objects but also encourage the imaginative
conception of experiential and spatial phenomena. As such Immap provides additional insight
into the depiction of information by reconceptualizing the map and proposing a mode of
representation that shifts from object to field. This project puts forward a shift from “map” into
“mapping”, and addresses it at a 1:1 scale rather than an object.
The 1:1 map project is not a new idea: Jorge Luis Borges and Lewis Carroll describe fictional
maps in which the map is as vast as what it represents. In “How to Travel with a Salmon”,
Umberto Eco addresses the same issue in “On the Impossibility of Drawing a Map of the
Empire on a Scale of 1 to 1”. However the importance here is no the scale of map, but the
process of mapping, the engagement between the user and the map. James Corner affirms
that a map like this captures the “tension between reality and representation, between
territory and the map”5. Immap immerses the user in a 1:1 visualization of demographic and
economic information, navigating through physical hand gestures and orientation of the map.
The information is not detached from the user as an abstract quantity but places the user in
the field itself, allowing visualization of data from the context in which he or she is located.
The project is proposed for the iPad, a touch screen that incorporates a 3-axis accelerometer
and GPS capabilities to sense the device orientation and location. iPad becomes a “window”
through which the user is able to visualize demographic and economic information related to
immigration, specific not only to the orientation of the device but also to the geographic
location of the user in the United States. The project is expected to operate similarly to “Star
Walk”, and application that presents a “live representation of what you see in the sky […]
following your movements right, left, up and down”. However in immap the information
displayed will be demographic and economic related to immigrants.
03.
OBJECTIVES STATEMENT
The areas that the immap project originally intended to map were mainly economic, and some
of the questions that it sought to answer were:
•
What is the economic contribution through remittances from Mexican immigrants into
US economy? How have remittances also shaped Mexican economy?
•
What would be the impact of reducing these contributions to both countries? How has
the financial crisis of US affected Mexican immigrants?
After starting the data collection process it was evident that the sources of information were
more abundant than originally expected (see graphic in previous page). The primary source of
information was Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (Institute for Mexicans Abroad) a
decentralized agency of the Foreign Ministry of Mexican government that promotes strategies,
programs and recommendations for Mexican communities abroad 6. After researching for other
sources it was evident that the subject has been heavily investigated and discussed, and the
availability of information, added to the capabilities of the iPad, shifted the focus into
geographic-specific data, that is, it will be of particular interest the physical location of the
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3 Getch Clarke, Holly A. (2005) “Land-scopic Regimes: Exploring Perspectival Representation Beyond the ‘Pictorial’ Project,” Landscape
Journal, 24, pp.50-68.
4 Corner, James (1999a) “The Agency of Mapping,” In Mappings, (Ed, Cosgrove, D.) Reaktion, London, pp. 213-252. Meyer, Elizabeth (1997)
“The Expanded Field of Landscape Architecture,” In Ecological design and planning, (Eds, Thompson, G. F. and Steiner, F. R.) John Wiley, New
York, pp. 45-79.
5 Corner, James, op cit., p. 221.
6 Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores), accessed on September 4, 2010; http://www.ime.gob.mx
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user in revealing the information available in the map.
The new questions proposed for immap are:
•
In terms of demographics, how is the immigration landscape of the United States
constituted? How has the immigrant population demographics changed over time?
•
What is the economic contribution through remittances from Mexican immigrants into
US economy? How have remittances also shaped Mexican economy?
The main changes from the original proposal are these two main areas (geographic
distribution of immigrants and trends over time, and geographic distribution of remittances).
04.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The first part of the project focuses on data collection and programming of iPad device. As
recent information is essential for the project, most of the research was done through
electronic pages, with a large number of sites focusing on immigration demographics and
economics. Various publications and books were also reviewed, but webpages offered the
most recent and complete information (tables and charts, as well as questionnaires and
reports). Data collection focused on these webpages, which are listed in the graphic in page 3.
To program the iPad it was necessary to learn programming in “Xcode”, a suite of tools for
developing software on Mac OS X developed by Apple. An iPad was purchased as a way of
testing application and understanding capabilities of the device. Xcode was reviewed through
the online learning website “Lynda.com”. The courses taken for this process were:
•
•
iPhone
SDK
Essential
Traning
by
Simon
Allardice
(http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=48369). This course presents
the tools and skills needed to create applications for this mobile platform. It covers the
process for developing an application, getting started with the tools and language to
build user interfaces. It covers the core development tools for iPhone (Xcode, Interface
Builder and Instruments), the language (Objective-C) and the framework (Cocoa
Touch).
iPhone
SDK
Developing
iPad
Applications
by
Simon
Allardice
(http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=65722). This course applies
existing knowledge of Xcode, Objective-C and iPhone SDK to create applications
specific to the iPad. It addresses the device characteristics as larger screen and
detecting device capabilities.
Additionally, the following list of books and publications were used in reviewing Xcode and
Objective C:
•
Dan Pilone and Tracey Pilone, “Head First iPhone Development”, ed. O’Reilly, 2010,
516 pp.
•
“iPad Programming Guide” by Apple (2010), accessed on August 8, 2010,
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/General/Conceptual/iPadProgra
mmingGuide/iPadProgrammingGuide.pdf
•
“iPad Human Interface Guidelines” by Apple (2010), accessed on August 8, 2010,
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/General/Conceptual/iPadHIG/iP
adHIG.pdf
•
“Xcode Project Management Guide” by Apple (2010) accessed on August 12, 2010
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/Xco
deProjectManagement/Xcode_Project_Management_Guide.pdf.
•
“The Objective-C Programming Language” by Apple (2010) accessed on August 12,
2010,
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/ObjectiveC/O
bjC.pdf.
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Having familiarized with Xcode, Objective-C and Cocoa Touch, the next step is to design an
interface that for the application. An image of the proposed interface is shown below:
The device will geographically map the location of main cities in California (a second stage
may include major cities in the US). Based on the physical location of the user, the map will
have a changing interface, and will reveal demographic information related to immigrants in
the US. Information will vary based on changes from orientation and positioning of iPad, as
well as location of user.
05.
PROJECT RESULTS
The image in the following page list the activities accomplished for the immap project. The
complexity in programming the iPad has extended the timeframe. Activities as “mapping
production” and “mapping strategies” have been consolidated in “interface design”, simplifying
the construction of a physical object (the map, originally a device expected to be constructed
and manipulated through the iPad). The current work focuses on the design of an interface,
and a preliminary version of the demographic project in immap is expected to be running at
beginning of January.
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&!
In regards to data collection, the sources of information used for the project are those that list
data by county, and in the first stage immap will address only counties in California. A longterm plan is to include other states to finally transform the project into a national resource.
The main resources for information are:
•
Center for Immigration studies: an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research
organization that reviews information about the social, economic, environmental,
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•
•
•
•
security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United
States.
Immigration Statistics: an office of the Department of Homeland Security, it
publishes yearly reports on refugees, naturalized citizens and legal permanent
residents.
CencusScope: created by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN) at the
of Michigan, CensusScope is a tool for studying U.S. demographic trends. It provides
charts, maps and dissimilarity indices using Census 2000 data.
Hispanic Population of the United States: a website part of the Census 2000 that
highlights past, present and future trends of the Hispanic population.
Pew Hispanic Center: a nonpartisan research organization that seeks to improve
understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact
on the nation (see image below).
This last resource (Pew Hispanic Center) had already produced a map that geographically
locates the number of Hispanic population by county, allowing an interactive visualization for
30 years (1980, 1990, 2000 and 2008).
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It is expected to seek future funding for this project with some of the institutions and
organizations previously listed.
06.
CONCLUSIONS
The first stage of immap focused on gathering of data and detailed review of programming for
iPad. A variety of resources provided insights into many aspects of immigration (legal and
illegal, economics, politics, etc), and the specificity of demographics and economics (county
level) offered opportunities for a site-specific map. While the gathering of data has been
successfully completed, the complexity in programming has extended the expected timeframe
for the project. The original idea aimed at creating a dynamic visualization of the information,
similar to that presented by the Pew Hispanic Center (illustrated in the previous page).
However, after engaging with the iPad through programming and physical exploration, its
accelerometer and GPS capabilities allow a more unique engagement with the map,
transforming a physical scenario into a virtual map visible through the device. This produces a
1:1 map in which the use is embedded in the interface, interacting not only with an object but
also engaging with data physically and geographically. A preliminary version of the application
is expected to be finished by the start of 2011.
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