Groundspeak Portal

Just gauging interest... how does an "Inventions" category sound? I'm thinking it might include a few basic types of locations: the laboratories where inventions were actually created, and museum-type displays where the actual item is on display. One requirement might be there *must* be a sign or plaque at the spot describing who invented what.

What do you folks think.. would this make a good category?

Generally, I like it.

I like it, overall.  Definitately would be interesting.

My concerns:

1 - Places like where the lightbulb was invented are interesting and historic.  But many inventions are invented by R&D departments at corporate laboratories, not so interesting.  Would this category include those inventions that come from the corporate labs of DuPont, for instance?

2 - I'm not certain about this, but I believe Thomas Edison made most of his inventions at a single location.  Would there be a waymark for each invention that shared the same coordinates as they were both invented at the same location?

Just some of the thoughts I have going around in my head.  Like I said, I like the idea and I'm curious to see where you go with this.

rmikelyons:

2 - I'm not certain about this, but I believe Thomas Edison made most of his inventions at a single location.  Would there be a waymark for each invention that shared the same coordinates as they were both invented at the same location?

I'm 30 minutes from the Edison Estate in Fort Myers, FL. I'll make a special trip if this cat gets put through!

rmikelyons:

I like it, overall.  Definitately would be interesting.

My concerns:

1 - Places like where the lightbulb was invented are interesting and historic.  But many inventions are invented by R&D departments at corporate laboratories, not so interesting.  Would this category include those inventions that come from the corporate labs of DuPont, for instance?

2 - I'm not certain about this, but I believe Thomas Edison made most of his inventions at a single location.  Would there be a waymark for each invention that shared the same coordinates as they were both invented at the same location?

Just some of the thoughts I have going around in my head.  Like I said, I like the idea and I'm curious to see where you go with this.

I would recommend that each location get one waymark  no matter how many inventions may have been done there otherwise the category management will have a difficult time preventing duplicates.

Good point. I'd agree that a lab (like Edison's) would get just one WM. After all, the number of patents that come out of certain labs is surely quite large. And yes, many inventions are the result of corporate research, but the locations would have to be open to the public. That doesn't mean corporate locations can't be waymarked. A family member works for a large biotech firm (Beckman Coulter), and they've got a "heritage center" (with inventions) that is not only open to the public, but they actively welcome visitors. Also, although corporations do lots of inventing, there are many other spots that are much less, well, "corporate." Hewlett-Packard, for instance, started in a garage, and I'm sure many others have as well. Finally, the new "Core of Discovery" group is looking for a few officers. If you're interested, sign up!

D'oh! I forgot to mention that users Gryffindor3 and JJG10101 are one family. Didn't wanna make it seem like I'm stealing their thunder. ;-) 

Incidentally, Edison's Menlo Park lab isn't in Jersey anymore -- we have it!  Bwahahaha!

If my office had windows, I could see it from here.