Woophy's view of Earth

Woophy is a site that organizes photographs by the location at which they were taken. Users can click on a town or city and view the associated pictures. Each picture can also have a set of keywords attached to it. Think of Woophy as the next level of detail for Google Maps.

So what?

It's interesting to see a new indexing technique appear on the Web. I think it'll be more interesting still when cameras with GPS receivers catch on and it becomes possible to index with high precision based on latitude and longitude--then Woophy will be able to associate pictures with 1) individual intersections and 2) areas outside city limits. At that point, it'll truly be begging for a mashup with Google Maps.

More generally, Woophy would be an excellent way to organize the Web's numerous video feeds which, like most photographs, have an intrinsic--and possibly changing--physical location. Archive all the video (pretend along with me that storage and bandwidth are infinite and free!), add a "date" slider and you'll be able to travel backward in time (a nice resource for detectives seeking who-where evidence). At the limit, most of the world's (urban only, I don't think there'll be too many WoodchuckCams) activity could be readily available for retrieval by date, time and street address. Add face recognition and...well, I expect you see where this is going. It feels loosely like a concept some farout futurists like to kick around, that of the "Omega Point," a transcendental time when (among other things) everything knowable is known. (I'm looking forward to this because it means I'll always be able to find my car keys.) In the meantime, I recommend that you check out Woophy and even contribute a few pictures. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the first to put your town on the map.