Cartographica incognita: ‘Dijital Jedis’, Satellite Salvation and the Mysteries of the ‘Missing Maps’

Abstract

Like Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) and Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) crowdsourced collaborative mapping is often imagined as an alternative to conventional cartographic practice. This paper examines collaborative mapping projects designed to assist in humanitarian work and respond to catastrophes. These projects, their technological complexity and wide range of collaborators, including affected locals, international Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and anonymous online contributors, invite closer consideration. In this article I unpick the gnarly question of how the remote sourcing of information through cloud collaboration and satellite imagery jostles with grounded work encouraging local control of local geoinformation. My critical analysis of these projects explores: (1) justifications for action – what is being promised through digital mapping as aid or satellite salvation?; (2) forms of participation – the role of ‘hotties’ ‘nodders’ and ‘digital jedis’; and (3) contingencies of mapping practices and the assemblages of actors within which they are embedded – as the mysteries of the ‘missing maps’. The conclusion considers differing approaches towards the inclusion of local knowledges within participatory digital aid mapping and identifies remote mapping practices that are both incognito and incognisant.

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