Analyzing global cyberscapes: mapping geo-coded internet information

This paper explores the representation of physical places in geocoded data on the Internet or what we term cyberscapes of augmented reality. Drawing upon data gathered from Google Maps, Wikipedia and Flickr, this article provides a cartographic analysis of user generated and directory generated cyberscapes. The fact that millions of people are creating many more millions of spatial representations (in addition to the existing listings in more formal directories) means that this emerging new layer of place is difficult to describe, map and study. Yet, the importance of this new digital layer to our understandings of place means that new methods have to be adopted in order to answer to some fundamental questions.