The Geoweb

The Economist writes about the proliferation of online mapping that is part of a broader endeavor they call the “geoweb”.   Still in what the Economist describes as its “infancy”:

The web did away with many geographical constraints, enabling people with common interests to communicate, regardless of location. Yet placelessness jettisons some of the most useful features of information, which are now attracting new attention.

The article makes a passing reference in differentiating between neogeographers and those that work with geographic information systems before quickly segueing into an example of how a project using geobrowsers will save the U.S. Navy $5 million a year.  The second half of the piece is devoted to reviewing some of the critiques about increased access to global data, ranging from security and privacy concerns to hypothesizing about geospammers and geohackers.

Source: The Economist – The world on your desktop – September 6, 2007