Tracing You, the website that views the world around you as YOU
This is possibly the first time we have seen a website that looks at the world through your perspective. Tracing You is the latest project of Ben Grosser, and this is how it works; by cross referencing the visitor’s IP addresses with available online data sources, the system is able to trace each visitor back through the network to its possible origin. At the completion of that trace happens to be the closest possible available image that shows the potential environment surrounding that particular visitor. However, after looking at this image a couple of times, we have found that the website is mildly accurate.
Sometimes, it shows the most accurate of results, and sometimes, it shows a desolate environment, or some location that we are not even remotely aware of, suggesting that the project needs a fair amount of tweaking before it can be branded as completely reliable. Since you have a unique IP address, every time you sit in front of a different computer, the data associated with the registered IP starts to trace your location and thanks to the magic created by Google in the form of Street View and Static Maps, you will be able to view the things that you would normally see surrounding you.
Now here are some scenarios that you might encounter when you start using Tracing You to view the world through its perspective. The image that you will be able to see in front of you may be extremely close to your current location, or it might even photographed from within the building you are living in (if you happen to be living in a multiple story building). In addition, the image could also be down the block, a few blocks over, or even further. So why aren’t the images as accurate as we would expect them to be? Well, it all has to do how these networks are built, configured, operated, and distributed from where your current location happens to be.
In time Tracing You will eventually become even more accurate, but you will have to learn to be more patient regarding this.
You can head over to Tracing You here and check it out yourself.
