EAR map solved by saund10295

[Any of N]

Regarding the Tversky^* paper I referenced above, here is a quick summary of the types of distortions people make when drawing maps.  I oversimplified things a bit for the sake of clarity.  So the reality is more complicated than how I have it below, but this might do for our purposes.

Types of Distortions in Cognitive Mapping

Alignment
Map makers arrange map elements to be more vertically or horizontally aligned than they really are.

Cognitive Reference Points
Map makers set distances to be shorter if they imagine they are moving to a landmark rather than from a landmark.

Hierarchical Organization
Map makers are influenced by the group membership of map elements. They distort distances in favor of what is generally true for the groups. (Example: San Diego falsely believed to be west of Reno because CA is generally further west than NV.)

Canonical Axes
Map makers shift the orientations of individual elements to make them more horizontal or vertical.

Perspective
Map makers judge distances to be longer if they are closer to their frame of reference. (Example: If you live in CA, you will overestimate the distances between cities on the East Coast and not do so badly for CA cities.)

Distances
Map makers overestimate shorter distances. They also exaggerate distances if there are barriers along a route, more visual clutter along a route, or if they remember more information about a route.

Simplifications
Map makers draw curves as straighter than they really are. They draw intersections to be more at right angles. They draw regions to be more symmetric and smaller than they really are.

If the hand-drawn map was truly drawn from memory based on ground-level experience, some or all of the above factors may be in play.  We can keep these in mind when comparing to real places.


^{* Tverksy, B., 2000. Levels and structure of spatial knowledge. Cognitive mapping: past, present and future. Routledge, New York.}

[Deleted]

At first I thought this might lead to some valuable clues, but instead it's "Look - a squirrel!!"

[Deleted]

the Hoa bldg

[ElfinEars]

Oba Chandler was caught because Florida LE released a billboard with his writing that was recognized by a customer of his siding business and her neighbor (the neighbor was already suspicious of him and thought he resembled the sketch but wrongly assumed an Officer she shared a college class with passed on her tip ...he didn't).
Anyway ...these were not family members or close associates or friends and his hand writing was recognized .
Would releasing this map get the same reaction/ tips provided the tips are VETTED (there were issues with tips called in about Oba Chandler getting 'lost' or outright not passed on)?
Hypothetically it could be released ALL OVER California (and nationally by the FBI) as "Does this style of map and drawing look familiar?","Have you ever seen a map like this being drawn by or in the possession/effects of someone ?".
If it was released widely (i.e blanketing the markets in California ,going national by the FBI ,throw it out in People magazine etc) and making the emphasis on the STYLE of drawing and NOT "guess the location "(as that will clog the tip line imo).
Why not release the handwriting as well ?
I suspect you'd get some interesting "tips"!!

[Deleted]

Sept 25, 2016 14:46:01 GMT saund10295 said:

the Hoa bldg

I swear I have seen those weird circle things before. My photographic memory is starting to fail me.

[Deleted]

Sept 25, 2016 14:21:24 GMT @manintheboat said:

At first I thought this might lead to some valuable clues, but instead it's "Look - a squirrel!!"

narrows down the POI's to students at the very least. let's see what comes of it. the lady who may have lived at 817 does not have a working phone I could find. I found a good e-mail add. for her though. Let's hope she gets back to me. She's 67 and may not check emails every day. If she does she'll realize that 40 years later she's a part of this puzzle!

[Deleted]

Sept 25, 2016 15:03:35 GMT ElfinEars said:

Why not release the handwriting as well ?

Because they either A).  Lack the resources to field and investigate a ton of national leads (most likely) , instead focusing their attention on a micro location (i.e. somebody who painted a Supermarket near Goleta during a very specific time/month (paint chips), or B).  They have actually been eating the very paint chips they speak of, because one thing is for certain:  What they are doing is NOT working.  It never has.  Ever.  In over 3 decades.  


You think maybe this fella did a pretty good job of hiding what a sick SOB he was?  That might explain a thing or two.

So we've got a guy who was roughy 5'9"-5'10 (dead average height for a white male) , somewhere between 18 and 35 in the late 70's, and he maybe had blue or hazel eyes.  Thank god we have 12 different composites of men who may or may not have looked like the him (including the two vastly different composites they released).

Meanwhile, his (likely) Natural voice (Is Ray There), and (likely) handwriting (Mad & Map) are rotting away in discussions on this board.

Somebody knows that voice!  There's no such thing as a typical California voice, not when you know that person.  Humans are smarter that computers when it comes to identifying the voice of people we know well.  It takes as little as two words, based on academic studies.  Somebody knows that handwriting.  Sweet Jesus, he's not typing that thing out.  But clearly....and what should (I believe) be abundantly clear by now, all these years later, is this:  Nobody knows his past, and if they do their not coming forward, not now.

If not releasing his NATURAL VOICE and uber-specific HANDWRITING/DRAWING is simply not viable from a resources standpoint, I understand.  But I'd rather see them give the reward money to the victims now because it's never going to be awarded.  Not with this strategy.  

That's not to say the paint chip theory wasn't a good one - there was a lot of possibility there, and I actually have a lot of respect for law enforcement on the whole.  

I'm just saying if they're truely going all in like they said why don't they just Oba Chandler this guy and get it over with already.

[Deleted]

Sept 25, 2016 16:38:55 GMT @cloudofwitnesses said:

A few questions:

Why weren't fingerprints taken from the notebook pages?

If there were no prints, does that not create the possibility these pages were left intentionally?

The 'lake', along with its inlets and outlet, appears to be have been drawn first, before any of the map. Is it possible this map was constructed all around the lake, for some reason? If the pages were left intentionally, could they all be meant as a puzzle?

I don't think the significance of the notebook was realized until much later.  I believe Michelle Mcnamara was the investigative reporter that first wrote about the existence of the map.Frankly in trying to match the details, I first thought he was dyslexic it was so out of whack. Seeing one road on top of the other I almost just said no way. Every other map I found, I would eventually come to the part that disproved the map. But I worked from one detail to the next from one "odd coincidence" to the next looking for something that would disprove the map which never came.

[Deleted]

Sept 26, 2016 2:36:10 GMT @cloudofwitnesses said:

I think you have Contada circle right on, good find.

Could there still not be embedded prints on the documents, perhaps found using high-tech equipment? Ripping out notebook pages requires a firm thumb grab. The prints of all those who handled the doc's could be eliminated.

The police ripped them out.

[newbienew]

Sept 22, 2016 18:18:47 GMT woofytreats said:

My understanding is that the map along with the rest of the "Danville papers" was found just a few blocks over after the Liberta Ct. attack where the tracking dog led them. I've only seen The location described as where the street met the dormant SP railroad tracks ( now the Iron Horse Trail ) and there are a few possibilities with that description. One side of Liberta Ct. backed to these railroad tracks but, to my recollection, it's immediately after the SP right-of-way ( Iron Horse Trail ) and the court doesn't cross the tracks. The right of way for these tracks was/is about 25 miles long going from Pleasanton in the south to Concord in the north so the tracks ( trail today ) don't really end in that locale.

There were several suspicious incidents along that right-of way along with suspicious vehicles if I remember correctly. The neighbor of the Liberta Ct. victim noticed an unknown van parked in her driveway around 11:30PM prior to the attack. "Unknown van" descriptions show up in Concord and another Danville attack.

So basically it was found on paradise drive?  AKA paraiso at iron house trail.

In other words roughly 178 pqraiso dr,danville,ca

Interesting paradise is something Zodiac talked about a lot.

As was Diablo which Diablo Dr. wasn't very far away.

[Deleted]

Sept 22, 2016 23:45:08 GMT goodygumdrop said:

It not impossible that The East Area Rapist stole someone's notebook, drew the map and left a misleading clue on purpose. 

That is very unlikely. This is the G in "Milling" on the punishment page v. the lower case "a" on Mad is the word (from "a lot" but you can see it elsewhere.) to me that's a stunning similarity and virtually has to be the same writer. I will post the "M" from Melanie v. "My" in Mad is the word; as well as "techert" / "teacher" on punishment v. Mad is the word. The "teacher" from punishment may have a capital "R" at the end.

[Deleted]

[Deleted]

I also don't think there's any doubt, looking at the "V" that begins these capital m's, that it's the same author.

[Deleted]

I did notice that the single word "pain" from the 2nd page sort of encapsulates many of his writing quirks.  It is interesting the way the continuation line breaks off the "a" .... the "a" from Melanie breaks away too; also the "n" resembles a shark's fin. Look for dozens of those.

[goodygumdrop]

Sept 26, 2016 14:53:46 GMT saund10295 said:

just in case there is any confusion it is 100% certain that the homework assignments were written by the punishment page author.

This is a loop from the G in Milling compared to a loop from the A from mad is the word (from "a lot")

The loops are 100% indistinguishable so the same person wrote them.  I will go ahead and compare the M from Melanie and M from mad is the word as well as the word "techert" from the punishment page and "teacher"

I think the word is "teacher" from the punishment page with the R being capitalized

So this guy is fixated on school, teachers and lakes .... hmmmmm.

Handwriting analysis is not a simple thing.  We expect letters to look alike since we are all taught from a basic source that we try to imitate.  Of course we are imperfect and we fail so our writing differs greatly.  Yet it is the unusual flourishes that are most telling.  You can't just pick a few letters which, after all, should look similar, and state that handwriting is a match.  You could probably make a case that I am the Zodiac with a limited handwriting analysis. 

We also have to consider that you are comparing nonsensical scribbles from the back of the map which, if the notebook was stolen, could have been there at the time of the theft.  I would suggest using the "lake" handwriting for comparison since it is more likely to be the writing of the map's author but there is so little of it that we couldn't really draw anything definitive from it's use. 

Further, even if it is his writing it doesn't necessarily mean that he was in college in CCC at the time.  He could have been in school elsewhere, it could have been an old grade-school notebook, etc.

The 'homework' could certainly have been written by our feller but I don't agree that it is a 100% slam dunk that it was.  I certainly don't mean to discourage this line of investigation, though.  Hell, maybe someone in that neighborhood was a teacher named "Melanie".  That would be pretty interesting.