(This image was located at Digital Egypt: http://www.digitaleg.com/Digital_Egypt/Mobile/GIS-Mobile-Application.html. )
In a special section in the 27 October-2 November 2012 issue of The Economist, titled Technology
and Geography, various writers discussed how mobile GIS units and
geographical applications are changing individuals everyday lives, society-at-large,
politics, commerce and increasing globalization and connectivity. In one particular article in this section, A
sense of place Geography matters as much as ever, despite the digital
revolution., Patrick Lane discusses how instead of geography disappearing
it is becoming more important as more applications are becoming geographical in
nature.
Increasing telecommunications capacities (i.e., the
Internet, social media, cell phones, GPS enhanced mobile devices etc.) and
transportation innovations (just-in-time, intermodal container use for shipping
via airplanes, trains, and ships, large capacity airplanes etc.),which are
being better coordinated with advanced telecommunications and spatial
technologies, are transforming the global society, commerce, economics and
politics. (For more information how the
Internet is creating cyber communities, see the following article “Culture
in the Digital Metropolis: Theoretical and Methodological Crossroads” , in Urbana: Urban Affairs and Public Policy;
also found in the book The
Geography, Politics, and Architecture of Cities: Studies in the Creation and
Complexification of Culture.) However, it is is not making a ‘flat world’ as
proclaimed by Thomas Friedman,
nor is it the ‘end of Geography.’
Geography is still an inherent property in all aspects of
human existence. Every person and every tangible object is located in a
specific physical location. Human beings
still need to eat, meet people face-to face, go shopping, go to work places, and
move from one location to another. Goods
and people still need to be transported at all scales (globally, nationally,
and local.) Mobile GIS application and
devices are making relative distance smaller in terms of time and facilitating
decision-making, but are not eliminating spatial relationships. Spatial relationships or geography remains
regardless because people, business, industries and building still occupy a
physical location. This will not change
in the foreseeable future. Time travel
and teleportation are not likely to go beyond the theoretical in the 21st
Century.
Underlying spatial technologies
is Geographical Information Science which is firmly grounded in the discipline
of Geography which encompasses spatial cognition, representation of space
(Cartography), meaning of space etc. Unfortunately, the discipline of Geography is
often not referenced when there is discussion of spatial technologies.
What GIS related devises do is to facilitate is the transmission of
geographical information, in some cases where it was impossible to
transmit, not eliminating geography. Many taxis operate with
navigational equipment sometimes linked with location of clients and
destinations in a dynamic GIS. People
are finding ride sharing opportunies in San Francisco and other places as
referenced in the before mentioned article via mobile GIS related applications. Trucks can be monitored by GPS tracking and
pick-up and delivery efficiently coordinated. There is an explosion of GIS related applications for
mobile units. GIS related mobile devises are also being used in internal space
such as airports. It is fairly predictable that GIS related mobile devises will
become more prevalent in every part of global economies and society. The costs of this technology are decreasing
to become more affordable for persons, businesses and governments. The consequences will be revolutionary in all
aspects.
This special section in the The Economist talks about
the wonder of GIS related mobile devises. However, the advantages are not
evenly spread and demonstrate the growing divide between the ‘haves and half
not’ at all scales. It is mainly a phenomenon that is happening in developed
nations. Even within developed nations,
the users of these devices are affluent and are not helping those that who are
in the lower middle or in poverty. These mobile GIS devise are making fortunes
for the manufactures and those designing the software, but are not having great
economic impact in the U.S., Europe, Austrailia and other countries. The
devices are made generally in China or other developed coutries where the
laborers are being paid very low wages while the small amount of
developers and investors in very limited
location such as Silicone Valley, Austin, Banglore are making above average
incomes and support relatively limited low paid services in the areas that the
are located. Herein lies the delimna of
a rapidly technologically developing world where income disparities are not
being lessened, but increased by their growth. In the late industrial age and part of the
post-industrial age, incomes rose and there was overall increased prosperity,
particularly in the developed world. The
technological or information age, requires only cheap labor which is generally
found in developing coutries leaving the vast wealth to a limited amount of
people. As Richard
Florida refuting the notions of Thomas Friedman in an article concerning ‘the
Creative Class stated the Internet and other technology (like mobile GIS)
is not creating a ‘flat earth’ but a ‘spiked’ one where all are not on an even
or flat playing field.
