Introduction to the Special Issue on Geographies of Information Society

In 1997 the National Science Foundation launched the Varenius Project with the aim of advancing geographic information science (Goodchild et al., 1999). Varenius incorporated three components: computational, cognitive, and societal. In a review paper titled “Geographies of Information Society,” Sheppard et al. (1999) explored the third (societal) component with the aim of introducing the key research initiatives and also to set “a benchmark by which to assess, a few years from now, the specific contributions of the Varenius project to that increasingly vital research area” (p. 798). This special issue revisits that benchmark and initiative 10 years after its publication. Judging by the diversity of topics and the scope of literature of the last few years, one could safely argue that research on the societal aspects of geographic information science and technology has maintained, and indeed intensified, its vitality. Researchers from geography and neighboring disciplines have since tackled many key and critical issues, specifically around the three initiatives of the societal component of the Varenius Project: (i) place and identity in an age of technologically regulated movement, (ii) measuring and representing accessibility in the information age, and (iii) empowerment, marginalization, and public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS). The growth in recent years of interest in critical PPGIS also contributes to this line of work, posing new questions and offering fresh insights. This has resulted in a healthy exchange of ideas between those who are concerned with the social, cultural, and political implications of modern technologies and practices and those who