Environmental Hazards in the Northwest (lab2a)

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Neogeography, much like other web 2.0 applications, is all about making previously exclusive fields inclusive. Map making tools are now available to everyone with an internet connection. This means that people can make maps of what they care about. This is quite different from only professional cartographers choosing what to map. This democratization of mapping has some very positive aspects. For one thing, it encourages people to think about spatial issues in their lives that they may not have considered otherwise. Because people can easily put their own information on a map, it allows people to visualize spatial relationships instantly. Furthermore, people can attach information such as text or photos to points on a map and share it with people around the world. Because the information is authored by a peer group, people could potentially get more useful information this way than from older sources such as travel guides. Since people can easily make their own maps, more people will be interested in geography because they can participate in it.

However, there are also some drawbacks to neogeography. Applications such as Google maps may democratize mapping, but they may also be dumbing down maps. It is now so easy to create maps that there is less emphasis on good map design. Furthermore, there may also be less emphasis on making maps that contain important information. Personalized maps may be fun, but they often don't tell the reader anything of substance. Users of neogeography risk getting absorbed in personal information at the expense of more important issues.