Research Framing

It’s now possible to continually record every place you ever go, with your smartphone and services like Google Maps Timeline.

I was curious....how could location history data be used to design a tangible device that prompts reminiscence on the past?

Early Explorations

I began the design process by building crude Python scripts, which helped me get a handle on what could be extracted from the dataset.

• Learned how to work with a large metadata sets in a designerly way
• Realized simply mapping a moment from today's date in history could spark a memory
  
• Some items I could extract:
  + days I was on trips
  + cities and places frequently visited
  + descriptions: ‘biking for 2 hours on a sunny Sunday afternoon in San Francisco’
  

Early Explorations

In conjunction, I explored various physical forms which could act as interaction points.

• Found the sand tracer prototypes were very intriguing
• Quality we most liked was the continual and slow reveal of a pattern over time
• Realized slow reveal could indicate something about a location as it slowly surfaced

Vocab from Design Exploration

moment        : most basic piece of location data
                        (timestamp, latitude, longitude)
location day : all moments that took place on a given day

Algorithm Exploration

Explored creating algorithms that could find specific kinds of memories from the dataset.

• While I liked the ability to retrieve specific kinds of memories
• I was concerned that the algorithm could be too aligned with my specific travel history and not scale to others

Experimented with comparing location data with a friend and how today's activities might connect with the past.

• Wrote a script showing every time me and a friend were within a few feet
• Discovered that comparing location history has a lot of cool possibilities
• Ultimately decided to not go this route, mainly due to how it greatly limited the possible moments from my archive

Hardware Decision

Eventually shifted to using a 16x16 LED matrix, which provided a higher resolution output and was much easier to work with.

Like an hourglass, it indicates when a new moment would arrive.
Upon arrival of the moment, you can see hints on when and where it was.

• Seeing a random moment being surfaced in the background was delightful
• However, the hourglass animation was underwhelming
• Seeing hints about the moment was enjoyable and akin to a game
• Enclosure's form was 'meh' at best
• How to work with a Pi Zero LED display and accelerometer for input

Goals for the form following this prototype

• Does not merely look like an enclosure for a screen
• Invites peering into
• Feels durable and weighty

Iterating on Visuals

Experimenting with a map on the display

• Aesthetically the pixelated map looked nice
• We could sometimes decipher the location or at least get hints about the location
• Fast prototyping with p5.js + laser cut grid taped to laptop screen
• User tested with studio mates using their location data

Fiber Optics and Cement Experiments

I really liked the aesthetic and weight of cement, but being able to pass light through it posed a problem. I began exploring embedding fiber optics in cement. It ended up working well and gave a really cool effect!

I found cropping the corners of the matrix (creating a more circular display) gave a more organic, unobtrusive aesthetic. It made the light look more like a portal that could be looked into, which achieved the quality of inviting peering into.

More Form Iterations

I wanted the device to not just look like a screen inside an enclosure.

I changed the form to resemble a more rectangular monolith shape and set the LED matrix display in the upper portion of the enclosure. This achieved the goal of it not looking like merely an enclosure for a screen.

Casting Final Form out of Rockite

Final Components

Finished Algorithm

Reconsidering how the pacing of Memory Tracer could express time, motivated our decision to make the number of days that a memory take to reveal, to be equal to the number of years in the past of that memory.

We also decided to not just reveal a single moment, but instead reveal the entire location day.
Then when interacting with the device, it would show where we had been, at the current clock time.

For example: If we looked at Memory Tracer
at 7:05pm on June 21, 2022 it would show where we had been
at 7:05pm on June 21, 2015.