Week 3 Lab: Dodgers 2009

View Dodgers 2009 in a larger map

The Dodgers 2009 map shows where each player on the current Dodgers roster went to high school. It's meant to show where a majority of baseball players come from (granted it's a limited sample set) and how far these people have traveled to play baseball professionally.

Making this map was an interesting learning experience. The "My Maps" function on Google provided easy to use tools to make participating in neogeography a possibility for everyone. I learned more about geography and the Dodgers than I expected to when I started this assignment because I was actually interacting with and integrating topics. This is the potential of neogeography: to expand the knowledge of users. The act of creating a map and integrating topics into it is fun, creative, and personal, yet it provides a deeper understanding of how subjects are interconnected for the creator and the viewer. The maps become dynamic and interactive for everyone, which stimulates people to learn and/or create something new. As this trend propagates, new conclusions can be made about the influence of space.

There are some drawbacks to neogeography. From a creator's perspective there is a slight learning curve involved with making a map. I noticed this when using Google's "My Maps" application. Fortunately I found a walkthrough online but I ran into trouble with "My Maps' when I accidentally double clicked on a marker and erased all the data it contained. This happened two or three times. It was definitely frustrating.

From a viewer's perspective, how does one know if the information in a created map is accurate? In my map for example, I couldn't find the location of some high schools. Instead of trying to "fudge" the information I simply placed the marker in the city the player was known to be from. There is too much room for error in reporting information properly.

Finally, the subject matter can be a concern. Issues like privacy and copyright can come into play when information, videos, or pictures are incorporated into a map. What is or isn't acceptable is at the discretion of the creator and their ethics.