Mapping the data shadows of Hurricane Sandy: Uncovering the sociospatial dimensions of ‘big data’

Digital social data are now practically ubiquitous, with increasingly large and interconnected databases leading researchers, politicians, and the private sector to focus on how such ‘big data’ can allow potentially unprecedented insights into our world. This paper investigates Twitter activity in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in order to demonstrate the complex relationship between the material world and its digital representations. Through documenting the various spatial patterns of Sandy-related tweeting both within the New York metropolitan region and across the United States, we make a series of broader conceptual and methodological interventions into the nascent geographic literature on big data. Rather than focus on how these massive databases are causing necessary and irreversible shifts in the ways that knowledge is produced, we instead find it more productive to ask how small subsets of big data, especially georeferenced social media information scraped from the internet, can reveal the geographies of a range of social processes and practices. Utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods, we can uncover broad spatial patterns within this data, as well as understand how this data reflects the lived experiences of the people creating it. We also seek to fill a conceptual lacuna in studies of user-generated geographic information, which have often avoided any explicit theorizing of sociospatial relations, by employing Jessop et al.’s TPSN framework. Through these interventions, we demonstrate that any analysis of user-generated geographic information must take into account the existence of more complex spatialities than the relatively simple spatial ontology implied by latitude and longitude coordinates.     

Exploring the gap of the digital divide

While much of the literature related to the digital divide focuses on either technology penetration in developed countries or the introduction of new technology to the poor and disadvantaged in the developing world, this paper pays attention to the middle-classes in a developing country which is connected to the Internet but under poor conditions. The digital divide is examined by investigating how the uneven distribution of Internet connection influences distance education students’ participation in higher education. Empirically, the paper is informed by a qualitative study of distance education in Indonesia. The main conclusion is that while in more peripheral areas students may not gain much from the use of new technology, the use of this technology may be useful for the further development of such regions. In central areas the new technology seems to contribute to students’ study situations more effectively and the daily environment empowers the students’ study activities, rather than vice versa.     

Urban experience takes an informational turn: mobile internet usage and the unevenness of geosocial activity

Coinciding the widespread deployment of handheld information and communications technologies (ICT) there has been a rapid emergence of mobile Internet applications. Notably, these applications are designed to perform within operating systems that are not only Internet-connected but that are also location-aware and decoupled from any single point in space—design characteristics that enable instantaneous integration of users’ everyday ‘real-world’ experience with an array of Internet-based services. As a consequence, the experience of urban space can be mediated by digital information in ways that have not before been possible. In this article I explore the convergence of ongoing discussions about the digital divide, the nascent class of mobile ICT, and the urban communities that have been most adversely impacted by uneven technological landscapes. Building on this convergence, I argue that it is increasingly important to consider the impacts that pervasive mobile information have on the composition of everyday urban life.     

The credibility of volunteered geographic information

The proliferation of information sources as a result of networked computers and other interconnected devices has prompted significant changes in the amount, availability, and nature of geographic information. Among the more significant changes is the increasing amount of readily available volunteered geographic information. Although volunteered information has fundamentally enhanced geographic data, it has also prompted concerns with regard to its quality, reliability, and overall value. This essay situates these concerns as issues of information and source credibility by (a) examining the information environment fostering collective information contribution, (b) exploring the environment of information abundance, examining credibility and related notions within this environment, and leveraging extant research findings to understand user-generated geographic information, (c) articulating strategies to discern the credibility of volunteered geographic information (VGI), including relevant tools useful in this endeavor, and (d) outlining specific research questions germane to VGI and credibility.     

数字地质填图野外手图地理底图制作方法

数字填图系统实现了区域地质调查从野外数据采集、数据处理、成果输出等全流程信息化,准确、快速地制作符合相关精度要求的野外手图地理底图是保证野外调查工作质量重要基础环节。通过1∶5万区域地质调查实际工作,提出了地形数据坐标系转换流程,总结了一套简捷实用并符合相关精度要求的区域地质调查野外地质手图地理底图的制作方法:第一步使用Mapgis67投影变换模块中的"工作区直接投影转换"功能将1∶5万比例尺的地形图数据放大,第二步运用Section插件对放大到1∶2.5万的矢量地形数据进行裁剪,第三步根据最新遥感影像等资料添加最新的地形地物从而实现地理底图的图面整饰。     

New technologies, old divides: linking internet access to social and locational characteristics of US farms

Access to new information and communication technologies is widely viewed as a prerequisite for participation in the global economy, so that inequalities in such access have become a significant policy concern. Rural areas are especially underserved in terms of internet providers, and this is true in both developed and less developed economies. This article focuses on access to the internet within farming operations in the US as an important aspect of understanding the digital divide within rural areas. Using county level data from the 2007 US Census of Agriculture and multivariate regression analysis, our study examines the statistical relationship between farm internet access and a set of explanatory factors which include demographic characteristics of operators, economic characteristics of farms, and geographic location (region and metropolitan status) of the farm. Further, it seeks to understand whether access to the internet can be socially and locationally differentiated from access to high speed internet. Our findings indicate that existing social divides are replicated in terms of the digital divide, so that social inequalities are potentially a more pressing problem than infrastructural gaps in terms of rural access to the internet in the US.     

Placing of photos on the internet: Critical analysis of biases on the depictions of France and Afghanistan on FLICKR

The Internet and the representation of space therein are almost omnipresent in society and everyday life. Peer-produced geographic data is gaining a particular importance through increasingly available digital tools and techniques that shape the perception of space in the internet, such as flickr, OpenStreetMap or Wikipedia. However, few studies focused on how space is represented, and by whom it is described. We hypothesize that the alleged opening up of geographic information and the assumed benefits for every individual and society through the occurrence of ‘easy-to-use-mapping-tools’ was premature. To explore these assumptions, a comparative study of the flickr worldmap was undertaken and roughly 6.8 million metadatasets of geocoded photos in France, and roughly 50,000 metadatasets in Afghanistan were downloaded and the metadata was analyzed. Our results indicate that photos geocoded in France show a large diversity of motives, while photos geocoded in Afghanistan are mostly limited to content containing warfare when they are up loaded in English. The content of the photo and therefore the representation of space strongly depend on who uploaded the photo, particularly in Afghanistan. We can show that the representation of space on the internet, for the case of flickr, is strongly dominated by perceptions of Western societies and individuals. We therefore confirm our hypothesis that the supposed opening up of geographic information systems through ‘easy-to-use-mapping-tools’ and their democratization thereof was premature. Moreover, we highlight the importance of understanding who contributes online content to be able to evaluate peer-produced data, its value, and its possible applications to avoid reproducing biases.     

Canadian Inuit,digital Qanuqtuurunnarniq,and emerging geographic imaginations

Using the Canadian Arctic as a case study this paper explores how Internet-based research can be used to advance area studies in an era of rapid global change. Regions of the world are rapidly changing due to social, technological, and environmental processes, and traditionally marginalized groups are increasingly using digital tools to help shape new geographical imaginations of these regions. Digital research is uniquely capable of analyzing these political uses of digital technologies, to produce a better understanding of how many different stakeholders are shaping emerging geographical imaginations. The Canadian Arctic offers a particularly powerful case study to understand these processes both because it represents a geographic region that is complex, multi-scalar, and rapidly evolving, and also because it is a region in which traditionally marginalized indigenous groups are using the Internet to increase the visibility of their perspectives. This paper develops an innovative methodology, combining computational analysis of ‘big data’ along with traditional forms of qualitative analysis, to analyze representations of the Arctic across the websites of five different organizations. These organizational websites were chosen because each of the organizations has a different relationship to the Arctic, operates at a different geographic scale, has some relevance to areas of the Canadian Arctic in which Inuit live, and has a large website. The analysis successfully reveals how these different organizations use the web to shape different types of geographic imaginations of the Arctic, as well as the types of discursive politics being used by the organizations to push forward their own political goals. The result is a powerful form of area studies capable of highlighting the geographic imaginations and re-imaginations of a complex set of actors operating at many different scales.     

利用高分辨率影像建立三维虚拟校园——以"数字成都理工大学"为例

以数字化校园工程———“数字成都理工大学”为例,探讨利用航空影像和数字摄影测量技术,获取基础空间地理信息的方法及途径。并采用三维建模软件Cyber C ity对建筑物进行三维建模。而对于复杂地物,采用三维地理信息系统IMAGIS软件建立单个模型,从而实现了成都理工大学校区的三维可视化虚拟重建和漫游。实践证明,利用数字摄影测量技术和遥感影像,能够有效地获取大范围区域地表地物的三维信息,并快速地建立地面模型和三维景观。     

Assessing the validity of facilitated-volunteered geographic information: comparisons of expert and novice ratings

Facilitated-voluntary geographic information (f-VGI) is a promising method to enable systematic collection of data from residents about their physical and social environment. The method capitalizes on ubiquitous mobile smartphones to empower collection of geospatially-referenced data. It is important to evaluate the validity of user-generated content for use in research or program planning. The purpose of this study was to test whether the aggregated environmental (“bikeability”) ratings from novice community residents converges with ratings from experts using a robust research-based, paper audit-tool (the established Pedestrian Environment Data Scan (PEDS) tool). Equivalence testing statistically showed overall agreement between the composite ratings of bikeability within the novice group. Agreement in categorical ratings between novices and experts were examined using the summary agreement index, which showed substantial agreement across the 10 locations rated by 11 novices using an f-VGI mobile application and four experts using PEDS; variability depended on the nature of the specific questions asked. Results reveal overall substantial agreement between novice and expert ratings for both composite scores and individual categorical ratings. However, additional research is needed to refine the methodology for use in formalized research applications.     

对数字化产品质量监控的探讨

图形数字化生产过程中的质量监控是一个复杂而又繁琐的问题,它是地理信息系统建设中最基本也是最重要的环节。通过对图形数字化生产过程中所有可能产生的质量要素进行层层分解剖析,针对不同阶段、不同质量要素采用与其相应的技术及管理手段加以控制,最大限度地减少错误和误差,以达到提高图形数据产品质量之目的,从而保障地理信息系统应用目标的实现。     

网络地理信息系统（WebGIS）的现状及前景

WebGIS是GIS技术与Internet技术相结合的产物,它改变了地理信息的获取、传输、发布、共享和应用的方式,是GIS未来的发展方向.介绍了WebGIS的概念、功能、结构模型和平台软件,认为目前WebGIS还不能通过网络来实现真正意义上的空间分析,离商业化和实用化尚有相当距离,还存在着空间数据共享、互操作、表现手法单一、跨平台、数据传输瓶颈等问题.在分析的基础上,指出与OpenGIS、GML、第二代互联网、分布式计算、.Net、移动通信、虚拟现实、网格计算等技术相结合是WebGIS未来的发展方向.     

用ArcIMS建立震源机制解数据发布系统方法浅析

随着WebGIS(网络地理信息系统)应用的不断深入,我们将WebGIS技术引入到震源机制解数据分析,通过将数据库信息与地理空间属性信息相结合,实现了数据库信息图形化,统计分析自动化,数据访问和查询网络化。本文通过介绍用ArcI MS3.1建立震源机制解数据发布系统,论述了ArcI MS体系结构,详述了中国及邻区地震震源机制解数据发布系统的总体结构和用ArcI MS建立震源机制解数据发布系统的方法,并就系统开发中的技术要点进行了论述。     

物联网技术在数字化博物馆建设中的应用研究

随着计算机和信息技术的发展,博物馆数字化是现代博物馆发展的必然趋势,也是各博物馆亟待解决的问题。本文针对实施博物馆数字化建设过程中的实际情况,提出了将物联网技术应用于博物馆数字化建设的思路。通过对当前流行的识别技术(条形码、二维码和RFID)进行对比,选择RFID技术作为博物馆藏品管理的技术手段,并在此基础上,对应用RFID技术实现智能导游进行了深入的研究,提出了相应的系统设计模型,完成了藏品管理、智能导游的实现原型,为博物馆的智能化建设提供了一种新的参考模式。     

Reconceptualizing the role of the user of spatial data infrastructure

Spatial data infrastructures, which are Internet-based mechanisms for the coordinated production, discovery, and use of geospatial information in the digital environment, have diffused worldwide in the last two decades. Currently, there are about one hundred spatial data infrastructures at the national level and many other at supra- and sub-national levels. These contemporary spatial data infrastructures operate with two main assumptions: formal organizations are the producers and suppliers of geospatial information; users are the passive recipients of information. The recent phenomenon of volunteered geographic information departs from these assumptions. In this paper, we argue that reconceptualizing the user of a spatial data infrastructure can accommodate this new phenomenon. Such a reconceptualization creates a middle ground between spatial data infrastructure and volunteered geographic information, which has important implications for future research.     

网络信息空间的地理学研究回顾与展望

网络信息空间（以下简称网络空间）的地理学是当前地理学研究的重点方向之一。1991年万维网诞生并向大众普及后网络空间开始得到广泛认可,同时其作为一种新的空间与事物也吸引了地理学界的高度关注。以多种期刊数据库和搜索引擎为检索源,考察国内外网络空间的地理学研究成果。依据研究内容将国外研究归纳为网络空间地理内涵、虚拟社区、虚拟化身与认知、网络空间的经济地理学,网络空间制图和互联网6个重点研究领域,将国内研究归纳为互联网的区域作用、网站和虚拟地理环境3个热点领域,并分别进行了梳理回顾。最后对国内外研究进行了简要评述,从网络空间的外部层面、内部层面和作用层面提出了若干研究议题。     

The diffusion of ICT in France: infrastructures,services, and uses

How does the organization of space interfere in the numerical development of territories? Our hypothesis is that information and communication technologies (ICT) are organized by taking into account the existing spatial structures, compared to constraints of distance, spatial position and urban hierarchy. In the context of the liberalization of the sector of telecommunications, ICT spread according to an economic logic of profitability. The concern of network operators collides with the principle of territorial equity in planning policies. To understand the diffusion of ICT in France, a cartographic analysis of their distribution is proposed. It derives from the notion of networks at three levels: infrastructures, services and uses. The research takes into account the difference between regional configurations to identify the spatial factors of the digital divide. For each level, the diffusion of ICT follows a different logic, and characterizes territories with different orientations. Areas with a high density of population and activities are quickly equipped. The democratization of the use of the Internet, notably with the diffusion of public access to the Internet, is present to a greater degree in low-density areas.     

面向移动空间信息服务的可移植嵌入式GIS平台

智能终端和移动互联网的快速发展使得移动空间信息服务成为数字城市和数字地球的重要内容,而各种基于定位导航的嵌入式地理信息系统(geographic information system,GIS)也逐步成为这类信息服务的主要方式.分析了现代移动空间信息服务的特征,采用层次式模块化的方法,介绍了基于GIS的可移植抽象层、多元数据存储模型、电子地图显示引擎和高性能应用服务引擎等关键模块的设计,设计了可移植的嵌入式GIS平台,为通用的移动空间信息服务移动端的应用开发提供了一个切实可行的方案.      

数码摄影数字化裱版清绘原图的探讨

本文详细地介绍了利用专业数码相机摄影数字化输入裱版清绘原图数据的方法,是目前地理信息系统数字化建设中地图制图资料数据收集、转换的一种新方式,具有较强的实用性。     

Volunteered geographic information: future research directions motivated by critical, participatory, and feminist GIS

New interactive web services are dramatically altering the way in which ordinary citizens can create digital spatial data and maps, individually and collectively, to produce new forms of digital spatial data that some term ‘volunteered geographic information’ (VGI). This article examines the early literature on this phenomenon, illustrating its shared propositions that these new technologies are part of shifts in the social and technological processes through which digital spatial data are produced, with accompanying implications for the content and characteristics of geospatial data, and the social and political practices promoted through their use. I illustrate how these debates about VGI conceive of spatial data as socially embedded, and suggest ways in which future research might productively draw upon conceptualizations from participatory, feminist, and critical GIS research that have emerged from similar foundations.