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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 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. ! "! ! #! 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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 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 ! $! 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. ! %! 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. ! &! 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, ! '! • • • • 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). ! (! 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. ! )!