This week I have used Google Maps to create an interactive map of recommended places to go fly fishing in northern California. The map utilizes points of interest, written explanations of each point, regional delineation, links to related web pages, photographs and videos. My map is intended for fly fishing enthusiasts who are new residents and/or visitors to California.
Click HERE for the interactive map.
Neogeography is a new trend in geography wherein anybody can create their own maps using open source and user friendly tools such as Google maps. This can be quite useful in a number of instances. For example; giving directions; highlighting important aspects of a region for a specific group, industry, or organization; creating 'sharable' lists of places by category, such as good places to eat, shop, go hiking, etc. Businesses which historically could not afford to hire GIS professionals can now create their own custom interactive maps. Neogeography allows more maps to be updated in real time. As the world is constantly undergoing changes, traditional cartographers and/or GIS professionals would not be able to enter the same volume of data as the 'crowd-sourcing' methods of neogeography.
There are however some drawbacks and pitfalls associated with this neogeography. Everyone and anyone has access to the technology. This leaves room for lots of error, and subsequent dissemination of misinformation. At best this could be misleading; at worst leaving people stranded. Like 'wiki' sources, maps created by amateurs should not be trusted, or cited when researching. Moving forward, neogeography has the potential to allow for the creation of an unprecedented amount of crowd sourced mapping data which can be collected and analyzed. Map based research will flourish, however as I have stated, caution must be taken. With an open mind and an incredulous attitude, neogeography will be a very powerful tool.
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