PETALING JAYA: With the aid of Global Positioning System (GPS) trackers, people will (literally) go the distance to make crazy, creative patterns and drawings on roads. From outlines of animals and plants to cool catchphrases, individuals will take the time to go on foot or travel in a vehicle to create these GPS arts.
However, did the biggest GPS drawing ever create a unique marriage proposal?
Verdict
TRUE
This work was created by Tokyo resident Yasushi Takahashi in 2008 as a way to propose to his (then) girlfriend Natsuki.
The drawing is about 7,163.67km long and spelt out “Marry Me” across the length of Japan, with a heart covering the island of Hokkaido.
After plotting his course to create the huge proposal, Takahashi left his job on June 30, 2008, and began his journey on his 31st birthday. As GPS navigation systems were not common at that point, he used a GPS logger, which is an optional part of a digital camera, to track his movement, together with a rented car.
The adventure took him around six months to complete—from July 22, 2008, to January 2, 2009—and each step was documented on video.
While the proposal message was the main focus of his journey, Takahashi also noted in his video that he wanted to see more of Japan in person, including the Abashiri Prison Museum in Abashiri, Hokkaido, and the Asahikawa Zoo in Mashike, also in Hokkaido.
Takahashi finished his 7,163.67 km journey on Jan. 2, 2009, at Hyodo Cliff in Hita, a city in Kyushu in Oita prefecture.
During the journey, he faced several obstacles, including driving on unpaved and narrow routes, experiencing tyre punctures and driving through unseasonal snow using summer tyres.
Once he completed the artwork, he went back to Natsuki to propose. Initially, she was confused as she could not understand the English phrase. But once Takahashi explained what it meant, her answer was yes!
The proposal artwork later set a Guinness World Record in June 2010 for the “largest GPS drawing” made by an individual, and Takahashi still holds the record to this very day.
Takahashi, who remains married to Natsuki and has two children, said: "You are only meant to do a marriage proposal once in your life. So that memory will stay with you for the rest of your life.
"So I still think, after all these years, it was a good idea. Even though it went to custard at the end. Looking back, I realise that what I have done was wild."
References:
https://about.google/stories/
https://www.
https://nextshark.com/
