Dr. Matt Wilson – Research Directions in the Geography of Emerging Media
Emerging mapping technologies
What does it mean to the cartographer/geographer when maps are created by computers?
The use for theory is waning (in the age of data). Dr. Wilson disagrees. Theory has not died. So what is the role of theory in the age of the petabyte?
New forms of cartography…
Google Maps API has really opened maps up to nearly everyone. Geographers were slow to get on the train, though.
One very interactive use is the geo-tagging of photos. GIS serves to map the physical, quantitative. Geo-tagging opens up the idea of qualitative use of maps.
Personalized on the desktop – geo-tagging has become a way for individuals to organize their own collections of photos.
Even educational games have been created using geo-tagging of pics.
OpenStreetMap – essentially a wiki map that is fully editable by users
Results in a sort of cartesian plane of paleo-geography and neo-geography
paleo is the old school way of doing it; neo is full of mapping entrepreneurs
Geography of emerging mapping practices
- conditions of emergence
- continued development
- production
- re-production/mash-up
- limits to re-production
- use/interpretation
- limits to use
- challenges to disciplinary thinking
We need to re-invest in theories, not Generalization.
What might mappings of neo-geographic practices tell us about: digital divide, convergence, socio-spatial segregation, visual hierarchy, collaborations, etc.?
Final thoughts…. This was a very interesting 10 minutes. A lot of stuff that I’ve never really thought of. Another example of the over-arching topic of how is the digital world going to affect the traditional way of doing business?