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We Know Where You Are. And We’re More and More Sure What That Means

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Emerging Pervasive Information and Communication Technologies (PICT)

Part of the book series: Law, Governance and Technology Series ((LGTS,volume 11))

Abstract

Knowing where something occurs is most meaningful if placed in relation to other events, people, and things. Recent innovations in pervasive information and computing technology (PICT) and related information technology infrastructures open up capabilities to record and analyze locations and relations among events in unparalleled fashion, leading to increases in data about where people are and what they do. Spatial analysis can identify many of these relations and help create penetrating insights. First, this chapter considers how the field of geography has developed analytical capabilities that support understanding online and virtual activities involving pervasive information technology. Because of a growing infrastructure with a capability to thoroughly record locations and events, coupled with computational approaches that mine data and cross-reference data from different sources, geographic analysis has become a commonplace means of analyzing data and establishing patterns of activities or information about individuals. With vast amounts of location data and the use of analysis techniques, it has become possible to not only know where people are, but what the aggregation of data from different sources means. Also this chapter reviews recent developments and their underlying geographic concepts, and points to important questions in considering the role of location and relations in information-age surveillance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Imagine you are trying to measure the length of a coastline using a one-mile-long ruler. Any feature of the coast smaller than a mile is likely to disappear. If you use a one-inch ruler, almost every squiggle of the coast will be included. Say the one-mile ruler yielded a length of 5.2 miles of coastline; the one-inch ruler might well yield something like 1,035,036 in., or 16.33 miles. All of those squiggles add up to make a much longer coastline.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the help of R. Ruffenach in the preparation of the final chapter text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Francis Harvey Ph.D.

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  1. Francis Harvey Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Francis Harvey Ph.D. .

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  1. Poynter Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

    Kenneth D. Pimple

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Harvey, F. (2014). We Know Where You Are. And We’re More and More Sure What That Means. In: Pimple, K. (eds) Emerging Pervasive Information and Communication Technologies (PICT). Law, Governance and Technology Series, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6833-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6833-8_5

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  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6832-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6833-8

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