CYBERGEOGRAPHY. A LEAP FROM THE PHYSICAL TO A DIGITAL WORLD: THE POSSIBILITIES AND RISKS OF A NETWORKED WORLD

Abstract

The Internet represents the foundations of today’s interconnected society, a place where we have changed the way in which we interact with one another, it also poses challenges to our mental and graphic representation of physical spaces. The integration of virtual notions in almost all interactions in modern society have become evident the need to reconsider some traditional visions in various fields of knowledge. This study revises cybergeography, an emerging discipline can be traced since the cartographic works of the 19th century. Only recently a substantial increase in the complexity of the logical representations which should be captured on maps, and they also demand a harmony with the physical components and the virtual world. Although, like most of the “cyber” phenomena, cybergeography does not have 100% transversal agreements at the level of conceptual definitions, important epistemological advances have been made, leading to the proposal of certain criteria when it comes to mapping cartographically the different levels of cyberspace, without losing its relationship with the geographically traditional elements that make up the physical world.