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The Pitfalls of Neogeography
The primary pitfall of neogeography has to do with its validity. Much like how teachers admonish students to not rely on Wikipedia as a reliable source of information, neogeography suffers from the same problem. By definition, neogeography is a usercentric set of tools, ie. Google Maps, that are far less technical and complex as the tools that traditional Geographic information systems use. Consequently, there is a plethora of information that is uploaded onto the web, which has not been checked for its credibility. For example, when I was creating my Aston Villa map, I could have easily included typos or misinformation that would have misguided potential viewers.
The second most apparent setback of neogeography is its technical limitations. Neogeography uses basic user-friendly tools in order to enable people who have no experience in GIS to engage in map making. I’m no expert with Google Maps, but I was frustrated that I could not include a description to complement a video that I included for the Bolton Wanderers versus Aston Villa game. These simple tools can never reach the depth that GIS programs like ArcGIS can offer. In that sense, the information derived from neogeography is mostly confined to non-academic purposes. It can be interesting to see a person’s journey through Europe and the different sites they stopped at, but something like that can rarely serve a higher purpose.
Nice. However, I might disagree with you on the comment that information provided by neogeography will never serve a higher purpose. I think it's just a new way of relaying information.
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