UCLA Campus Landmarks and Walking Tour

View UCLA Visual Map in a larger map


Neogeography is people using or making their very own maps to display geographic information. One such example is My Maps as seen above. Through My Maps, an individual is able to create his or her own map and plot media and other data. Typically, neogeography can be characterized as amateur, user-friendly, open source, and unrestricted. Based on the map provided, one may feel that neogeography is a harmless. However, there are quite a few possible pitfalls and consequences of neogeography.


There are both positive and negative consequences of neogeography. Positive consequences include the ability to access information quickly and effectively. For example, on the map presented, one may find images of historic and salient buildings of the UCLA campus. Additionally, one may take a quick tour following the path. However, the ability to access information quickly and effectively can also be a negative consequence. In this map, the images show individuals without their consent, which brings up the issue of privacy. Furthermore, pitfalls of neogeography include the creator's bias. Clearly, all the buildings of UCLA are not included and the path does not wander to south campus. This bias does exist in the most innocent of maps. On other maps however, biases may not be quite innocent. Thus, the information given to users can be manipulated at the will of the creator.