WUN Global GIS Seminar - What\'s so new in Neogeography?

What’s so new about neogeography? Dr Muki Haklay Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, UCL m.haklay@ucl.ac.uk

Outline • Web 2.0 and mapping - defining neogeography • Why did it happen around 2005? • What’s new? Things to learn from neogeography • Is neogeography so wonderful? Perceptions, assertions and the reality • Summary

The emergence of neogeography – signs • Neologism: neogeography, mapping mashups, mapping API, geotagging, geostack, geotechnology • Huge increase in use: – mid-2005, Multimap: 7.3m visitors; Mapquest: 47m – end of 2007, Google Maps: 71.5m, Google Earth 22.7m while Multimap and Mapquest also increased • Web mapping - 50,000 mashups in the first 2 years • Silicon valley awareness: Where 2.0 Haklay, M., Singleton, A., and Parker, C., 2008, Web mapping 2.0: the Neogeography of the Geoweb, Geography Compass

Neogeography ‘Neogeography means ‘new geography’ and consists of a set of techniques and tools that fall outside the realm of traditional GIS ... Where historically a professional cartographer might use ArcGIS, talk of ... projections, and resolve land area disputes, a neogeographer uses a mapping API like Google Maps, talks about GPX versus KML, and geotags his photos to make a map of his summer vacation. Essentially, Neogeography is about people using and creating their own maps, on their own terms and by combining elements of an existing toolset. Neogeography is about sharing location information with friends and visitors, helping shape context, and conveying understanding through knowledge of place. Lastly, Neogeography is fun . . .’ (Turner 2006) Turner, A. J. (2006). Introduction to neogeography. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media Inc.

Structural changes • 1st May 2000 – President Clinton removes selective availability of GPS signal • Dot-com crash and the increase of broadband use • The acronym soup of AJAX: SOAP, XML, Javascript – and support in browsers • Data storage: from $10 (2000) to $0.5 (2005) per gigabyte • 2004 – GPX • Web services and simplified APIs Haklay, M., Singleton, A., and Parker, C., 2008, Web mapping 2.0: the Neogeography of the Geoweb, Geography Compass

User experience • Size • Response time (AJAX, rendering) • Simplified interface • Cartography

Different levels of ‘Hacking’ • Deep technical hacking (system programming) – changing the actual code of GIS, writing new analytical tools • Shallow technical hacking (end-user programming) – changing the interface through basic customisation, writing macros • Use hacking – applying existing tools differently • Meaning hacking – using information in new ways, beyond its original ‘design’

Typology of hacking Type No. of participants Issue for GIS Deep technical Significant skills, negotiation & translation of knowledge Shallow Skills, user / programmer, technical control over the application Use Knowledge of GIS, legitimacy of outputs, access to data and software Meaning Outputs, legitimacy of interpretation, overcoming ‘technophobia’

Skills needed to change technology Type Pre Neogeography Post Neogeography Deep technical Shallow technical Use Meaning

Meaning hacking

Use Hacking Reusing Flickr ability to mark different areas of the image, for geographical annotation and creation of Memory Maps

Use Hacking New use of sound meters and paper maps for data collection, then the data is integrated in the GIS and a map is produced. Map construction requires knowledge of GIS, access to data, analytical knowledge

Shallow / Deep Technical Hacking New use of Google Maps, allowing entering information, editing and moderating. Requires knowledge of GIS, programming, web development and web design

Deep Technical Hacking OpenStreetMap and MySociety are examples of complex projects that deal with geographical representation and the use of geographical information.

Simplified glue – OSM API vs. OGC WMS • OpenStreetMap API: http://api.openstreetmap.org/api/0.5/map?bbox=- 71.00,42.00,-72.00,43.00 • OGC WFS API: http://example.com/wfs?service=WFSSIMPLE&version=0.5&REQUE ST=GetFeature&BBOX=-71.00,42.00,-72.00,43.00&TIME=2006-09- 12/2006-09-22&OUTPUTFORMAT=text/xml Haklay, M. And Weber, P., 2008, OpenStreetMap – User Generated Street Map, IEEE Pervasive Computing.

OSM technological stack (cc) OpenStreetMap Haklay, M. And Weber, P., 2008, OpenStreetMap – User Generated Street Map, IEEE Pervasive Computing.

The business of GIS • ‘Canned’ data • Accuracy and functionality • The value of data in the whole process of implementing GIS

Fantastic, isn’t it? • ‘... the way individuals and communities are using the Internet and new technologies to create, develop, share and use information (including GI), through innovative, often collaborative, applications.’ (Haklay et al. 2008) • ‘Democratization of GIS’ (Butler 2006) • ‘Thus the most important value of VGI may lie in what it can tell about local activities in various geographic locations that go unnoticed by the world’s media, and about life at a local level.’(Goodchild 2007)

Engagement

Democratisation (I) • Below - volumes of contact to Local Authority (LA) services across all channels, Jan-Mar 2008 • Majority of people who access LA services are those least likely to have Internet access • Socio-economic status is 100.00% 88.00% the main predictor of 80.00% web access 60.00% • 40% of UK households 40.00% do not have access to the web 20.00% 8.80% 0.50% 0.00% 0.10% 2.60% 0.00% Fax E-Mail Letter SMS Telephone Web Forms (c) Richard Kingston

(c) Dair Grant Democratisation (II) (cc) Shaun McDonald (cc) Chris Fleming

Participation Haklay, M., 2008, How good is OpenStreetMap information? A comparative study of OpenStreetMap and Ordnance Survey datasets for London and the rest of England, submitted to Environment and Planning B.

Collaboration

Collaboration Haklay, M., 2008, How good is OpenStreetMap information? A comparative study of OpenStreetMap and Ordnance Survey datasets for London and the rest of England, submitted to Environment and Planning B.

Collaboration • ‘TomTom unique Map Share technology enhances your navigation experience, because you can now make instant changes directly on your map. You can also receive similar changes made by the entire TomTom community...’ • Google LatLong: ‘We are excited to announce that users may now build and edit maps in Map Maker for 45 new African countries, bringing the total number of countries covered in Map Maker to 122 countries, covering a population of 3 billion people...’

Spatial justice and OSM 90.00% 80.00% Percentage of Ordnance Survey Meridian coverage 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% OSM OSM (tagged) 0.00% 1 11 21 31 41 51 61 71 81 91 IMD percentage Haklay, M., 2008, How good is OpenStreetMap information? A comparative study of OpenStreetMap and Ordnance Survey datasets for London and the rest of England, submitted to Environment and Planning B.

Spatial justice and OSM

Techno-libertarian undertones • Suggested by Borsook (2000): technology culture which is strongly individualistic, ‘violently lacking in compassion, ravingly anti-government, and tremendously opposed to regulation ...private sector can do everything ...’ protecting privacy, skimping on philanthropy, ignoring environmental concern and hating cities • Notice that environment is now ‘cool’ and ready for tech- fix, and philanthropy is done directly, deciding on hobby topics, ‘unholistically’ and without trust in governments Borsook, P., 2000, Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech. PublicAffairs

Techno-libertarianism and neogeography • Strong anti-government sentiment - UK’s ‘Free our Data’ campaign, targeting the Ordnance Survey • Wanting to get hold of publicly maintained data, but demanding many constraints about their data (Share alike or no access) – disregard of the rights of others, while vigorously protecting their own • Lack of awareness of serious social problems, little empathy with gender, ability, and ethnicity issues • At ease with exploitation – happy to use crowdsourcing without giving anything back

Summary • Neogeography is substantive, not just neologism • New lessons: interaction with users, improving the ease of implementing GI projects, new business models, new ways of acquiring data • Many issues with assumptions and assertions. Beware of hype - not supported by the evidence (e.g. Miller, 2006) • There is a need for more theoretically informed analysis of the changes, with strong realism Miller, C.M. (2006) A Beast in the Field: The Google Maps Mashup as GIS/2. Cartographica. 41(3): 187-199.

Future research • The motivation issue – from persuasive technologies to real collaborations • Integrating the lessons with the full range of GIS services and software • Information quality and fitness for use • Learning about the world from crowdsourced activities

Further reading • Haklay, M., 2008, How good is OpenStreetMap information? A comparative study of OpenStreetMap and Ordnance Survey datasets for London and the rest of England, submitted to Environment and Planning B. • Haklay, M. And Weber, P., 2008, OpenStreetMap – User Generated Street Map, IEEE Pervasive Computing. • Haklay, M., Singleton, A., and Parker, C., 2008, Web mapping 2.0: the Neogeography of the Geoweb, Geography Compass • Haklay, M., 2008, Open Knowledge – learning from environmental information, presented at the Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon) 2008, London, 15 March. • Haklay, M., 2007, OSM and the public - what barriers need to be crossed? presented at State of the Map conference, Manchester, UK, 14-15 July. • To get a copy, write to m.haklay@ucl.ac.uk , or get them on povesham.wordpress.com

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WUN Global GIS Seminar - What\'s so new in Neogeography?

by mukih on Oct 21, 2008

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WUN Global GIS Seminar - What\’s so new in Neogeography? — Presentation Transcript