Virtual Geographic Environments as Collective Constructions

Web 2.0 technologies are enabling the collective construction of virtual environments. Unlike the imagined worlds of sites such as Second Life, these are attempts at geographic realism, built as patchworks of individually volunteered information. As such they echo the objectives of national spatial data infrastructures, but with amateur individuals rather than professional agencies and corporations as the contributors. I give and assess examples of such projects, review the domains in which they appear most successful, and examine the issues that they raise concerning privacy, standards, verification, sustainability, and benefit. 1