Spatial Data from Social Media for Geographic Analysis: Complex Regionalization of Online Communities
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Cammack, R.
1UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA OMAHA Email: rcammack@unomaha.edu
Abstract
In the world of Internet services, information streams are commonplace. From a cartographic perspective this stream of information is ripe for cartographic filtering. By filtering data through the lens of cartographic needs, cartographers are focusing these information streams into maps and spatial visualization. In this research we look at the concept of Internet event driven cartography and geographic analysis. The fastest growing streams of Internet information are coming from social media sources like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others. For the most part, these social media Internet information streams are aspatial in nature. Researchers and users must perform some type of context analysis to impart a sense of location to these Internet information streams. As social media service providers and computing hardware companies compete for members and market share, new types of services are offered to users. This method of enticement gets individuals to use or buy their technologies. One such integration has been location based services (LBS). Mobile device makers and social media companies have paired locative technology and social media services into location aware media. Social media users have the option to embed the spatial temporal location into a social media message form. This raw location information packed in the social media information stream is a geographic dataset that can be analyzed for general information or specific research questions. By examining these social media messages (be it text, picture or other media forms), fundamental geographic questions can be investigated. One such question is whether a social media community located in the physical world has a regional extent? While another question is how do similar communities differ in their spatial extent and concentration? The goal of this research is to develop a methodology that filters event based information streams and directs the desired information into cartographic processes that both visualize information and geographically analyzes it for spatial patterns. In this case, the social media information stream of Twitter was examined to determine the geographic regionalization of sports fans. The result of this research looks at both system methodology design and geographical results of concentration and distribution of sports fans.
Keywords
Web Services; Location-based Services; Geographic Communities