Progress! This is the algorithm that leads to circles:

1. get a place name;
2. call on Flickr to get georeference for place name;
3. call on flickr to get 22 images geo-tagged to georeference, sort for high ‘interestingness’;
4. store these images in folder as .jpg;
5. convert images to .bmp and store in same folder;
6. randomize .bmp images;
7. make randomized .bmp images into circles;
8. output randomized circles to browser, onclick go to Flickr original.

I am getting closer to my goal: total control over the picture at the pixel level.  Next steps to be considered: make colored barcode = colour map for place; input image string to voicebot; input images to flash movie.

Congratulations are in order: I managed to pull Flickr images by geo-tag! Circumventing the authentication problem – it turned out I did not really need this – which is just as well as I understood about zero percent of the for-dummies explanation about this subject. Does this make me a super-dummy?

Anyway: I made some more code and it works. Just input a placename here and the 20 top pics from that place will show. Actually, I told the algorithm to get pictures from jan 1th 2010 onwards, in a 10 km radius around the place’s centroid, and sorted by interestingness.

Interestingness is what Flickr calls the criteria used for selecting which photos are showcased. “All photos are given an Interestingness “score” that can also be used to sort any image search on Flickr. The top 500 photos ranked by Interestingness are shown in Explore. Interestingness rankings are calculated automatically by a secret computer algorithm. The algorithm is often referred to by name as the Interestingness algorithm. Although the algorithm is secret, Flickr has stated that many factors go into calculating Interestingness including: a photo’s tags, how many groups the photo is in, views, favorites, where click-throughs are coming from, who comments on a photo and when, and more. The velocity of any of those components is a key factor. For example, getting 20 comments in an hour counts much higher than getting 20 comments in a week.” 

Interesting!

I’m doing the software thing again – it is so interesting ! I combine Flickr API stuff with  PHP programming and I am slowly unraveling their mysteries. “Code is poetry” – I think the wordpress people  have it right. I managed a simple ‘call by tag’ function that calls Flickr pictures. I managed to convert  the picture to binary, which shows when you hover the mouse over the picture. I’m putting this function under the  ’Test‘ tab – it can be played with  if and when I am not testing something. Then, it will give error messages and other weird stuff,  because I’m working  trial-and-error style.

Am now wrestling with the authentication that Flickr demands for its more nifty API functions. No light at the end of that particular tunnel – yet.

And here’s the particular poetry that makes the above happen – great gulf between form and function:

<?php

/*
Template Name: testapi
*/
?>
<?php get_header(); ?>
<h2 >

<?php
echo “call flickr images by tag”;
?>
</h2>

<?php
/*
#
# get the tag
#
*/
?>

<?php

echo “<form action=\”http://www.visual-art-research.com/test-8/\” method=\”post\”>”;
echo “Write a tag: <input type=\”text\” name=\”ftag\” value=\”$tagname\”>”;
echo “<input type=\”submit\” />”;
echo “</form>”;
$tagname=$_POST["ftag"];
?>

<?php
if (isset($tagname)) {
/*
#
# build the API URL to call
#
*/
?>
<?php
$params = array(
‘api_key’ => ‘xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx’,
‘method’ => ‘flickr.photos.search’,
‘tags’ => $tagname,
‘format’ => ‘php_serial’,
);

$encoded_params = array();

foreach ($params as $k => $v){
$encoded_params[] = urlencode($k).’=’.urlencode($v);
}
?>
<?php
/*
#
# call the API and decode the response
#
*/
?>

<?php
$url = “http://api.flickr.com/services/rest/?”.implode(‘&’, $encoded_params);
$rsp = file_get_contents($url);

$rsp_obj = unserialize($rsp);
/*
print_r ($rsp_obj);
*/
?>

<?php
/*
#
# display the first 20 photos (or an error if it failed)
#
*/
?>

<?php
$photos_total = $rsp_obj['photos']['total'];

if ($photos_total > 0){

echo “<h3 class= \”pagetitle\” >”;
echo “Displaying photo’s with tag \” $tagname \” (max 20 photo’s)”;
echo “<br/>”;
echo “</h3>”;

for ($i = 0; $i < 20 and $i < $photos_total; $i++) {
$photo_farm = $rsp_obj['photos']['photo'][$i]['farm'];
$photo_owner = $rsp_obj ['photos'][photo][$i]['owner'];
$photo_server = $rsp_obj['photos']['photo'][$i]['server'];
$photo_id = $rsp_obj['photos']['photo'][$i]['id'];
$photo_secret = $rsp_obj['photos']['photo'][$i]['secret'];
$photo_title = $rsp_obj['photos']['photo'][$i]['title'];
$photo_URL = “http://farm”.$photo_farm.”.static.flickr.com/”.$photo_server.”/”.$photo_id.”_”.$photo_secret.”_s.jpg”;
$flickr_URL =”http://www.flickr.com/photos/”.$photo_owner.”/”.$photo_id.”/”;
/*
echo “<img src=”.$photo_URL.” width=150 height=150>”;
*/

# write the image to a file named $img and find length of $img
$img=file_get_contents($photo_URL);
$length = strlen ($img);

# add binary info to the #binTotString variable

for ($j = 0; $j < $length; $j++) {
$hexString = $img[$j];
$binNumeric = hexdec($hexString);
$binString = decbin($binNumeric);
$bin_length = strlen ($binString);
$binTotString .=$binString;
}
echo “<div id=contentnw>”;
echo “</div>”;
echo “<div>”;
echo “<div>”;
echo “<a href=”.$flickr_URL.” title=’”.$binTotString.”‘> <img src=”.$photo_URL.” alt=”.$binTotString.”></a>”;
echo “</div>”;
echo “<h5>”;
echo “<a href=”.$flickr_URL.” width=150 height=150> View ‘”.$photo_title.”‘ at Flickr </a>”;
echo “</div>”;
echo “</h5>”;
}
}else{
echo “<br/>”;
echo “Sorry, no images with tag \” $tagname \”";
echo “<br/>”;
}
?>
<?php
}
?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Click here to view the embedded video.

When at the Barcelona Zoo, I captured this ostrich going at a hopeless task again, and again, and again. It ties in, somehow, with my research into Huizinga’s Homo Ludens and the idea of playing man. I owe a debt to Huizinga’s observation of how the rules of law, war, philosophy and the arts are derived from ritualistic play. Ever since I’ve tried to capture those moments where free-form play becomes a ritual of sorts – not an easy thingto do,  but interesting.

These are my examples so far:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Finally found time to go through my pics from Barcelona, taken last december. It’s a very elegant city, which  I think shows in the pictures. Prague has the same habit of having elegant street furniture and a lot of intimate, well-proportioned squares. Missing in my pics are the scooters we rented – I had no time to make pics when on wheels. It was very exhilarating to zap and zoom through traffic, going from dirt-packed mountain roads to the beach by way of the city center. Such fun!