Neogeography: Combining Geography and Art

Papadimitriou, Fivos. "A “Neogeographical Education”? The Geospatial Web, GIS and Digital Art in Adult Education." International Research In Geographical & Environmental Education 19, no. 1 (February 2010): 71-74. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 29, 2012).

Neogeography is a relatively new area within the realm of geography. According to Papadimitriou, neogeography is able to "engulf traditional geography as well as all forms of personal, intuitive...or artistic explorations and representations of geographical space, aided by new technologies associated with the Geospatial Web" (71). It can be highly subjective and can include data such as photography, text, music/sound, and video (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Types of information and technologies that go into creating neogeographic works

Neogeography can be used to create a wide variety of maps and other works. Some types of works include photoblogging, microblogging, and radical cartographic mapping (see Figure 2). These kinds of works allow people to "gain new insights on geographical spaces which are supposedly already 'mapped' and 'known'" and add a personal and cultural dimension to mapping (72).

Figure 2: Type of neogeographical works resulting from the use of neogeography and associated technologies

Geo-tagging is an important component of neogeography, because it gives all non-geographical data a geographical reference. A good example I can think of to illustrate this concept is Facebook maps (see Figure 3). When adding photos, video, or text on Facebook, you can choose to include the location where it took place. Facebook takes it a step further and creates a map with a user-friendly interface allowing anyone to view all the geo-tagged data provided by any particular person. It allows you to see or read about all the places someone has been, organized by geographic location.

Figure 3: Facebook maps

Neogeography also has practical applications. Websites such as Wikimapia, Openstreetmap, and Google Maps allow anyone to add information and edit their maps. Users can do things such as add buildings or comment on businesses. Maps created by many people can have the advantage of being more detailed than conventional maps (see figure 4), but since they are not made by "professionals" they are also more likely to be inaccurate. 

Figure 4: Openstreetmap.org zoomed to Southwestern University campus

Papadimitriou believes that neogeography is an important step humanity has taken into the future. He states, "Never before has the global sharing of one's local experience been instantaneously possible" (74). Neogeography provides a new way for people to express themselves and interact with each other and the world.