I offer a tip of the hat to Geographic Travels for featuring an article from MSNBC called “Future online password could be a map.”
However, it’s not necessary for me to repeat the contents of the blog post or the article here. They are interesting artifacts that you can examine on your own. The basic premise is that longitude and latitude coordinates for very specific locations — known only to the user — could serve as the basis of extremely strong passwords.
Applicability
This possibility simply thrills me more than anyone could likely imagine. I’m salivating, really I am. I envision an immediate application right here on Twelve Mile Circle if the solution ever comes to fruition. You are all familiar with my ongoing battles against comment spam. Wouldn’t it be ever-so-satisfying to have a geography-based solution as a means to authenticate and validate comments on the website? Take that spammer – here’s a map in your face!
Click London
It could involve a rotating set of simple tests in order to place a comment. Imagine an uncomplicated, universally-known geographic questions like “click London”. A spambot doesn’t know London from Longdon. However, any person even mildly interested in a geography-oriented website could do it with ease. If you can’t find London then I’m guessing your comment probably wouldn’t add much value. Problem solved.
A More Advanced Case
Administrator passwords might need to be much more complicated. Of course I’d select an extremely unusual geo-oddity for mine. Maybe it would be the Delaware Wedge, the 18th hole of the world’s longest golf course, or the Drummully Polyp? Maybe it would be my in-law’s house? The possibilities would be endless. I am an extremely visual map-oriented person so I could remember a password much better this way. I bet it would even be a lot stronger too. It’s time to bring the power of maps to the rest of the world.
Then I found one big potential problem. What about visually impaired users? Are there standards for rendering Braille-based maps from the Internet onto tactile screens?
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