The Tokyo Zoo Project

GPS drawing is hot. On Spoon & Tamago (great blog for Japan enthusiasts) we came across the Tokyo Zoo Project, a website that builds upon this idea as it transforms Tokyo’s map into one big zoo of GPS-drawn animals. The project, powered by Sony, presents a series of cycling routes around the Japanese capital that trace outlines of different animals, such as a panda that covers Shibuya and a big gorilla that crosses the city’s Haneda district.

As the initiators explain:

“Using the running log function of the bicycle navigation system, we started the project by drawing gigantic animal geoglyphs over Tokyo. People tweet what animals they want us to draw. From their requests, our staffers (a team of cartographers, J.B.) draw animals over the map. The bike group rides all over Tokyo, logs the routes and uploads the drawing to the website immediately. Progress status with drawing and running footage are posted on Twitter in real-time every day.”

The Tokyo Zoo Project invites people to try out the animal routes using Sony’s new NAV-U personal navigation system, which is able to log a bunch of fancy stats like distance traveled and calories burned. Check it out!