Deconstructing the binaries of spatial data production

Towards hybridity

Bibliographic Data

ID8422467
AuthorsJonathan Cinnamon (0000-0001-7383-6886, The Ohio State University, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume59
Issue1
Pages35-51
Publication date2015-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-3658 • E-ISSN: 1541-0064
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/cag.12119
OpenAlexW1575607941
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited73

Binaries, the most reductive form of categorization, can be usefully invoked to characterize emerging phenomena; yet, they are widely critiqued for oversimplifying a complex world and for their use as tools of social and political influence. Through a literature review and content analysis this article traces the emergence of volunteered geographic information (VGI), and identifies the recurrent use of several related binaries to contrast this phenomenon with the conventional spatial data production activities of states and corporations. Using several key examples, these binaries are deconstructed by identifying a mismatch in how VGI is conceptualized (bottom‐up, amateur, asserted) in the literature and the reality of existing VGI projects. As an alternative to a binary conceptualization of spatial data production, a different representation is put forward that more accurately depicts what is in actuality a vast, shifting, and heterogeneous landscape of spatial data production approaches. Thinking about contemporary spatial data production not as a binary but as a continuum could encourage the development of hybridities that harness the benefits of different approaches—including the oversight and quality control of conventional methods, with the speed, low cost, and distributed nature of citizen‐based spatial data production

Categorization · Conceptualization · Data science · Geography · Hybridity · Political science · Politics · Production (economics) · Reflexivity · Remote sensing · Representation (politics) · Social science · Sociology · Spatial analysis · Volunteered Geographic Information · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Data Management and Algorithms · Data-Driven Disease Surveillance · Geographic Information Systems Studies

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Open DOISci-HubOpen Access