Saturday, June 23, 2018

The Rorschach Map Tests


Take a look at the following map and tell me what you see. If you see a bat or a butterfly then we may need to discuss your relationship with your father in a little more detail.

Rorschach Satellite is a fun little map which is designed to create a kaleidoscope effect using Mapbox aerial views. The map was created by Mapbox's Damon Burgett. Essentially Rorschach Satellite places two maps side-by-side. On one map the satellite image is flipped so that it shows the mirror image of the other map. The result is that Rorschach Satellite creates patterns very similar to the ink blot patterns used by psychologists in Rorschach tests.

If you like a pattern created with Rorschach Satellite you can copy and past the map URL to share a link to your view on Rorschach Satellite.


#rorschmap uses the Google Maps API to create a very similar effect. #rorschmap can create a kaleidoscope view for any location on the Earth. Essentially the application displays the Google Maps satellite view of a location and, using the same principle of multiple reflection that you find in kaleidoscopes, creates an animated Rorschach test effect.

The map works in a similar way to Rorschach Satellite but actually has four different map views rather than two.


If that doesn't impress you then why not try #rorschmap Street View Edition. Just enter your address into the app and you can drop-down the rabbit-hole and create a kaleidoscope from the Google Maps Street View of your own home!


We haven't finished yet! You also need to check out #rorschcam, which applies the same kaleidoscope effect to New York webcams from the New York City Department of Transportation.

We might not have a map with this application but the webcam images are live so now we have a moving real-time kaleidoscope views of New York's streets. Who would have thought that New York's streets could have got any weirder?

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