Precise yet inaccurate
correcting computers false impression of perfection
For most designers, our tools and methods are abstractions to reality. Consultants are brought on the project until completion to update their drawings with new information collected through laborers or sub contractors. While computers may give an impression of precision, they are often times inaccurate to reality but also needs and wants of the client.
Data
Satellite imaging are typically precise and accurate at the time they are photographed. However, the impression and style of design can have a radically different outcome when you walk/feel/sense the site yourself. Our human sensory receptors are designed to give us an impression and lead us down a certain set of decision making. Likewise, looking a pixels on a screen can push us towards reaching certain conclusions about the site which numerically/data wise is correct but devoid of meaning in human experience.
Knowledge
In contrast to information, knowledge synthesizes the many dimensions of the human experience in ways that are felt, understood and seen by others. Whereas data and information is typically cloaked beyond some level of encryption or abstraction to manage and control.
Truth
Data and computers can’t tell the full story of a landscape. Part of the objective of recognizing these shortcomings is to encourage field methods that provide a greater amount of context about the relationship humans have with the earth. Getting closer to that reality can situate computers for their proper role in design processes.