Lab 3

Solar Eclipse Travel Map

View GIS Lab 3: Solar Eclipse Trip with map description in a larger map (suggested)

Neogeography Write Up
My experience in creating a custom map clearly elucidates many of the benefits of neogeography, which center primarily around the advantages of crowd-sourcing and user generated content. First, the integration with business information provided by other users can be seen as a significant aspect for the potential of neogeography. As implemented in my map, this integration allows individuals to supplement custom maps with predefined information about a specific location. Second, the option of creating lines along streets within the Google Maps toolkit allows individuals to publish accurate travel directions with ease. In the case of my map, this feature was used heavily in order to map a road trip between destinations in the Southwest. By implementing road travel information, neogeography as an entity extends spatial awareness of the general public and allows individuals to share individual travel with others. In today's era of smartphone proliferation, neogeography enables the dispersal of individual location data through platforms such as Google Latitude that integrate with mapping platforms such as Google Maps. Finally, as another major point of neogeographic potential, products such as Google Map Maker allow individuals to contribute to the overall content of maps by providing polygonal and nominal content. In my experience with locating the the area covered by the Very Large Array in New Mexico, I noticed that this information was not presented on Google Maps. Nevertheless, I am able to provide this information for future users of the service after accurately outlining such a structure and submitting my edits through Google Map Maker. 
Although plenty of advantages stem from the use and proliferation of neogeographic tools, several issues arise from the use of neogeographic information. The most apparent problem associated with neogeography relates to the issue of inaccurate content provided by volunteers. For example, in my experience with locating the Lightning Field in New Mexico, the suggested location provided by another user was nearly 3km away from the true location. Another example can be seen in the use of supplementary information such as business information. I personally noticed multiple mistakes in some of the user provided data and therefore decided to forego the inclusion of such information in my custom map. This problem is most recognizable in Google's photo geotagging platform Panoramio, in which most of the location data is dramatically incorrect. Another major concern with neogeography are the multiple standards in terms of geographic data that mapping platforms such as Google Maps create. As mentioned by Turner in Introduction to Neogeography, Google and other companies have in essence created a new datum that is significantly different from other established datums such as the North American Datum. As a result, scholarly geography is faced with the issue of determining the standards of authority.
In my evaluation of the aforementioned pitfalls and potential benefits of neogeography, I ultimately contend that the advantages of neogeography significantly outweigh the disadvantages. I strongly support the empowerment of individuals to share their local knowledge and believe that as technology advances many of the concerns such as misinformation and authority will fade.