Homework 3: Neogeography

View Donner Party Route in a larger map

One example of neogeography at work is shown above. I created my own map using a pre-existing toolkit, Google Maps, to share location information and convey knowledge about the world. In this particular map, I drew the route taken by the Donner Party when they traveled the perilous road to Sutter's Fort, CA. To help illustrate their path, I embedded a video of present-day Donner Pass and an 1847 photo of Sutter's Fort.

Neogeography has multiple purposes; it can enhance people's understanding of the past, illustrate important and relevant data, or provide details into someone's personal life. No matter what the goal, the interactive and accessible nature of neogeography allows both the map creator and the map viewer to explore the world without leaving their home. Neogeography provides a user-friendly means for non-experts to share information about their experiences or interests with friends and other visitors, subsequently playing a huge role in increasing geographical awareness.

However, neogeography has its pitfalls as well. Although it makes geography highly accessible, this accessibility can give rise to inaccuracy. With the advent of Web 2.0, absolutely anyone can make a map about anything, even those without the proper background and education to do so. This increases the risk of biased or inaccurate data, and assuming the map is public, this misinformation would be available to thousands of online users.

For example, the information in my own mashup is somewhat misleading. Although I did my research to ensure that my map of the Donner Party route was as accurate as possible, I could not escape the fact that I had no way of knowing the exact route. I used Google Maps' "Draw a line along roads" feature because I didn't want to connect the points with a straight line, but back in 1846, those roads didn't exist, thereby rendering my map inaccurate. Likewise, I had no way of knowing the exact location in the cities that the Donner Party passed through. Although neogeography has made it possible for me to visualize my understanding of the Donner Party's journey, my mashup would not be the best choice for anyone who is looking to find the most historically accurate map.