Lab 3

View Fast Food Restaurant Locations in South Los Angeles in a larger map

Neogeography can be defined as the application of geographic information to the internet for mapping purposes, or allowing non-expert users to generate maps based on accurate geographic information via Web 2.0. Web 2.0 brings mapping capabilities to the general public by allowing them to create mash-ups, or place information from a variety of sources onto a single map. Though the field of neogeography is constantly evolving on a daily basis, it not only comes with added benefits, but also comes with technological pitfalls and consequences from its application.

As mentioned before, since the field of neogeography continues to evolve, this form of technology and accessibility has great potential. By making high-quality, inexpensive and easy-to-use geographic information available to the general public, people from a variety of backgrounds are now presented with the ability to create maps that not only allow them to plot locations, but also allow them to view real-time traffic maps and crime incident locations; with this type of availability, mapping and geographic information are posed as central information data bases to the general public’s every-day-life. Internet-based mapping also allows for personalized videos, photos, and other forms of media to be integrated into mapping applications, thus deepening the connection between public users and geographic locations. Internet-based mapping also helps create location-aware communities and facilitate the coming together of people with similar tastes and interests.

Though the ever-advancing neogeography technology has broadened community access to GIS on indescribable levels, it is not safe to say that the field does not have some technological pitfalls as well. One of the fields pitfalls pertains to the difficulty of fitting natural items, such as rivers and streams, accurately onto internet-based maps. This becomes a difficult task because many natural landforms are obviously too large to fit properly on the screen due to advanced zoom-in technology, and some natural features even have blurred boundaries that make them difficult to map out. Other pitfalls also occur when considering neogeographic map terminology. Mash-ups many times have issues with the use of homonyms, where topographical interpretations of words such as pool, stream, ocean or channel, can have multiple meanings to the internet-based technology. This makes it difficult for the map to distinguish between them. Vague space relations also pose another problem to mash-up technology, for the scale of the term “near”, “far” and “close by” are vague and full of variations depending on the user. Presently, there is no solution to this problem.

Not only does neogeography have both potential for growth and technological pitfalls, but it also has a handful of consequences that comes with its wide-availability to the general public. When mash-ups first became widely available on the internet in 2005, many people were concerned that the now easily accessible, high-quality geographic information would be used by terrorists in order to plan attacks on the United States. Another consequence arises out of the issue of personal privacy. Many people feel as if mash-ups such as Google Earth have placed their families in danger, for by just typing in an address anyone can look up street, satellite and aerial views of a location.