Theoretical basis and technical methods of cyberspace geography

doi:10.1007/s11442-019-1698-7

Abstract

Abstract:

Cyberspace is a new spatial realm of activities involving both humans and data, and it has become a cornerstone of the national security of every country. A scientific understanding of cyberspace is essential for analyzing cyberspace incidents, governing cyberspace and ensuring cybersecurity. Accordingly, cyberspace has become a new field of geographic research in the Information Age. Against the backdrop of fierce international competition over cyberspace, there has been an urgent need to strengthen research between the fields of geography and cybersecurity, leading to theoretical and methodological innovations that have created the sub-discipline of cyberspace geography. Cyberspace geography (CG) extends geographical research from real spaces to virtual spaces, and its theoretical basis is the evolution of the traditional geographic human-land relationship theory into a human-land-network relationship theory. CG research includes constructing mapping relationships between cyberspace and real space, redefining the traditional geographic concepts of distance and regions for cyberspace, creating a language, models and methodologies for visually representing cyberspace, drawing maps of cyberspace, and researching the principles governing the evolution of cyberspace structures and behaviors. The technical methods of CG include collecting and integrating data on elements of cyberspace, visually representing cyberspace and conducting cyberspace situational and behavioral intelligence awareness. Intelligence awareness covers cyberspace situational status assessments, network hotspot event dissemination and traceability analysis, and network event situational simulations and risk predictions. CG offers new perspectives on the scientific understanding of cyberspace, the development of disciplines such as geography and cybersecurity, and the creation of national cybersecurity prevention and control mechanisms as well as a community of common future in cyberspace.

Key words: human-land-network relationship, cyberspace map, cyberspace, geographical space, visual representation

GAO Chundong, GUO Qiquan, JIANG Dong, WANG Zhenbo, FANG Chuanglin, HAO Mengmeng. Theoretical basis and technical methods of cyberspace geography[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2019, 29(12): 1949-1964.

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Subject		Geographical space & geography	Cyberspace & cyberspace geography
Spatial representation		Real space	Virtual space
Research target		Human-land relationship	Human-land-network relationship
Scale expression		Multiple spatial scales	Any spatial scale
Attribute	Infrastructure	Airports, ports, bridges	Routers, servers
	Resource	Physical resources Limited resources	Physical and virtual resources Unlimited resources
	Behavior	Physical: material flows, energy flows	Virtual: data flows, network flows
	Relationship	Adjacent, intersecting, inclusive spatial relationships	Network topology
	Natural	Affected by natural conditions	Unrestrained by natural conditions
	Social	Physical society	Network society
	Economic	Real economy industry	Internet industry
	Urban	Visible cities	Invisible cities, shared cities