Journal of Geographical Sciences >
Theoretical basis and technical methods of cyberspace geography
Gao Chundong (1976─), specialized in the management of science, technology and education. E-mail: gaocd@igsnrr.ac.cn |
Received date: 2019-09-10
Accepted date: 2019-10-12
Online published: 2019-12-06
Copyright
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.
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 . DOI: 10.1007/s11442-019-1698-7
Figure 1 Country network map (a) and keyword map (b) of international cyberspace (1977 to August 2019) |
Figure 2 Keyword map of cyberspace and cybersecurity research in China (1998 to August 2019) |
Table 1 Comparative analysis of attributes of geography and cyberspace geography |
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 |
Figure 3 Evolutionary framework from the human-land relationship to the human-land-network relationship |
Figure 2 Technical methods of cyberspace geography |
Figure 2 Collection, mapping and fusion of data on cyberspace elements |
Figure 6 Multi-layer visual representation of cyberspace |
Figure 7 Cybersecurity event simulation and prediction |
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