Lab 3: Neogeography

View From Sequoia National Park to Yosemite National Park in a larger map

Neogeography is said to be user-centric, meaning that it is suppose to be fun and easy for the user to look at and to "use." It is also based on what the map creator's purpose is to convey or to show in their point of view to other viewers. Hence, neogeography acts as a social tool because when creating such a map, the creator starts off by using an existing toolset; then, people plot there locations based on there terms and purposes. Along with these point markers on there map come elements such as videos, URLs, pictures, music, and many other social features. Although making neogeographic maps can be fun and easy to use, they also can include lots of error. Based on location of markers, they are inaccurate and not a very good tool to use for navigation.

For the neogeography lab this week, I created a map that was based on some of my most memorable times I had gone camping and sightseeing, plus, other places I would like to go visit when traveling from the Sequoia National Park to the Yosemite National Park. So the way I started the map was by using Google Maps just as every other neogeographic map starts with an existing map tool. I then placed markers in every location I wanted my viewers to see or travel along. In addition, neogeography includes a social aspect, so I added URLs to markers where people can make reservations to stay at, videos to show the types of activities they can do to other markers, and pictures to other markers to show the great sightseeing the location offers. Now people can see the great aspects of the trail; however, neogeography has errors to it. For example, my map includes traveling, which on the map the markers appear pretty close to one another, but in reality, the distance is far apart. Clearly, neogeographic maps lack the scaling when there is navigating involved. Also, the lines I used to show the path do not illustrate the curvature of roads that show the accurate path on going from one place to the next. Thus, neogeography is a great way to communicate maps in a social aspect, yet lack the map centric qualities to navigate.