Author(s):
Jeremy Crampton* - Georgia State University
Abstract:
The possibilities of true open source, uncredentialed and non-authoritative mapping and GIS are well known. On offer is the prospect of mapping without a net in the sense that mapping need not be performed in the service of powerful elites, does not require proprietary software, and is truly amateur. In order to understand the rise of this phenomenon (aka neogeography, volunteered geographic information, or the "geoweb"), we can turn to precedents in the blogosphere. For over ten years the blogosphere has created an audience for news outside of traditional big media. An analysis of the political blogosphere offers salient comparisons to the geoweb: (1) it has created a self-sustaining news environment; (2) information flow is still dominated by the long tail effect; (3) it has not freed itself from traditional media; and (4) it has been able to effectively intervene in political discourse, but mostly at the local level. To what extent are we seeing the same developments in the geoweb? Four issues are highlighted: sovereignty; credentials (can peasants map?); independence; and censorship/surveillance. I conclude that the geoweb faces the same four problems as the blogosphere, but with specific differences. The geoweb has de-sovereigned the map yet is still dependent on proprietary software; and it has generated a class of amateur (uncredentialed) mappers with powerful local knowledges, but access to meaningful information remains problematic. In sum, the geoweb is best understood as a series of technologies embedded in socio-political governmental rationalities.
