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Why the future of geography is cheap

Reades, Jonathan; (2014) Why the future of geography is cheap. Royal Geographical Society (RGS): London, UK. Green open access

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Abstract

We live in a world transformed by big (geo)data: from Facebook likes and satellites, to Oyster cards and drones, the process of collecting and analysing data about the world around us is becoming very, very cheap. Twenty years ago, gathering data about the human and physical environment was expensive, but now a lot of it is generated as the ‘exhaust’ of day-to-day activity: tapping on to the bus or train, taking photos (whether from a satellite, drone, or disposable camera), making phone calls, using our credit cards, and surfing the web. As the costs of capturing, curating, and processing these data sets falls, the discipline of geography is changing; so in this short, deliberately provocative, piece I hope to get you thinking about how the rise of ‘cheap’ creates opportunities that geography students are uniquely positioned to observe, but perhaps poorly trained to exploit.

Type: Report
Title: Why the future of geography is cheap
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Publisher version: https://www.rgs.org/schools/resources-for-schools/...
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10183015
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