Doug Specht co-edits new issue of The Cartographic Journal on geospatial ethics

Dr Doug Specht has co-edited Volume 61, Issue 4 of The Cartographic Journal, together with Aileen Buckley and Alexander J. Kent, curating a special collection that foregrounds emerging questions of ethics in contemporary cartography and geospatial data practice. The issue brings together contributions that interrogate how maps and spatial data are produced, circulated and governed at a time of rapid expansion in location-based technologies.

In addition to the editorial introduction and notes, Dr Specht and Dr Kent contribute a new peer-reviewed article, “Geospatial Ethical Frameworks: A Preliminary Analysis of Current Models,” which surveys and critically evaluates existing frameworks designed to guide responsible uses of geospatial data. The article examines how different models address issues such as privacy, consent, surveillance, power asymmetries and environmental impacts, and identifies gaps that remain in current approaches.

The publication builds on Dr Specht’s wider work on geospatial ethics, including his involvement in initiatives around the Locus Charter and resources for schools on responsible mapping and data use. For CAMRI, the issue underscores the importance of integrating critical perspectives on datafication, platform power and environmental justice into discussions of cartography, offering researchers, practitioners and policymakers a consolidated resource for rethinking the ethics of maps in an age of ubiquitous spatial data.

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