2011 - Geoinformatics

A r t i c l e
How the GeoWeb changes the way of mapping the World
At the Crossroads of Geo
The GeoWeb brings up more and more new ways of mapping the world that put the traditional
distance-based god’s eye view of the map on the edge. Thereby the need for a changed perspective
on mapping from an object resulting of a process to being a composition of practiced mapping functionalities
becomes ever more obvious in order to explain how they do work in the world. This article
give a short overview about the changing landscape of mapping from the author’s point of view.
By Florian Fischer
Geovisualisation
Since the 1990s analysis and output of geographic
information has been commonly
embraced by the field of Geovisualization.
Former cartographic research has mainly
focused on the efficient communication and presentation
of geographic information. For this
purpose specific principles of design have been
developed over the centuries. An example is
graphic variables, like geometry and symbols:
based on epistemological and linguistic
approaches, they attempt to model the referencing
between object and symbol in cartographic
presentation for fast and accurate perception
by the user. Thereby the presentation
of geographic information on maps has been
at the centre, holding data and visual presentation.
While GIS separated the database from
the map, the internet made distributed databases
the groundwork for mapping. Maps that
became interactive, integrate multiple media formats
and allow for new ways of visual exploration,
analysis, representation and knowledge
construction by the user.
The rise of the GeoWeb
The technical opportunity to integrate dynamic, interactive elements
(e.g. hyperlinks) in digital maps marked an important peak of innovation
in the history of cartography and geovisualization. It allowed the
user to thoroughly explore geographical data in multiple dimensions.
Recently the establishment of the GeoWeb indicated another turning
point, strongly influencing the practice of mapping with so-called map
mash-ups as major elements. Sharing information, communication and
collaboration in online communities allows for a different spatial reasoning
and construction of geographic knowledge along social ties,
collaborative classification and discussion. Instead of decision-making
for public concern, new forms of activism (e.g. smart mobs) and citizen-science
are enabled, and focused on everyday forms of spatial
reasoning. Instead of urban planning, the GeoWeb is directed towards
purchasing real estate, eating out, meeting friends, tourist destinations
and bike trips. Consequently, the focus on a feed of information between
public and government makes way for a communication between users
as consumers and business (B2C) or amongst users themselves as consumer
to consumer (C2C). GeoWeb applications allow for new ways
of decision making, like social navigation, where people make decisions
about their actions based on what other people have done.
Figure 1: The location-based view concentrates on the user’s
location using distance based representations of space
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Concurrently, new rationales for geovisualization
by advertising- and marketing-driven business
models are introduced by GeoWeb applications.
Hence selection, graphical pronunciation and
other variables of cartographic representation are
re-modeled to influence perception by the user
according to marketing intentions, instead of political
intentions one might argue as maps cannot
be unbiased. Furthermore, maps are increasingly
used for immediate location-based interaction,
e.g. in Foursquare a user can directly benefit from
a map-based transaction (“Check in and receive
a discount”).
From Maps to Interfaces
While these transformations concern the very
nature of geovisualization for knowledge construction
about space and its embedment in quotidian
contexts, the GeoWeb facilitates an integration
of geovisualization with everyday spaces:
They are interfaces that can drive interactions with
any spatial resource. The GeoWeb drives a progressive
separation between the map as an interactive
interface and the database as a distributed web-based information
resource that becomes part of an Internet of Things at an
ever-increasing pace. The utilization of these interfaces is expanded by
the global media of communication linked to physical space by geocode,
and the comprehensive geo-tagging of all aspects of life by map
mash-ups. They become tools to organize, navigate, search and select
any type of resource on the internet, from photographs to discussion
forums. In brief: It is the shift Lior Ron termed from “Google and Maps”
to “Google on Maps”. At the same time the scope of map interfaces
within the GeoWeb has expanded far beyond its focus up till now on
a unidirectional and task-oriented communication between producer
and recipient. Maps become an interface for networked communication
about spaces, places and objects, through which users can access,
alter and deploy information.
New fields of application for geovisualization emerge and existing
fields are transformed (e.g. crisis management and urban management).
In terms of Geovisualization, the GeoWeb is a kind of public
environment rather than an expert environment, in which lay-users or
non-experts (termed ‘accidental geographers’), are the driving factor
behind the design of knowledge construction about space. Thereby
enormously heterogeneous data and new maps of space emerge,
extending the map’s still popular bird’s-eye view that concentrates on
the perspective conceived from a cartographer from above.
October/November 2011