World's Biggest Drawing: GPS Generated Self Portrait

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What's so special about the picture above? The black line you see is just an actual GPS tracklog recorded throughout a 55-day-journey worldwide of a briefcase!

With the help of a GPS device and DHL, Erik Nordenankar, a Swedish student, have drawn a self portrait on our planet. His pen was a briefcase containing the GPS device, being sent around the world. The paths the briefcase took around the globe became the strokes of the drawing.

The 17th of March 2008, Erik sent away a briefcase containing a GPS device with the express transportation company DHL. He gave them exact travel instructions, where to go and in what order. 55 days later the briefcase returned to Stockholm. The GPS automatically recorded the briefcase's journey around the world. The information was downloaded to Erik's computer and gave him his drawing. Due to the GPS drawing technique and the magnitude of the drawing, the self portrait had to be made in only one stroke. That giant stroke passed through 6 continents and 62 countries, thus becoming 110,664 km long.

According to the website, in order to make the drawing, Erik developed GPS device with extended tracklog and battery time. Watch the making of the drawing ...



Now, is this a hoax? There are alot of question marks around the possibility of constructing such a drawing using DHL planes with uninterrupted GPS signal. But there is a student named Erik Nordenankar at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm, Sweden--with an exam project described as none other than the "biggest drawing in the world."

Read Also:
Biggest Drawing In The World (Official Site)
Travel Instructions Given To DHL (Biggest Drawing In The World)
Self-portrait with GPS (CNET)