Visualizing global cyberscapes: Mapping user-generated placemarks

Mark Graham, Matthew Zook

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

82 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article focuses on the representation of physical places on the Internet or what we term cyberscape. While there is a wide range of online place-related information available, this project uses the metric of the number of user-generated Google Maps placemarks containing specific keywords in locations worldwide. After setting out the methods behind this research, this article provides a cartographic analysis of these cyberscapes and examines how they inform us about the material world. Visibility and invisibility in material space are increasingly being defined by prominence, ranking, and presence on the Internet, and Google has positioned itself as a highly authoritative source of online spatial information. As such, any distinct spatial patterns within uploaded information have the potential to become real and reinforced as Google is relied upon as a mirror of the offline world.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)115-132
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Urban Technology
Volume18
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2011

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Urban Studies

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