Bittner C (2017)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2017
Publisher: Elsevier
Book Volume: 57
Pages Range: 34-48
DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2016.11.010
In Israel and Palestine, map-making practices were always entangled with contradictive spatial identities
and imbalanced power resources. Although an Israeli narrative has largely dominated the ‘cartographic
battlefield’, the latest chapter of this story has not been written yet: collaborative forms of web 2.0
cartographies have restructured power relations in mapping practices and challenged traditional monopolies
on map and spatial data production. Thus, we can expect web 2.0 cartographies to be a ‘game
changer’ for cartography in Palestine and Israel. In this paper, I review this assumption with the popular
example of OpenStreetMap (OSM). Following a mixed methods approach, I comparatively analyze the
genesis of OSM in Israel and Palestine. Although nationalist motives do not play a significant role on
either side, it turns out that the project is dominated by Israeli and international mappers, whereas
Palestinians have hardly contributed to OSM. As a result, social fragmentations and imbalances between
Israel and Palestine are largely reproduced through OSM data. Discussing the low involvement of Palestinians,
I argue that OSM's ground truth paradigm might be a watershed for participation. Presumably,
the project's data are less meaningful in some local contexts than in others. Moreover, the seemingly
apolitical approach to map only ‘facts on the ground’ reaffirms present spatio-social order and thus the
power relations behind it. Within a Palestinian narrative, however, many aspects of the factual material
space might appear not as neutral physical objects but as results of suppression, in which case, any
‘accurate’ spatial representation, such as OSM, becomes objectionable.
APA:
Bittner, C. (2017). OpenStreetMap in Israel and Palestine – ‘Game changer’ or reproducer of contested cartographies? Political Geography, 57, 34-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2016.11.010
MLA:
Bittner, Christian. "OpenStreetMap in Israel and Palestine – ‘Game changer’ or reproducer of contested cartographies?" Political Geography 57 (2017): 34-48.
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