Maps in revolution

The great explorers of the 15th and 16th century like Christopher Columbus and Vasco Da Gama based their search for land never mapped before on maps like the ancient ones of Ptolemy. John Snow’s map of London’s Soho in 1854, pointed the water wells as the source of cholera outbreaks. There are many more examples of how maps played a fundamental role in history. But the potential impact and scope that maps can have today is from another order! Map geeks of today are truly blessed, as we have the honour to work in these revolutionary times for maps! But are we and our organisations really ready for it?

The last years, the foundations of our small and calm geo-community trembled. As I do not have the ambition here to list all major changes and trends concerning geo-information, I limit myself to 3 of these to make my point. First of all, data collection is no longer a pure high-cost high-tech job. With the arrival of low-cost low-tech sensors, we all became individual sensors and created this unique sensor network just by holding our mobile or other devices. We do no longer only receive information, but we provide passively or actively tons of (geo-)information. A special example of this are the data actively collected through “Volunteered Geographical Information” (VGI). In a few years, we evolved from a data-poor to a data-rich environment and the challenge shifted from data collection to data handling. A second shift took place on the internet. Maps got on the waves of the web and virtual earths, web mapping and now the semantic web pushes the geographical world into the open. At last, the geo-world is shifting towards “openness”. Free and Open Sources software, VGI and Open Data, all considerably gain terrain. Free and open access to geographical data will become the norm and maps will increasingly be seen as an essential public good.

Although these are all giant leaps for the mapping world, the real revolution that I am talking about in my introduction is in its effective user’s uptake. Maps and their applications became ubiquitous in almost every aspect of government and of citizens’ lives. Different mainstream trends like the rise of computing power, the speed of internet and the exponential use of mobile devices make that everybody has in the palm of his hand the whole world, mapped in every detail. We all became the center of our own map: permanently positioned, real-time linked to all types of (geo-)information and interconnected with the whole world. The potential of maps exploded, also for the big mass. What previously was a niche technology, now became mainstream. Although some fail completely, most geo-companies and public organisations do their best to implement and keep track with all these new trends and technologies. But in this hectic and rapid changing environment most fail completely in two basic aspects: adjusting the own internal organisation according to this new environment and effectively communicating to the new “outside” world.

As mentioned in the second paragraph, an important shift lay in this emphasis on “openness” and “networks”. But what do we see too often in our own geo-organisations: a closed, hierarchical structure, lacking completely the true open spirit of this geo revolution. If we want to keep track, we need to incorporate these values in our own organisation. A lot of the young talents, write creativity, openness, values, digital content creation and co-production in a network environment large. By nature, this young group of professionals can be thé engine to push the map revolution to a higher level. Lacking to incorporate these talents fully in our organisation would be a big failure. These horizontal and open networks (so sharing instead of protecting) are really strong as the power of the crowd is stronger than the idea and work of a few individuals. Time of isolated production on our island is gone. We have to embrace cooperation both inside as outside our organization again and give back the true meaning to the word “company“ (derived from the Latin “cum” and “pane” which means “breaking bread together.”). So let’s open up our organisations. Throw this hierarchy, internal competition and piles of rules out of the window. Take away all barriers in order to connect and network within our organisation and to the outside. Go for complete openness, honesty and true communication and (why not …) democracy. Put the “Why” again on top of the agenda! What is your social role in society?

Communication is the second cumbersome aspect many of us face. And that is even quite logic. Because in all these years that we studied Geography, Engineering and IT, how many courses on communication did we get? Probably none. There is a complete distortion between the amount of theory we obtain and how to spread this knowledge to the outside world. For centuries we were sitting relaxed in our niche market, talking our niche language full of slang. But today, the geo-market became mainstream. What does “geospatial” mean for your neighbour? What does even “geo” mean? We have to learn to communicate simple and concrete, with easier terminology. What about “maps”? It will be a little bit peculiar at the start, but we will be rewarded to level down our abstract level of talking. We shouldn’t forget that for many people geo-information is complicated. If we want that the message sticks, we have to step in their world by keeping things clear.

Although more simple, I would like to end by a passionate speech for a less modest communication. In my opinion, we do not stress enough the real power of maps. Maps and their applications are still too often seen as a nice-to-have, handy tool. But maps can mean a lot more for this world in drastic change. The global system (incl. the economic, financial, social & eco sub-systems) in which we are functioning is in crisis and people are scared and paralyzed of what will come. Maps can concretise new ideas and possible solutions and paint a vivid picture of what could be. They have the power to simulate future scenarios and hence can function as thé story teller we need to mobilize people in the transition process towards a new society. Maps can really invoke an explosion of how we see the earth. Maps bring better knowledge and better understanding and this should hopefully bring better judgment. That is what we need to communicate, so we can really turn maps, from being a cute thing to have, into something that really actually matters!