Since I enjoy snow skiing and am new to California, I chose to create a Google Map which would depict the ski areas which are within a reasonable driving distance for an extended weekend trip. Therefore, I could not only create a project for this class, but also have a functional map I could use this winter when I have a free weekend and want to go skiing.
Creating a map which would be functional for my personal use allowed me to explore the core strength of Neogeography: allowing individuals with no formal training in cartography to create functional maps which are beneficial and/or entertaining. With relative ease, I was able to navigate the map, find ski areas, plot them, and organize them in a fashion which would remind me which areas I would be most likely to try to visit in the future. I developed a color scale to describe my assessment of each area after visiting their website and reviewing their information. Red respresents the worst areas - ones I do not plan to visit. Green represents areas I absolutely would like to visit. Blue areas are areas I'm sure I would enjoy, but not to the degree of the Green locations, and Yellow areas are places I believe are viable, but lack the size/diversity needed to sustain interest for a long visit.
I then created two areas: the Green area represents my estimation of a "Day trip zone" - given the right conditions, I could potentially wake up early, travel, ski, and return the same day. Ski areas in this zone would be preferred over others of the same caliber. Conversely, I created a red zone around Lake Tahoe to indicate the areas which are clearly inside the tourist trap zone which would likely be extremely busy on weekends and holidays. Despite the quality of the areas in that zone, I would likely only visit these areas when taking days off during the middle of a week, outside of peak season.
Throughout the exercise, I encountered several shortcomings associated with Neogeography. The largest problem was a lack of accurate information. Google Maps had accurate information for most of the areas, but some areas did not have their locations inserted properly to find them with the search function. After careful browsing of the map, and comparing map information to the ski area website, I was able to locate these areas. Conversely, in many locations there was an overabundance of information. A search for "Ski Area" yielded not only the ski area, but any store or hotel in the area which associated themselves with skiing. Problems like these discourage some people from using Neogeography.
Another interesting issue I found was some potentially unscrupulous tactics by ski areas competing for business. For one particular ski area, a Google map search yielded a result with an accurate name and location, but the website associated with the area was for one of the nearby competitors. Since I believe Google relies on "self reporting" of information on their maps for these search results, this may have been a deliberate attempt to steal customers.
These issues with Neogeography highlight the "Garbage-In-Garbage-Out" concept. Google Maps is an outstanding tool, but its potential is maximized when information is loaded into it correctly, and when users can filter or manipulate searches in order to find exactly what they want to find.
Overall, Neogeography offers many opportunities for individuals to create meaningful maps for themselves and others. With this exercise, I was able to create a product which could potentially be useful for me for many years. However, if I had merely taken the Google result and plugged it into my map without double-checking the information, I think about 10% of the ski areas would have either had some inaccurate information or been missing altogether. Like all technology, Neogeography is an outstanding tool, as long as those who use it are critically engaged in the process.
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