What do Dartmoor’s Wistman’s Wood, New Zealand’s Cathedral Cove (Te Whanganui-a-Hei) and Arizona’s Horseshoe Bend have in common?
Are they all beautiful natural places that have suffered overcrowding and damage at the hands of social media location sharing?
Or are they places that have brought joy to greater numbers of people because they have become easier to find?
Geotagging and location naming is a complicated issue, and by writing about it, I’m about to walk a tightrope between those saddened by the degradation of their most precious natural spaces and those who believe location sharing has made the outdoors more accessible to all.
I both like and dislike location geotagging.
I’ve seen some of my favourite places damaged so much I no longer visit them but I’ve also visited popular locations recommended on social media posts.
I’ve even chased ‘that’ Instagram picture.
But as an outdoor writer and more recently a sustainable travel writer, I’m acutely aware that what I do and say matters.
Because I am perceived as an expert.
I’ll explain later how I manage my own concerns about social media location data but for now, let’s take a look at how and why people are so keen to share locations for everybody to see.
Why geotag locations at all?
Before I start, let’s make sure we know the difference between geotagging and location naming.
Geotagging is when you apply geographic coordinates to online media. Geotags are often obvious (e.g. on Instagram) but sometimes hidden (e.g. website metadata).
Location naming usually involves words rather than coordinates and can be included wherever there is online writing.
Both geotagging and location naming are really important elements in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). By including location information in the form of geotags or place names, a creator is helping search engines to match their content with online search queries.
And more matches means more visibility.
Which is great for businesses but also great for someone who wants to gain Instagram followers or drive web traffic to their personal blog.
Plus we all secretly enjoy a bit of location bragging.
What are the problems with online location tagging?
As outdoor writers we have a responsibility.
It’s easy to use words like ‘overcrowding’, ‘over tourism’ and ‘environmental damage’ here but, although there are scales and measures available, all three can be difficult to define.
Especially when it comes to emotive concepts like ‘my favourite place’.
Who am I to say whether five people or five hundred people is too many at the top of a mountain?
I’ve listed a few of the named issues of geotagging and location bragging (another emotive word) below:
- Rising house prices (locals pushed out)
- Lost communities (more visitors than locals)
- Degraded landmarks (natural or manmade)
- Supply issues (leading to food price increases)
- Increased carbon emissions (transport related)
- Local authority pressure (rubbish, roads etc)
- Grid locked and obstructed roads
- Loss of experience (empty views, litter etc)
- Human safety (poor route advice)
If you don’t think your location label or geotag has contributed to any of the above, think again.
I had to.
- That secret car park that has now been closed?
- That lovely camp spot now with used loo roll?
- That view that is no longer empty?
In the past I’ve given the location of them all.
So what are the advantages of online geotagging?
We’ve already established that geotagging your Instagram post or mentioning locations in your writing is great for your own personal or business success but location sharing isn’t just good for the people who do it.
It has made our outdoor landscapes accessible to more people.
Think about it. When I first learned to navigate, you could only find lonely landmarks by using map and sometimes compass skills. And you only knew about those landmarks by exploring yourself, talking to locals or reading guide books.
In my adult life, that situation has irreversibly changed. Modern location technology can take you anywhere with a geotag, and social media platforms and content make everywhere look tempting and ‘easy’ to get to.
In other words, more people know about, and are able to find, more beautiful places.
There’s an issue though isn’t there. We go outside to escape and we don’t always want to see more people in our cherished outside spaces. But it is well established that access to the outdoors is good for our mental and physical health.
Which means that when more people get outside, the whole of society benefits.
And there can be no argument that location information, especially from our peers, and especially when accompanied by a beautiful photo, is a key factor in encouraging people outside.
So how can we make geotagging and location sharing sustainable?
I think it might be possible.
As much as some of us would like to, there’s no going back to the days of secret locations or hidden wildernesses.
Sooner or later someone else will find and share their locations.
We are hard-wired to tell stories and descriptions of the places we’ve visited play a huge part in that.
But we can have a positive impact through the way we tell those stories. These days I try, in my writing and through my social media content, to help protect places and communities from some of the issues I’ve mentioned above.
- I consider a location’s vulnerability before I name it
- I use general geotags on Instagram
- I advocate exploring instead of visiting
- I try to give useful look-after-this-place information
- If a place is especially vulnerable, I don’t publish it at all
I haven’t been accused of location gatekeeping yet but I suspect that day will come. It won’t be a fair judgement when it does but I’ll be happy to explain my reasons.
Of course there is one big irony in all of this.
In order to get my sustainability messages across, I need an audience.
And one of the best ways to get that audience is to use geotagging.
I told you it was complicated.
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