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Monday, July 28, 2008
Matt Rosenberg
Goodbye Dear Atlas
By Matt Rosenberg, About.com
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When I stated operating this site in 1997, the most common question I received was related to locating a place on the planet. I would receive questions about how to find a map of a place or how to simply find where a place was located. Occasionally I was asked to clarify the spelling of a place name or to provide its latitude and longitude.
Back then, the best international maps on the Internet were from the Perry-Castaneda Library; they scanned in public domain CIA maps and made them available online. It was a wonderful collection - it was an online atlas of fairly detailed maps for every country on earth.
Other sites tried to provide geographic data, too. Remember Terraserver? That was cutting-edge technology, providing satellite images for some places in the United States! (You might enjoy a blast to the past by looking at my Best of the Net Awards for 1998)
Back in 1997 I utilized my Times Atlas of the World and my well-worn Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary on a daily basis to help people find places or information about places. I received at least one inquiry a day.
Today, site like Google Maps and software like Google Earth have changed the way we find geographic information online. I can't remember the last time someone emailed me asking for help finding a place. I expect that these people today simply search for the place name themselves. Maybe they start with Google and if the place name was spelled incorrectly, Google provides them with the correct spelling. The search results provide them with a map, images, and an extensive Wikipedia article about the place in question.
If they need more information about a place, they can launch the free Google Earth software and look at the terrain and buildings of the place they're looking for and view a plethora of user-submitted content.
Today, I only use my atlas or my geographical dictionary when I'm writing a Geography Quiz. I fully admit that I also use Google, Google Maps, and sometimes Google Earth to find out about a place.
I remember that when I traveled to Eastern Europe in the late 1990s, my best source for information was still the printed guidebook published (but ordered, of course, via Amazon.com). However, When I was getting ready for my trip to Ghana last January, I browsed an incredible number of photos of Google Earth. I never even needed to so a search for the towns I was visiting because the Wikipedia article and other content I wanted to read about Ghana was hyperlinked directly from Google Earth.
But, through my online travels of Ghana before I left, I had such a good sense as to what I would be seeing when I arrived that nothing was really much of a surprise. My trip in the 90s to Eastern Europe was all new and exciting. But, when I went to Ghana and even to the village of 250 people, it was exactly what I expected from photos someone had posted online. In some respects it took some of the adventure out of my trip, knowing that others had been there before me with their digital cameras, capturing the same things I was seeing. Has the fun and novelty of travel to distant points evaporated or do I need to refrain from searching online about the place I am going to visit? Should I simply stick to the travel guide with its handful of color photos of the key tourist sites? Maybe too much information is a bad thing. I'd love to read your thoughts!
I miss using my atlas and geographical dictionary on a daily basis but I love being able to access such rich and detailed geographic information online.
Suggested Reading
Waterproof Shoes in L.A.You Can't Send Soap to ParaguayGeography 101
History of Geography
Guide since 1997
Matt Rosenberg
Geography Guide
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