Doing Google Maps

Gentzel P, Wimmer J, Schlagowski R (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Digital Culture & Society transcript

Book Volume: 7

Pages Range: 159-184

Issue: 2

DOI: 10.14361/dcs-2021-070208

Abstract

The  article  focuses  on  the  app  Google  Maps.  In  structural  terms,  Google Maps is committed to the production logic of platform or sur-veillance capitalism, insofar as the collected user data are utilised both to maintain Google Maps as a “cartographic infrastructure” (Plantin 2018)  and  to  predict  and  manipulate  behaviour  (Zuboff  2019).  On  the other hand, Google Maps presents an “image of the world” that, as a product of platform capitalism, also conveys specific notions that we depict by using the concepts of “networked images” or “operational images” (Farocki 2004; Rubinstein & Sluis 2008). First,  we  traced  the  development  of  Google  Maps  and  classified  it  using cartographic principles and criteria. Building on that, we per-formed two empirical studies. In a first step, we highlight findings on the  everyday  usage  practices  of  Google  Maps.  In  a  second  step,  we  characterise city maps produced by residents of a medium-sized city in Germany using an app developed by us. The project thus sheds light on the appropriation aspect of Google Maps and, by exploring the micro-level of individual usage practices, knowledge, and skills, provides an empirical  contribution  that  is  comparatively  rare  in  the  context  of  platform studies. Developing a map application furthermore enables us  to  show  that  the  selection  of  knowledge  and  its  spatial  anchoring  – the “image of the world”– follows a different logic when certain indi-viduals create a map for specific locations (e.g., multimodal routes to “hidden culture”).

Authors with CRIS profile

Peter Gentzel Juniorprofessur für Digitale Transformation der Medienkommunikation

Involved external institutions

Universität Augsburg DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Gentzel, P., Wimmer, J., & Schlagowski, R. (2021). Doing Google Maps. Digital Culture & Society, 7, 159-184. https://doi.org/10.14361/dcs-2021-070208

MLA:

Gentzel, Peter, Jeffrey Wimmer, and Ruben Schlagowski. "Doing Google Maps." Digital Culture & Society 7 (2021): 159-184.

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