Just a Pinch Away From Pluto

By guest blogger, Joe Pacheco:


Growing up, I loved looking at maps of all kinds: The world, my nation, roadmaps, topography and even the occasional treasure map.  The trusty AAA roadmap, perfectly folded in the glove compartment, was a treat to the eyes and an opportunity to be the navigator on family road trips.  These maps were a memorable part of how I learned about the world around me.  Today I see the same excitement in my children, but the Rand McNally is now a touch screen tablet.  

With a flick of the finger I can zoom out to see the solar system or pinch my way back to a satellite image of my back yard, I’ve even spent a few hours identifying planes at the Airplane Graveyard on Google Maps.  This process of how we learn about our surroundings is called GeoCognition and increasingly, our electronic devices are an important part of it.  Of particular interest to me are Social GeoCognitive tools.  

These are applications like FourSquare, Yelp, Zillow and new entrant Echoer, where rich data can be layered onto a specific geographic location to supplement the user’s perception of where they are and who’s been there before them.  As a result, this rich data is dynamic and consequently perishable, in other words, data left to sit out without social interaction becomes less relevant over time until eventually it can be considered spoiled.  

For example, let’s say you've launched an application that allows users to tag their favorite Christmas light displays around town.  This data is most ripe between the point it is collected and the New Year.  In January, when the lights begin to come down the data is less relevant, or it is spoiled.  Zillow, a real estate portal, is another example; while historical sales prices might be valuable to some, most of us are interested in today’s availability and cost.  

What data spoilage creates is unwelcome noise on the explorer’s expedition, and less likelihood that they will use your map next time.  As social media expands further into geocognition the leaders will not only have good content, but will protect their relevance by adding a temporal component to the dynamic layer of data.  In the meantime, those that are eager for social media to drive results for them should get on the map and keep the data fresh.

Joe Pacheco is a father and a husband. He is habitually curious and always looking around the next corner. He is in perpetual pursuit of understanding the "why" behind the "what" in industries, organizations and individuals. He tweets as @Capitopolis