Geog 7 Lab 3

View West San Fernado Valley Driving Tour in a larger map


Neogeography is arguably the most unique subsequent field of geography in existence today. Dealing with lots of satellite imagery available free to people everywhere around the world with an internet connection, there are certainly lots of positives but also lots of possible consequences associated with this new technology.

The potential of such technology is enormous. People can view the world like never before. GPS was just becoming popular in the early 2000s. Portable GPS devices did not become popular until just a few years ago. Now people can go on their computers or even on their phones and view satellite images of places as they would see them from the air. There are even street views so people can walk around and simultaneously see the same images on their phones. With mash-ups, people can create personalized maps of specific subjects, such as located cafés in an area, or indicating wi-fi hotspots on a map. The subject range of mash-ups is essentially limitless. People can prevent deforestation and assist in other environmental issues by using satellites to map out which areas need to be protected from logging, mining and other harmful activities. These potential pluses are all possible thanks to neogeography.

There are however some pitfalls with such revolutionary technology. The main problem is the invasion of privacy. With satellite images, anybody at any place can look up someone’s home address and see a real aerial view of their residence. There is a strong worry that terrorists can use this technology to plan attacks, though the U.S. government and other governments have even further superior technology, so this is not a huge concern at this point. Especially with street views of public streets in some major U.S. cities, privacy is further invaded. With such advanced technology, it is only a matter of time before live street views of large portions of cities are available, which once again would very invasive of people’s privacy. These are some of the major pitfalls and consequences associated with neogeography.