Lab 3: Neogeography

View Life in Boyle Heights in a larger map

I have lived in Boyle Heights, California, in the Los Angeles County, for my entire life. Although I started living on campus this year, I visit my hometown often and frequently visit the areas marked on this map. These places have given me many memories and continue to do so and because of neogeography, I am able to mark and show these places on a map with much ease. Neogeography gives everyone the chance to be a geographer. People are able to make their own maps and share them with whomever they choose. Neogeography allows users to describe places to others in an astonishing way. It allows people to digitally update information and add multimedia; embedding links, photos, and videos to the places they want within these maps to make the experience of the place much more real. In addition, marking online maps though neogeography as opposed to marking on paper maps is a cleaner, easier, and more attainable process. It is more environmentally friendly, saving paper and thus having the potential to limit deforestation. Neogeography is a cooperative effort of people from all over the world and therefore has the potential to contribute significantly to our knowledge and understanding of the world and the societies in it. The information shared and followed by various people can be used to help in everyday life.

However, while neogeography does have the potential to help us gain knowledge, it also has the power to lessen it. Sadly, not all people are honest, and even those who are make mistakes sometimes. Neogeography is relatable to Wikipedia. It gives access to anyone with Internet to create a map, but it also has the risk of that map being totally wrong. The accuracy of mash-up maps is certainly something to be cautious of. Someone can easily give false information about a place, whether on purpose or by accident, and provide viewers with wrong information. This can lead to a viewer believing things to exist that in reality may not. Moreover, not only can people can falsify information about places, but people can also have the potential to exploit others through neogeography. The wide accessibility of neogeographic maps online allows anyone to access private information. These facts make us question neography’s authority, content, and reliability.