Open Gardens

About Open Gardens

Open Gardens is published by futuretext

Rated 8/10 on Blogged.com

About The Open Gardens Blog

I (Ajit) founded the blog on May 26, 2005 based on my vision and philosophy of OpenGardens i.e. the philosophical opposite of 'walled gardens' especially as applicable to the mobile data industry.

Today, the OpenGardens blog is one of the few blogs that span both the Web and the Mobile domains.

The blog covers wireless/mobile applications, open networks and mobile web 2.0. My vision behind the OpenGardens blog has been :

The blog is about the Mobile data industry and Digital convergence('Mobile web 2.0')
Analysis is more important than story/controversy. I don't believe that bloggers are true journalists. The blog is not about the latest 'story' but it's more about independent analysis/viewpoint
The OpenGardens blog is broadly about opening up the networks, growing digital usage and digital businesses i.e. we don't advocate closed networks, broadcast media etc
It is about disruptive digital technologies

Founder & Chief Blogger Ajit Jaokar

Ajit Jaokar is the founder of the London based publishing and research company futuretext (www.futuretext.com) focussed on emerging Web and Mobile technologies -including Web 2.0 and Mobile Web 2.0.

His thinking is widely followed in the industry and his blog, the OpenGardensBlog (www.opengardensblog.futuretext.com), which was recently rated a top 20 wireless blog worldwide

In 2009-2010, Ajit was nominated as part of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Internet by the world economic forum. He hopes to use this opportunity to further extend the pragmatic viewpoint of the evolution of Telecoms networks in an open ecosystem.

(Note: The Network of Global Agenda Councils plays a significant role in shaping the global agenda by monitoring global issues and elaborating recommendations to address them. Each Council, comprised of 15-20 Members, serves as an advisory board to the Forum and other interested parties, such as governments and international organizations. The Global Agenda Councils also act as the intellectual drivers of the World Economic Forum's Global Redesign Initiative, an unprecedented international, multistakeholder and multimedia dialogue that aims to develop a 21st-century vision of global cooperation. Members of the G20, the UN and other International Organizations have pledged their support for this initiative. )

Ajit is best known for his books Mobile Web 2.0, Social Media Marketing. Two new books ('Open Mobile' and 'Implementing Mobile Web 2.0') are being released in 2009.

His consulting activities include working with companies to define value propositions across the device, network, Web and Social networking stack spanning both technology and strategy. He has worked with a range of commercial and government organizations globally including The European Union, Telecoms Operators, Device manufacturers, social networking companies and security companies in various strategic and visionary roles

His recent talks and forthcoming talks include: CEBIT 2009;MobileWorld Congress(2007, 2008, 2009); Keynote at O Reilly Web20 expo (April 2007);Keynote at Java One; European Parliament – Brussels – (Electronic Internet Foundation); Stanford University's Digital visions program;MIT Sloan;Fraunhofer FOKUS ; University of St. Gallen (Switzerland); Mobile Web Strategies (partner event of CTIA in San Francisco)

Media appearances include BBC – Newsnight – 3phone launch; CNN money; BBC digital planet

Ajit chairs Oxford University's Next generation mobile applications panel and conducts a course on Web 2.0, Social networking, Mobile Web 2.0 and LTE services at Oxford University.

Ajit lives in London, UK, but has three nationalities (British, Indian and New Zealander) and is proud of all three. He is currently doing a PhD on Privacy and Reputation systems at UCL in London. Ajit is a fan of animation especially Tom and Jerry, Tintin and Asterix and likes the music of ZZ Top and other rock bands

You can contact me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com

You can follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AjitJaokar

See a video of my talk at CEBIT in Hannover
(intro in german - presenttion in english)

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August 18, 2007

What’s the real life location of the ‘Sad Hill Cemetery’ in the Good, Bad and the Ugly(Wisdom of crowds)?

While critics like Andrew Keen rail about Wikipedia , Web 2.0 and user generated content in general , (interesting last name ‘keen’ for one who writes so pessimistic a book) .. wikipedia has given a new meaning to watching films

Being a fan of Sergio Leone movies in general, and in particular – The Good, Bad and the Ugly , I watched it today for the nth time ..

However, nowadays when I see a movie, I look it up in Wikipedia .. (Something which adds a whole new dimension to watching the movie – and is just one of the many ways Web 2.0 is creeping into our lives – much to the dismay of the doomsdayers ..)

And you find a lot of interesting information ..

Such as ..

For the role of Tuco(ugly), Sergio Leonie wanted someone with “natural comic talent”

However, I could not find the bit of information I was seeking ..

I really wanted to find the location of the ‘Sad Hill cemetery’ – the famous showdown at the end of the movie

Oddly, Wikipedia does not have that

Nor do I find it on Google so easily.

Does anyone know?

Let’s prove Mr Keen wrong(wisdom of crowd works)!

Tweet This Post

Filed under: mobile web 2.0 — ajit @ 1:21 am

Comments (16)

16 Comments »

Hello everyone & Hi Ajit & Dear Mr Keen:
ok. so here´s my guess:
“Carazo, Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain”
via http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0060196/locations
great blog & thx for your articles!
-Michael

Comment by Michael — August 18, 2007 @ 12:57 pm

Yes, I have a Clint Eastwood biography (‘The Man with no name’) which confirms that it is Carazo near Salas De Los Infantes. The cemetery was built especially for the film under the direction of the chief pyrotechnician for the film (who I assume also designed the bridge that Joe and Tuco destroy). I’m not sure if it’s still there, or if Arch Stanton ever got a new coffin lid…
Best.Film.Ever.
-Kevin

Comment by Kevin Smith — August 20, 2007 @ 2:38 pm

Here are some great photos of the remains of Sad Hill:
http://garringo.cool.ne.jp/around%20brugos.htm
- Jon

Comment by Jon Phelps — September 6, 2007 @ 4:05 pm

thanks Jon

Comment by Ajit Jaokar — September 7, 2007 @ 8:46 am

Hi guys,
I think wikipedia has been updated since you were looking at it, and you probably have your answer, but here goes anyway:
“Leone was unable to find an actual cemetery for the Sad Hill shootout scene, so the Spanish pyrotechnics chief hired 250 Spanish soldiers to build the cemetery in Carazo near Salas de los Infantes, which they completed in two days.”
Hope this helps. One of my favourite films ever too.
Cheers,
Murray

Comment by murray — June 20, 2008 @ 1:02 pm

Michael from above, Thanks for the clue as to the location of the Sand Hill Cemetery that was built for the filming of the “Good, Bad and the Ugly. I did a little looking around on GOOGLE EARTH to find the Cemetery. And I did. The coordinates are, 41.583836 North, 3.220023 West. That is dead center of the cemetery.
Thanks

Comment by :Robert: — August 29, 2008 @ 4:16 am

Great work guys>Keep it up!!!
Cheers,
Steve

Comment by BMKStevens — December 17, 2008 @ 12:29 pm

If you want a real good look from above, these coordinates are, 41.592988 North, 3.242588 West. That is dead center of the cemetery
Look at http://sigpac.mapa.es/fega/visor/
There you can count the graves separatly!! you can zoom in on 10 meters! awesome..

Comment by Peter Thyssen — January 23, 2009 @ 3:20 pm

I once looked up the cemetery, thinking the name was sand hill. Could it be? Anyway, there are several cemeteries called Sand Hill.

Comment by John — March 13, 2009 @ 5:55 am

hi ,me and my brother are thinking about going to sand hill cemetery in carazo,do anybody no how far it is from this town.thanks paul swansea uk.

Comment by paul — May 17, 2009 @ 9:31 pm

visited the location last week-go to contreras near sallas de los infantes then find dirt track out of town past church signposted silo 6 Km. Follow for about 3 Km and you find a signpost with a cows skull and a stone plaque with leone on it. You walk about 50-100 metres into field and in bowl shaped depression are one or two wooden crosses. much greener than in film but it was november. photos on facebook under valencia trip but was cloudy and foggy so not very good

Comment by James — November 14, 2009 @ 9:04 am

Clicked on the sigpac link, but I dont speak Spanish…can anyone pinpoint it for me…Im in the right area just cant find it precisely

Comment by Bob — January 14, 2010 @ 5:37 am

The coordinates quoted by Robert above in this thread are actually off by almost fifty kilometers. However, I’ve got the correct ones thanks to the general coordinates from this thread, plus a little comparison to the overhead photos:
http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/forums/index.php?topic=5968.0
Here’s the precise center of the cemetery (barely visible in Google Maps, easily visible if you zoom in using the Visor SigPac tool linked from this thread):
41º 59′ 25.86″ N, 3º 24′ 30.64″ W
(41.990517, -3.408511 if you prefer decimal)
…and here’s the POW camp (very easily seen in both Google Maps and the Visor SigPac tool):
41º 58′ 21.31″ N 3º 21′ 39.59″ W
(41.972586, -3.360997 if you prefer decimal)

Comment by knoxploration — March 16, 2010 @ 7:10 am

Great work… I’ve wanted to know where the cemetary was for ages. A lot of work went into it for the film. Thanks for the info and the link to the modern day pictures is brilliant

Comment by andy — April 2, 2010 @ 9:04 pm

THIS IS AMAZING, YOU GUYS ARE WONDERFUL!
I was searching for the exact coordinates for the GBU locations… I love the location shooting and the movie.
Those photos are beautiful. Sand hill is on my list when I go to Spain!!!
Love you guys!!!

Comment by Lorenzo Durand — June 19, 2010 @ 7:44 pm