Lab 3: Neogeography

View Geography 7 in a larger map

Nowadays, its very easy for anyone to make a map. I just made this map illustrating the fairs in the US with fried junk food with google maps. The openess of mapping can be good, as more information and perspectives can be created and shown, but it also has downsides. One downside is that the information is less and less reliable either due to errors or biases of the makers. Since anyone can make the maps, when using another person's map for information one must be critical of their expertise and their agenda. If one uses a map from a biased mapmaker one might get the wrong idea if the information shown is skewed or adjusted by the creator.

Also privacy becomes harder and harder to keep safe as everything can be found and illustrated with maps online. Information about criminals that live in one's neighborhood might cause a backlash of hate against the said criminals. It becomes easier to access the information, and now anyone can organize the data and allow others to view it.