Digital data tracking what we do, the time and place of our actions, and the chains of interdependence that link those actions together, help us draw a richer picture of human geography as it unfolds in its multiple layers. This commentary briefly illustrates the type of maps and models we can build with that data as well as some important challenges that arise from their complexity and unsolved validity concerns.
BondRMFarissCJJonesJJKramerADIMarlowCASettleJE. (2012) A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization. Nature489: 295–298.
2.
BrownCNoulasAMascoloCBlondelV (2013) A Place-Focused Model for Social Networks in Cities. Paper presented at the IEEE/ASE Conference on Social Computing, Washington, DC.
3.
DoddsPSDanforthCM (2010) Measuring the happiness of large-scale written expression: songs, blogs, and Presidents. Journal of Happiness Studies11: 441–456.
4.
DoddsPSHarrisKDKloumannIMBlissCADanforthCM (2011) Temporal patterns of happiness and information in a global social network: hedonometrics and twitter. PloS ONE6(12): e26752.
5.
EagleNMacyMWClaxtonR (2010) Network diversity and economic development. Science328: 1029–1031.
GonzalezMCHidalgoCABarabásiAL (2008) Understanding individual human mobility patterns. Nature453: 779–782.
8.
GoodchildM (2007) Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography. GeoJournal69(4): 211–221.
9.
GranovetterM (1973) The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78: 1360–1380.
10.
GranovetterM (1983) The strength of weak ties: a network theory revisited. Sociological Theory1: 201–233.
11.
JacobsJ (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. London, UK: Pimlico.
12.
KamvarSDHarrisJ (2011) We Feel Fine and Searching the Emotional Web. Paper presented at the WSDM’11, 9–12 February, Hong Kong, China.
13.
KramerADI (2010) An Unobtrusive Model of ‘Gross National Happiness’. In: Proceedings of SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, New York, NY, ACM, pp. 287–290.
14.
LynchKA (1960) The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
15.
MeierP (2012) Crisis mapping in action: how open source software and global volunteer networks are changing the world one map at a time. Journal of Map and Geography Libraries8(2): 89–100.
16.
MilgramS (1977) The Individual in a Social World: Essays and Experiments. London: Pinter & Martin.
17.
PageSE (2007) The Difference. How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
18.
PickardGPanWRahwanICebrianMCraneRMadanA. (2011) Time-critical social mobilization. Science334(6055): 509–512.
19.
QuerciaDPesceJPAlmeidaVCrowcroftJ (2013) Psychological maps 2.0: a web engagement enterprise starting in London. Paper presented at the World Wide Web Conference, 13–17 May, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
20.
WhyteWH (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. New York, NY: Project for Public Spaces.
