Contents



Preface

Geographic information systems (GIS) were seen as a panacea for quite a long time. The misfortune is that they have become more like service-oriented architecture solutions. Indeed, we previously stored our files on either a PC or a server. However, currently files are no longer allocated; instead, we use several network services such as a Web Map Service (WMS) or Web Feature Service (WFS), which distribute network services. We have definitely moved from a web supported by documents to a web supported by databases, crowdsourced data (e.g., volunteered geographic information—VGI), and social networks, twisted by community behavior, giving access to both collaboration tools and environments, and allowing location analytics.

We have reached a point where anybody may gather spatial-referenced data using, for instance, a mobile device, create some reasonable maps, and put them online. VGI is effectively replacing official data sources, letting us perform a more complex and dynamic analysis than the one allowed by traditional census data. This we can call neogeography, a new kind of geography accessible to everyone. Neogeography offers new life to maps, thriving in a society where each individual is a potential cartographer. Now maps are able to display individual perceptions because they are centered on the mapmaker, representing reality from a bottom-up perspective rather than from a bottom-down one. This new generation of maps can be created in real time and be tailor-made, representing detailed singularities never seen

It is clear that data-driven geography is re-emerging due to substantial spatial data flow from people and sensors. Geography has shifted from a data-scarce to a datarich environment. This—big data—revolution is not about data volume; instead, it is about data variety and at what velocity we can collect and store it. Big data has an enormous potential to feed both spatial analysis and geographic knowledgediscovery but at the same time raise friction among idiographic and nomothetic methodologies. Nonetheless, the belief that location matters is inherent to geography and functions as a robust incentive to develop sophisticated procedures on spatial statistics, time-geography, and geographic information science (GISc).

GISc can be understood as a subdivision of information science that deals with geographic data, or as a set of vital interrogations upraised by geographical information and the technologies used to gather, handle, and communicate it, i.e., information and communication technologies (ICTs). Geographic data can disclose fascinating

GIS have evolved from a research project to a very profitable industry. As new, quicker, more powerful, and less expensive technologies become accessible, this tendency will carry on. The new generations of mobile phones have capabilities to perform GIS tasks, augment the reality recognized by the handler by getting into databases, and have the capacity to capture and upload photos. Furthermore, the VGI invisible economy greatly increases the value of the visible economy, because people are interested in becoming neogeographers. GIS can be extremely seductive,

patterns that, in specific cases, point toward causal mechanisms.

tempting people to experience an intrinsic love for maps.

before, e.g., graffiti on a wall or birds in a tree.
