{"id":1845254,"date":"2025-12-01T16:37:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1845254"},"modified":"2025-12-01T16:37:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:37:43","slug":"gis-and-enshittification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/12\/gis-and-enshittification\/","title":{"rendered":"GIS and Enshittification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/reimagininggeospatial.substack.com\/p\/the-enshitification-of-gis\">Linda Stevens believes<\/a> that the GIS industry is showing signs of <a href=\"https:\/\/pluralistic.net\/2023\/01\/21\/potemkin-ai\/\">enshittification<\/a>: \u201cCoined by tech critic Cory Doctorow, \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Enshittification\">enshitification<\/a>\u2019 describes how once-great platforms decay under the pressures of greed and control. They begin as open, user-centered systems but gradually morph into closed ecosystems optimized for corporate rent-seeking rather than public good. GIS, long built on\u00a0<strong>ideals<\/strong>\u00a0of openness and shared data, now shows many of these symptoms.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/reimagininggeospatial.substack.com\/p\/enshittification-is-a-harmful-trend\">In a second piece<\/a> she says GIS, \u201cwith its specialized user base and high switching costs, is particularly vulnerable,\u201d and lists some warning signs to watch out for (price hikes, degraded featurs and service, lock-in, upselling). She neither names names nor specifies specifics, mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Previously: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/05\/reimagining-gis\/\">Reimagining GIS<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Linda Stevens believes that the GIS industry is showing signs of enshittification: \u201cCoined by tech critic Cory Doctorow, \u2018enshitification\u2019 describes how once-great platforms decay under the pressures of greed and control. They begin as open,&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/12\/gis-and-enshittification\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:hhxrnk4vub7jtlcl3ve26kjo","date":"2025-12-01T21:37:27+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:hhxrnk4vub7jtlcl3ve26kjo\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3m6xf6likrp2p","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:hhxrnk4vub7jtlcl3ve26kjo\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3m6xf6likrp2p\",\"cid\":\"bafyreihw7fpllih4lngqq3tuhscj6ap2uxqpv73j4cgh7p7gdlijl6ey5y\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreihv7rkf2mytcqfmjhjmukyip4wifxwe7h7lnqqqe44w54l2wje2t4\",\"rev\":\"3m6xf6livjh2p\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,121],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1845254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-gis","category-industry","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1236,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/03\/sexism-in-the-gis-workplace\/","url_meta":{"origin":1845254,"position":0},"title":"Sexism in the GIS Workplace","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 March 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Is Sexism a Problem in GIS? Caitlin Dempsey Morais of GIS Lounge grapples with a thorny subject. \"Over a two week period in September of 2015, I opened a survey on GIS Lounge to\u00a0those working in the geospatial industry in order to take a look at the question of, 'is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;GIS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"GIS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":815139,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/12\/two-more-books-for-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":1845254,"position":1},"title":"Two More Books for 2017","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 December 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"The year 2017 is almost at an end, but two\u00a0more map books, published last month, have just come to my attention (via, as usual, the WMS\u2019s indefatigable Bert Johnson). These, then, are very late additions to the Map Books of 2017 page: Sad Topographies by Damien Rudd (Simon & Schuster),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;GIS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"GIS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/sad-topographies-115x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/sad-topographies-115x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/sad-topographies-115x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/sad-topographies-115x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/sad-topographies-115x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":520,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/01\/how-to-cite-gis-materials\/","url_meta":{"origin":1845254,"position":2},"title":"How to Cite GIS Materials","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 January 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"\"How to Cite GIS Materials\" is an older post (Caitlin Dempsey Morais first posted it to GIS Lounge in 2012, but\u00a0retweeted it recently)\u00a0but all the same a perennially useful one: it demonstrates\u00a0proper citation format for GIS data sources as well as maps, whether paper or online.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Education&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1841418,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/05\/reimagining-gis\/","url_meta":{"origin":1845254,"position":3},"title":"Reimagining GIS","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 May 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Linda Stevens says it\u2019s time to move past GIS: Since its inception, the evolution of GIS has often felt like forcing a\u00a0square peg into a round hole. Over the years, the layer-based model has been stretched and modified to accommodate everything from long transaction editing to the intricate modeling of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;GIS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"GIS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1805420,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/11\/geography-awareness-week-gis-day-and-the-2020-u-s-census\/","url_meta":{"origin":1845254,"position":4},"title":"Geography Awareness Week, GIS Day, and the 2020 U.S. Census","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 November 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"In raising-public-awareness news, the third week of November is Geography Awareness Week, and since 1999 the Wednesday of that week is GIS Day. For this year\u2019s GIS Day, the Library of Congress is holding a virtual event focusing on the 2020 Census, featuring a keynote by Census Bureau geography chief\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Events&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1148,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/03\/conference-on-gis-and-ancient-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":1845254,"position":5},"title":"Conference on GIS and Ancient History","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"8 March 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Mapping the Past: GIS Approaches to Ancient History, a conference hosted by the Ancient World Mapping Center (the folks behind the\u00a0Barrington Atlas), takes place at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, from 7 to 9 April 2016. It's open to the public. Here's the full schedule. [via] Previously:\u00a0Antiquity \u00e0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Conferences&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Conferences","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/conferences\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1845254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1845254"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1845254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1845257,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1845254\/revisions\/1845257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1845254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1845254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1845254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}