Return to tldapps Forum - Message Thread - FAQ

Username: BlackLineFish
Date/Time: Thu, October 26, 2000 at 10:43 PM GMT
Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer V5.01 using Windows 98
Score: 5
Subject: .geo and education

Message:
 

       
      My name is Gregory Haddock and I am an Assistant Professor of Geography at Northwest Missouri State University.  I believe this innovative domain registry proposed for .geo would be a vast improvement over present methods for searching for geographic content on the Internet. 

For education purposes such as regional studies, site analysis, and general exploration, students must use search engines with spatial keywords that constantly yield links that range from useful to gibberish.  The dot-geo approach will be most beneficial when a student is trying to find out important information about a geographic location using original data from that region.

I would love to have my students be able to look up information geographically for their own research assignments.  If I give an assignment that requires the student to use regional web-sites, there is no way to immediately narrow down their choices.  A cultural site from Central America can still be hosted from a machine in Herndon, Virginia, but retain its accurate .geo address.

For the web-tourist, this method will enable users to find sites based on traditional search methods AND its geographic location.  For example, to find Bed and Breakfast web-sites, you have to hope that the business has registered their name in search engines with proper key-words, or at least be listed on the community's business bureau.  While this makes it easy to find a B&B in Winterset, Iowa, it is still mostly a useless method for finding one in a 10-block radius in Manhatten Island.  (Yes, there are B&B's in NYC.)

SRI is correct, most of the data on the web has a spatial component.
--gh

Gregory Haddock, Ph.D.
Department of Geology / Geography
Northwest Missouri State University


Message Thread:


Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Cookies Policy