New York Times Looks at Citizen Web-Mapping

The New York Times has a look at citizen web-mapping (With Tools on Web, Amateurs Reshape Mapmaking) today. The article, which reviews the tools provided by Google, Microsoft and others, predicts some changes in the way geospatial data will be created and shared as more and more 'regular folks" create geo-content on-line.

In the process, they are reshaping the world of mapmaking and collectively creating a new kind of atlas that is likely to be both richer and messier than any other.

They are also turning the Web into a medium where maps will play a more central role in how information is organized and found.

The challenge for state and local GIS coordinators, it appears, will be finding ways to integrate government-created geospatial data into this larger "geo-web" in a way that supports citizen-creation of content and ensures an accurate, up-to-date basic geospatial infrastructure needed for a wide range of governmental services.

And, while we can celebrate the blossoming of data creation that seems to be taking place, we shouldn't forget to take the new data with a pinch of salt, as one NSGIC-friend is quoted in the article.

“Some people are potentially going to do really stupid things with these tools,” said Donald Cooke, chief scientist at Tele Atlas North America, a leading supplier of digital street maps. “But you can also go hiking with your G.P.S. unit, and you can create a more accurate depiction of a trail than on a U.S.G.S. map,” Mr. Cooke said, referring to the United States Geological Survey.