Penguin Digital delivers “The 21 Steps” via Google Earth
Product Review: “The 21 Steps” by Charles Cumming (Penguin Digital)
by Christine Bush for EarthSatelliteMaps.com
Date: 2008-08-24
Source: http://wetellstories.co.uk/stories/week1/
KML, the XML-based language used by Google Earth, allows the geospatial data service to be extended in surprising ways. One example of its extensibility can be found in an interesting promotion in progress now by Penguin Digital, the electronic branch of Penguin Press. Penguin Digital has invited contemporary writers to re-imagine some of Penguin’s classic publications into not only new tales but new media. The first of these is an homage to John Buchan’s 1915 “shocker”, “The 39 Steps” (Buchan, John. The Thirty-Nine Steps. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1915.) The new version is called “The 21 Steps” and is retold by Charles Cummings and delivered online at a web site (that embeds Google Earth) by alternate reality gaming shop Six To Start.
When I first opened the page and realized what I was seeing, I admit to being pretty excited. Realizing that this was a “first” (at least for me, and spend I good amount of time looking for this kind of stuff), I allowed myself to sit back and just enjoy the experience with an uncritical approach and my expectations were met, and in some cases, exceeded. The story itself is adventurous without being to complex. This gives the user mental space to explore the Google Earth context into which the text of story has been placed. And it is a visually compelling context with good resolution (if not a bit strongly shadowed) orthophotography of London in the first few chapters and of Scotland later in the yarn.
I’m not a fast reader and I made it through the whole tale at a casual pace in the course of a weekend. I experienced no glitches in delivery and only had to refresh to get the imagery to tile correctly once or twice. I used a modestly robust wireless connection to a DSL router in my home office to connect. It would be nice if you could more easily hop around among chapters. The programming of the story is solid and makes good use of many of KML’s more sophisticated capabilities, like the ability to show progress through space over time. I would enjoy more non-map graphic elements being included in the story, such as pictures of the main characters and significant items — not to say those that were included are not appreciated.
So, we can now begin to place our books into a geospatial context. What are the questions and issues that this presents us? Here are a few, in no particular order:
- Are there certain kinds of books or stories that will most benefit from being delivered in a geospatial context?
- How can we better exploit the data and information made available to the author by geospatial placement?
- Is it necessary, or even desirable, to have every piece of the story tied to a specific place?
- Is this a slippery slope away from the summit of pure literature into the valley of visual entertainment?
Some of these questions evoke straight forward answers, others are more elusive. Read the book.
