NeoGeography
Neo-Geography is a new approach in the scientific discipline of geography where geographic information is democratized (Fischer, 2). Originally, experts in this field were the only people who could obtain, disseminate or use geographic information. However, even non-experts can now obtain and interpret geographic information. It has been termed as “the new geography without geographers” (“The Wikification of GIS”, 4). This is because, with the current systems, especially the web 2.0, experts as well as non-experts can use geographic information. With neo-geography, individuals at different levels of expertise can easily find locations as well as collaboratively provide geographic information. The wikification of GIS and the emergence of Google Maps and OpenStreetMap have literally converted any interested persons into geographers. They have allowed such people to practice geography without deep knowledge of the concepts of geography. This practice is known as neogeography.
Difference between GIS and NeoGeography
GIS refers to Geographical Information Systems. They are systems that are used to collect, store, analyze, and visualize geographical information (“The Wikification of GIS”, 1). They are not easy to use at a non-expert level and are suitable for formal activities that require accuracy and precision. The approach is a top to bottom one but in neogeography, the initial purpose is to answer a specific problem from either an expert or a non-expert. Find and display the location then track the relevant information and store this data. The data may be already on the web. If the data is not already available, user-generated data may be used. Neogeography, therefore, adds value to data display and integration since the neogeography tools are suitable for non-experts. GIS on the other hand is suited for data collection, storage, analysis, and the display where accuracy is important and an expert is available (Sheppard et al. 20).
Capabilities offered by Mash-ups
Mash-ups allow users to combine cartographic data with geographical data from different sources and come up with a visualization of this data (Fischer, 4). The geographical data may be from different websites or databases. For example, police departments may merge street base maps with their online databases to provide an online visualization of incidents in the neighborhood. ArcGIS on the other hand is a desktop application and does not have mash-up capabilities. It therefore cannot combine data from different sources but uses only a single data source. Mash-ups can create quick and easy applications by integrating multiple web services and therefore non-experts can easily use such applications. Since mash-ups are web-based, they are easily integrated into websites for end-user utilization, which is not possible for ArcGIS. However, ESRI is developing mash-up capabilities in ArcGIS to overcome these limitations.
Hypothetical Application
A GeoStack consists of four levels: create, publish, aggregate, and consume (Turner and Forrest, 4). The create level involves GeoData collection which can involve obtaining the data from mapping companies or own-collection of the data by the concerned individuals. To create an application for managing school buses and ensuring that students board the right ones, the following steps can be followed. Foremost, it is important to collect your own information in order to avoid slow updates and high costs associated with obtaining data from mapping companies. This information is to be merged with information from other databases, services, and websites. After creating the data, publishing it should be done on a place-marking site such as Google MyMaps and a news site used to aggregate the information. The final step is to embed the aggregated information on the school’s website. The students therefore can obtain all the information they need by visiting the school’s web pages.
Works Cited
Fischer, Florian. “Collaborative Mapping.” How Wikinomics is Manifest in the Geo-information Economy. GeoInformatics 2.11 (2008): 1-4. Print.
Sheppard, Eric., Couclelis, Helen., Graham, Stephen and Onsrud, Harlan. “Geographies of the information society.” International Journal of Geographical Information Science 13.8 (1999): 797- 823. Print.
“The Wikification of GIS and its consequences: Or Angelina Jolie’s new tattoo and the future of GIS.” Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 32 (2008): 1–5. Print.
Turner, Andrew and Forrest, Brady. “Where 2.0: The State of the Geospatial Web.”
An O’Reilly Radar Report. 2008. Web.