Lessons Learned from Neogeography Applied to GIS
My presentation at the NCGIS 2009 conference was “Lessons Learned from Neogeography Applied to GIS”. Obviously a very interesting topic, given the continual discussion around the term “neogeography” as well as standards, web tools, and open data. Sean and I spent a good bit of time exchanging viewpoints and ideas so that I could get a better idea of where GIS users are coming from and their common criticisms of the neogeography domain.
What we realized was that these criticisms are reflections that GIS itself is facing:
- lack of metadata,
- amateurs doing analysis, and
- the loss of cartography
However because web maps are more public and involve feedback mechanism such as comments or blog posts, then they are much more visible and loudly critiqued.
Therefore, there is value in considering where this public discourse has more quickly evolved solutions and examples that GIS can incorporate. For example, standard user experience design around forms and input requests as well as feedback and user reward for supplying metadata. Sites like Yelp! make use of quite onerous metadata such as open hours, cuisine type, average cost – that the user is willingly supplying because it provides utility. They can then search, filter, and share this information.
Beyond the common criticisms, I identified three primary areas that neogeography is going beyond traditional GIS focus. Usability, Interoperability, and Participation are all aspects that GIS has struggled with, and in fact any inwardly focused domain has difficulty achieving. By incorporating innovative and external solutions that have emerged, GIS has the ability to take advantage and excel in applying these lessons to achieving their own needs.
I believe the presentation was well received, and definitely touched upon many points raised in other presentations both in recognizing the positive aspects of innovative GIS applications as well as common problems that are faced exposing complex data and capabilities to citizens. I’m definitely interested in any additional feedback or thoughts. I’ll be speaking and discussing in several panels at the American Association of Geographers meeting in Las Vegas next month – a group with similar criticisms and potential points of collaboration.
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February 24th, 2009 at 12:20 pm (#)
Is there audio (or video) of the presentation anywhere?
February 24th, 2009 at 12:31 pm (#)
@ross – no, the conference wasn’t required that I’m aware of.
I could probably do a voice-over at some point given enough interest and bribery in the form of grainy-beverages (though not after imbibing said bribes).
February 24th, 2009 at 4:03 pm (#)
The presentation looks fantastic; I really like the parallels you’ve drawn between neo-geo and GIS.
February 25th, 2009 at 6:03 am (#)
I think your analysis of the needs is right on. There is an entire spectrum of the crisis metadata initiative (ushahidi, instedd) that is being led by the shared lessons of neogeography.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:45 pm (#)
Andrew:
I don’t buy the linkage between neogeography and the “loss of cartography”. For every default red google maps icon, there is an ArcMap hardcopy product clearly the fruit of a default color ramp. Further, GYM web maps clearly consider cartography and distinguishing characteristic: look how the “professional” GIS company upgraded the cartography on their own web service basemaps in the face of new competition.
We all can distinguish an Excel chart that was clearly a “Next–>Next–>Finish” wizard job. And we can see the ArcMap equivalent. I would argue the very nature of wide distribution of online mapping will lead to an accelerated pace of cartographic upgrades.
The web as a distribution platform for cartography combined with other data visualization contexts will give rise to a new visual grammars where the influences of folks like Tufte and Stephen Few will be mixing with recent work of Cindy Brewer, et al.
In short, GISers are defensive enough about embracing the future, let’s immediately grant them the false nostalgia of a past golden era of Robinson-inspired cartography.
Brian Timoney
February 27th, 2009 at 10:30 am (#)
@brian – I gather you didn’t actually check out my presentation.
This was exactly the argument I made. That “loss of cartography” is a common criticism, but it is self-reflective (e.g. using bad defaults in ArcMap) and also being well addressed in the fast feedback loop of web mapping. Mapnik, EveryBlock, CloudMade, GeoCommons are just a very few of the projects and companies working on providing better cartographic tools and designs.
What is important is for the traditional, professional cartographers to actually respect and learn from the interaction and usability design that is evolving around geospatial tools on the web and incorporate these into their own domains and tools.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:27 pm (#)
I don’t believe that Neogeography is going to water down formal GIS at all, and I think the presentation does an excellent job at showing how the two approaches are different, but share a similar goal.
Geography and Interface Design both involve a good amount of social science, and I think it’s good to keep that in mind when designing these systems.
I’ve also noticed that while Neogeographical data can rarely be used in a formal GIS, formal GIS data can be applied to Neogeographical systems. So maybe this can help increase the marketability of formal GIS data.
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:08 pm (#)
While I agree that cartography is not quite ‘lost’ (pun intended), I don’t believe we have GIS to thank for it. I don’t think there’s a single GIS package out there that packs the necessary graphic cojones to produce exceptional cartographic work. There’s a lot of great cartographic work being done out there, and while much of it has its genesis in GIS, it needs post-processing in one of the graphic powerhouses to push it into the realm of good cartography.
March 9th, 2009 at 9:35 am (#)
@Terry – indeed this was part of the presentation. ArcGIS produces terrible looking maps. Most modern cartographers I’ve talked with may use it to start, but then quickly move to InDesign to do the real styling and design for their maps.