Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Faculty of Arts and Science
GEOG 466 Geomedia and the Geoweb (3 credits)
General Information
Term: Fall 2024 Wednesday & Friday 16:15 to 19:00
Prerequisites: Prerequisite: GEOG 363 or URBS 335; or permission of the Department.
Credits: 3
Class time: Day and time of class (lectures, labs and tutorials if applicable)
Class room: Class room for lectures, labs and tutorials (if applicable)
Instructor Information
Name: Thomas McGurk
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 514-848-2424 ext. 2048
Office hours: After class or by appointment
Office: H1255.16
TA Information
Name: Jason Langford
E-mail [email protected]
IMPORTANT DATES
Last day to register: Monday, September 16th 2024
Last day to withdraw (refund): Monday, September 16th 2024
Last day to discontinue (no refund): Monday December 2nd 2024
Last day of in-class testing: Tuesday, November 25th 2024
Final exams: Wednesday December 4th 2024
Travel arrangements should not be made prior to the posting of the final Exam Schedule.
@concordiagpe @GPEConcordia
Department of Geography, Planning and Environment
1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Henry Hall Building, 12th floor, Room 1255.26
Phone: 514 848-2424 Ext. 2050, E-mail:
[email protected] Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Faculty of Arts and Science
Course Overview:
This course introduces students to geospatial technologies that have dramatically changed the way
one interacts with the environment. Students acquire the geovisualization skills required to design
meaningful maps in the context of the Geoweb, and are exposed to the growing body of literature
that critically envisions the socio-political dimensions of these new forms of cartographic expression.
Lectures and laboratory.
Learning Outcomes:
Online mapping applications play a key role in our daily activities. They are produced by private
sector companies, governments, and growing communities of dedicated individuals. They are used to
represent quantitative data as well as to express personal and emotional dimensions. They are
designed by scientists, geeks, journalists, artists, private sector companies, governments, and anyone
with Internet access. This growing presence of online maps in our daily lives is changing the way we
interact with places and cyberspace and commodities and people. This course aims to explore these
changes both from a technological and a critical perspective.
Instructional Method:
The course is comprised of two components: lectures and lab exercises. In the lectures, advanced
concepts, ideas, techniques and procedures related to geomedia and the geoweb are introduced and
discussed. Students will also be exposed to the growing body of literature that critically envisions the
social and political dimensions of these new forms of cartographic expressions. In the lab portion of
the course, students will gain hands-on experience using a range of geoweb tools and will acquire the
skills required to use them to mine online data, to map them and to critically approach the growing
presence of maps and geospatial tools in our daily lives.
Expectations for Student Participation:
Students are expected to do the course readings, attend classes, and participate in weekly
discussions of the material. In class, discussions account for 15% of a student's overall final mark. For
additional information on grading, please see the section called "Evaluations" in this document.
Required Course Materials:
All the required readings are either available online (see the list of references below for the links) or
on the course reserve website of the library: https://reserves.concordia.ca/ares/
All the lectures are available on Moodle about a week before the class.
Optional Course Materials:
The following three books are not required but could be useful if you want to further study some
aspects of the course:
• Abernathy D (2017) Using Geodata & geolocation in the Social Sciences, London, SAGE
• Crampton JW (2010) Mapping: A Critical Introduction to Cartography and GIS. Oxford, UK,
Wiley-Blackwell.
• Peterson MP (2014) Mapping in the Cloud. New York, London, The Guilford Press.
Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Faculty of Arts and Science
Course Content (subject to change)
Assignments and/or Readings
Class/Topic Date Description
Due
1.Introduction Sept, 4 Structure and content of the Readings / Listening:
2024 class / Introduction to Geomedia Lecture Week 1 (Moodle)
& the Geoweb & From GIS to
Online Mapping
LAB Sept. 6 No Lab
2. Critical & Sept 11, Major milestones in the recent Assignments:
Historical 2024 history of both digital and In class Writing Assignment 1
Perspectives critical cartography Readings / Listening:
Lecture Week 2 (Moodle) +
In-class writing assignment. BBC (2010) + Brotton (2012) +
Intro & Review Franek (2019)
Discussion Groups
Break & Regroup
Discussion Groups
Summary
LAB WEEK 2 Sept 13
3. Technological Sept. Web 2.0 main technological Readings / Listening: Lecture
considerations 18, characteristics // Geotagging & Week 3 (Moodle) + Abernathy
2024 Geocoding (2017)
Intro & Review
Discussion Groups
Break & Regroup
Discussion Groups
Summary
LAB WEEK 3 Sept. Online Mapping and HTML +
20 th assignment 1 (designing a web
page)
4. Sept Big Data and (State) Surveillance Readings / Listening:
Mapping Big Data 25th, // Smart cities // Mapping Big Lecture Week 4 (Moodle) +
& Social Media 2024 Data from Social Media Poom et al. (2020)
Intro & Review
Discussion Groups
Break & Regroup
Discussion Groups
Summary
LAB WEEK4 Sept Mining and Mapping Social Assignments:
27th Media Assignment 1
Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Faculty of Arts and Science
5. Oct. 2nd Geo collaboration // Participatory Readings / Listening: Lecture
Collaborative ,2024 Mapping // Crisis Mapping Week 5 (Moodle) + Holder
Mapping Intro & Review (2018)
Discussion Groups
Break & Regroup
Discussion Groups
Summary
LAB 5 Oct 4 th Collecting and Mapping
Accessibility Data with
OpenStreetMap + Assignment 2
6. Oct. 9th, From aerial surveillance to Assignments:
Geosurveillance 2024 mobile devices tracking In class Writing Assignment 2
In-class writing assignment. Readings / Listening: Lecture
Intro & Review Week 6 (Moodle) + Swanlund &
Discussion Groups Schuurman (2019) + Valentino
Break & Regroup et al. NYT
Discussion Groups
Summary
LAB 6 Oct 11th Collecting and Mapping
Accessibility Data (Open Lab)
7. Mapping Oct. Motivations, challenges, Readings / Listening: Lecture
(Life) Stories 16th methods, tools and practices for Week 7 (Moodle) + High (2014)
& Narrative 2024 mapping stories + One Life Story (available on
Cartographi Intro & Review Moodle)
es Discussion Groups
Break & Regroup
Discussion Groups
Summary
LAB 7 Oct 18th Mapping Stories online Assignments 2
8. Inductive Oct 23rd Introduction to Inductive Readings / Listening: Lecture
Visualization 2024 Visualization. Week 8 (Moodle) + Maharawal
Intro & Review & McElroy (2018)
Discussion Groups
Break & Regroup
Discussion Groups
Summary
LAB 8 Oct 25th Inductive Visualization in Practice
& term project
Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Faculty of Arts and Science
9. Indigenous Oct 30th Historical, Colonial and Readings / Listening: Lecture
Cartographies 2024 Technological Aspects of Week 9 (Moodle) + Knowles et
Indigenous Cartographies al. (2015)
In-class writing
assignment.
Intro & Review
Discussion Groups
Break & Regroup
Discussion Groups
Summary
LAB 9 Nov 1 st Term Project open lab
10. Geomedia Nov 6th Maps at the crossroad between Assignments: In class Writing
2024
Arts places, art and politics Assign #3
Intro & Review Readings / Listening: Lecture
Discussion Groups Week 10 (Moodle) + Bryan &
Break & Regroup Wood (2015) + Lucchesi (2018)
Discussion Groups + Nativeland.ca (Website
Summary
LAB 10 Nov 8 th Term Project open lab Assignment 3
11. Emerging Nov 13th Review of recent ideas, concepts Readings / Listening: Lecture
Concepts in 2024 and techniques that have been Week 11 (Moodle) + Wood
Mapping emerging recently in mapping. (2019)
Intro & Review
Discussion Groups
Break & Regroup
Discussion Groups
Summary
LAB 11 Nov. Term Project open lab
15th
12. Term Project Nov. Term Project Readings / Listening: Lecture
Presentations 20th & Presentations Week 12 (Moodle)
22nd
2024
Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Faculty of Arts and Science
List of references Week 2:
BBC (2010) Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession, #2 / Available at https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6b1uzc
Brotton J (2012) A History of the World in Twelve Maps. Chapter 11, p. 405-436
Franek K (2019) How Google Maps Makes Money: With Visuals & Revenue Estimate? Available at
https://www.kamilfranek.com/how-google-maps-makes-money/
Week 3:
Abernathy D (2017) Geocoding, Geotagging, and Geoparsing. London, SAGE, Chapter 8, 98-121.
Week 4
Poom A, Jarv O, Zook M and Toivonen T (2020) COVID-19 is spatial: Ensuring that mobile Big Data is used for social good, Big
Data & Society 7:2.
Week 5
Holder S (2018) Who Maps the World? CityLab / Available at: https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/03/who-maps-the-
world/555272/
Week 6:
Swanlund D & Schuurman N (2019) Resisting geosurveillance: A survey of tactics and Strategies for spatial privacy, Progress in
Human Geography, 43(4), 596–610.
Valentino-DeVries J., Singer N., Keller M.H. and A. Krolik (2018) Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not
Keeping It Secret, The New-York Times, Dec. 10, 2018 / available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-privacy-
apps.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Barrett B (2020) A New Map Shows the Inescapable Creep of Surveillance, WIRED / Available here:
https://www.wired.com/story/atlas-of-surveillance-eff-law-enforcement-map/#intcid=recommendations_wired-right-
rail_f6f8d3a3-bcae-4339-9890-d3e3286e8af5_virality-uplift-1
Week 7:
High S (2014) A Flower in the River, in High S (ed.) Oral History at the Crossroads, UBC Press, Chap. 2, 67-97.
One Life Story (available on Moodle)
Week 8:
Maharawal MM and McElroy E (2018) The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project: Counter Mapping and Oral History toward Bay Area
Housing Justice, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 108:2, 380-389
Week 9:
Knowles AK, Westerveld L and Strom L (2015) Inductive Visualization: A Humanistic Alternative to GIS. GeoHumanities 1(2):
233–265.
Week 10:
Bryan J and Wood D (2015) The Birth of Indigenous Mapping in Canada, in Weaponizing Maps: Indigenous Peoples and
Counterinsurgency in the Americas, Chap 4, 54-73.
Lucchesi AH (2018) “Indians Don't Make Maps”: Indigenous Cartographic Traditions and Innovations, American Indian Culture
and Research Journal 42 (3):11-26.
Website: https://native-land.ca/
Week 11:
Wood D (2019) Mapping’s Complicated Media Impulse. Franz Steiner Verlag, Chap. 2, 33-42.
Week 12:
Kelly M (2019) Mapping Syrian Refugee Border Crossings: A Feminist Approach, Cartographic Perspectives (93), 34–64 /
Available at https://cartographicperspectives.org/index.php/journal/article/view/1406/1795
Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Faculty of Arts and Science
Evaluation
In-class discussions: 15%
In-class reading assignments (3): 15% (5% each)
Assignments (3): 30% (Lab #1=8% / #2=10% / #3=12%)
Term Project: 25%
Final exam: 15%
LATE LAB ASSIGNMENTS A penalty of 5% will be applied (+ 5% for each extra day up to 50%)
ASSIGNMENTS SUBMITTED WITHOUT NAME AND ID # WILL BE CONSIDERED NON-SUBMITTED.
THE USE OF GENERATIVE AI IS NOT ALLOWED FOR GRAPHICS USED IN THIS COURSE.
THE USE OF AI-BASED PROOFING APPLICATION (e.g., Grammarly) IS PERMITTED
Note: The three in-class writing assignments will take place at the beginning of classes 2, 6, and 10. If
students cannot be present during that time they will have to inform the professor at least one week
in advance (except for class 2).
More information on university regulations concerning evaluation can be found here. The grading
system is described in section 16.1.11 of the Undergraduate Calendar.
% of
Due
Name of Assignment final
Date
grade
In-class discussions Weekly 15%
In-class reading assignments (3 @5% each) Classes 2, 6, 15%
and 11
Assignments (3): 30% (#1=8% / #2=10% / #3=12%) #1 Sept 30th 30%
#2 Oct 21st
#3 Nov 11th
Term Project: 25% Nov.30th 25%
@10:00
Final exam: 15% TBD 15%
More information on university regulations concerning evaluation can be found here. The grading
system is described in section 16.1.11 of the Undergraduate Calendar.
Please note that for 200-level courses, instructors in the Department of Geography, Planning and
Environment reserve the right to adjust the final reported grades so that under normal circumstances
no more than 25% of students registered in a course receive an outstanding grade (A-, A, A+).
Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Faculty of Arts and Science
Grading system:
A+ 97-100 B+ 82-88 C+ 67 - 69 D+ 57 - 59 F 0 - 49
A 93-96 B 75-81 C 63 - 66 D 53 - 56 NR No report
A- 89-92 B- 70-74 C- 60 - 62 D- 50 - 52
Extraordinary Circumstances
In the event of extraordinary circumstances and pursuant to the Academic Regulations, the
University may modify the delivery, content, structure, forum, location and/or evaluation scheme. In
the event of such extraordinary circumstances, students will be informed of the changes.
University Regulations
Students should be aware of the following university regulations (see Undergraduate Calendar for
complete details).
Late Completion of courses with “INC” notations – Procedures and Regulations
(Undergraduate Calendar 16.3.5)
Academic Re-evaluation (Undergraduate Calendar 16.3.9)
Degree Requirements for BA, BSc, BEd – 24 credit rule and general education
requirements for students in degree programs offered by Faculty of Arts & Science
(Undergraduate Calendar 31.003)
Class Cancellation
Classes are officially considered cancelled if an instructor is 15 minutes late for a 50-minute class, 20
minutes late for a 75-minute class, or 30 minutes late for longer classes.
Intellectual Property
Content belonging to instructors shared in online courses, including, but not limited to, online
lectures, course notes, and video recordings of classes remain the intellectual property of the faculty
member. It may not be distributed, published or broadcast, in whole or in part, without the express
permission of the faculty member. Students are also forbidden to use their own means of recording
any elements of an online class or lecture without express permission of the instructor. Any
unauthorized sharing of course content may constitute a breach of the Academic Code of
Conduct and/or the Code of Rights and Responsibilities. As specified in the Policy on Intellectual
Property, the University does not claim any ownership of or interest in any student IP. All university
members retain copyright over their work.
Behaviour
All individuals participating in courses are expected to be professional and constructive throughout
the course, including in their communications.
Concordia students are subject to the Code of Rights and Responsibilities which applies both when
students are physically and virtually engaged in any University activity, including classes, seminars,
Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Faculty of Arts and Science
meetings, etc. Students engaged in University activities must respect this Code when engaging with
any members of the Concordia community, including faculty, staff, and students, whether such
interactions are verbal or in writing, face to face or online/virtual. Failing to comply with the Code
may result in charges and sanctions, as outlined in the Code.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity means that every student must be honest and accurate in their work. The
Academic Code of Conduct includes rules and regulations students must follow. Unacceptable
practices include the following
Copy from ANYWHERE without saying from where it came.
Omit quotation marks for direct quotations.
Let another student copy your work and then submit it as his/her own.
Hand in the same assignment in more than one class without permission.
Have unauthorized material in an exam, such as cheat sheets, or crib notes. YOU DON'T
HAVE TO BE CAUGHT USING THEM - JUST HAVING THEM WILL GET YOU INTO TROUBLE!
Copy from someone else's exam.
Communicate with another student during an exam by talking or using some form of
signals.
Add or remove pages from an examination booklet or take the booklet out of an exam
room.
Get hold of or steal an exam or assignment answers or questions.
Write a test or exam for someone else or have someone write it for you.
Hand in false documents such as medical notes, transcript or record.
Falsify data or research results.
PLAGIARISM: The most common offense under the Academic Code of Conduct (see link below) is
plagiarism, which the Code defines as "the presentation of the work of another person as one's own
or without proper acknowledgement."
This could be material copied word for word from books, journals, internet sites, professor's
course notes, etc. It could be material that is paraphrased but closely resembles the original
source. It could be the work of a fellow student, such as an answer on a quiz, data for a lab report,
or a paper or assignment completed by another student. It could be a paper purchased through
one of the many available sources. Plagiarism does not refer to words alone. It can also refer to
copying images, graphs, tables, and ideas. Plagiarism is not limited to written work. It also applies
to oral presentations, computer assignments and artistic works. Finally, if you translate the work
of another person into French or English and do not cite the source, this is also plagiarism. In
simple words: DO NOT COPY, PARAPHRASE OR TRANSLATE ANYTHING FROM ANYWHERE
WITHOUT SAYING FROM WHERE YOU OBTAINED IT!
Take care to inform yourself of the rules, regulations and expectations for academic integrity.
Department of Geography, Planning & Environment
Faculty of Arts and Science
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Outline version: 2024-09-01
