Can Neogeography save mapping?
In geo, mass market | 1 CommentMichael Goodchild makes a good point in “Citizens as Voluntary Sensors: Spatial Data Infrastructure in the World of Web 2.0” as he argues that there is a “dramatic decline in the supply of geographic information worldwide”, due in large part to the reduction in funding for national mapping efforts over the last few decades. With no change in government policy on the horizon, it’s natural to look to voluntary mapping efforts like OpenStreetMap and the KML community to fill the gap. Hopefully these “citizen scientist” communities can mature to far surpass what government agencies provided in the past. Not a lot of answers here, but some good questions, and it’s only 9 pages!
Don’t hold your breath. The “wisdom of crowds” is broad by not deep. Anarchism is an attractive ideal, but the concept of entropy indicates just how hard it is to create genuinely valuable information.
If the state steps aside from its former role as the provider of widespread and rich geographic data, the only entity to step in will be the private corporation. Depending on your political philosophy, that’s a good or a bad thing.