Two developments in cartography mark an epistemic break with the assumption that maps are unproblematic communication devices. These are 1) investigations of maps as practices of power-knowledge; and 2) 'geographic visualization' (GVis) which uses the map's power to explore, analyze and visualize spatial datasets to understand patterns better. These developments are key components of a 'maps as social constructions' approach, emphasizing the genealogy of power in mapping practices, and enabling multiple, contingent and exploratory perspectives of data. Furthermore, this approach is an opportunity for cartography to renew its relationship with a critical human geography.
This article presents an overview and initial results of a geoweb analysis designed to provide the foundation for a continued discussion of the potential impacts of 'big data' for the practice of critical human geography. While Haklay's (2012) observation that social media content is generated by a small number of 'outliers' is correct, we explore alternative methods and conceptual frameworks that might allow for one to overcome the limitations of previous analyses of user-generated geographic information. Though more illustrative than explanatory, the results of our analysis suggest a cautious approach toward the use of the geoweb and big data that are as mindful of their shortcomings as their potential.More specifically, we propose five extensions to the typical practice of mapping georeferenced data that we call going 'beyond the geotag': (1) going beyond social media that is explicitly geographic; (2) going beyond spatialities of the 'here and now'; (3) going beyond the proximate; (4) going beyond the human to data produced by bots and automated systems, and (5) going beyond the geoweb itself, by leveraging these sources against ancillary data, such as news reports and census data. We see these extensions of existing methodologies as providing the potential for overcoming existing limitations on the analysis of the geoweb.The principal case study focuses on the widely reported riots following the University of Kentucky men's basketball team's victory in the 2012 NCAA championship and its manifestation within the geoweb. Drawing upon a database of archived Twitter activity -including all geotagged tweets since December 2011-we analyze the geography of tweets that used a specific hashtag (#LexingtonPoliceScanner) in order to demonstrate the potential application of our methodological and conceptual program. By tracking the social, spatial, and temporal diffusion of this hashtag, we show how large databases of such spatially referenced internet content can be used in a more systematic way for critical social and spatial analysis.
This report examines the ways in which mapping is performative, participatory and political. Performativity has received increasing attention from scholars, and cartography is no exception. Interest has shifted from the map as object to mapping as practice. Performativity is a cultural, social and political activity; maps as protest and commentary. The internet both facilitates and shapes popular political activism, but scholars have been slow to grasp amateur political mappings, although analysis of political deployments of mapping in state, territorial and imperial projects remains rich. Finally, some authors suggest that cartography be understood as existence (becoming) rather than essence (fixed ontology).
The spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in the most devastating global public health crisis in over a century. At present, over 10 million people from around the world have contracted the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), leading to more than 500,000 deaths globally. The global health crisis unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic has been compounded by political, economic, and social crises that have exacerbated existing inequalities and disproportionately affected the most vulnerable segments of society. The global pandemic has had profoundly geographical consequences, and as the current crisis continues to unfold, there is a pressing need for geographers and other scholars to critically examine its fallout. This introductory article provides an overview of the current special issue on the geographies of the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes 42 commentaries written by contributors from across the globe. Collectively, the contributions in this special issue highlight the diverse theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, and thematic foci that geographical scholarship can offer to better understand the uneven geographies of the Coronavirus/COVID-19.
Two themes dominate this year’s report: calculation and territory. Both of these are larger issues than cartography itself, but cartography has been increasingly drawn into their ambit such that we might tentatively identify cartographic calculations of territory. Ranging across a wide set of problems including colonial, political and racial mappings, not to mention indigeneity and philosophical concerns of ontology, calculation and territory mark out a wide swath of cartographically informed work.
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