Turning towards quality : a Japanese-Hungarian comparative study of the unequal usage of geographical information technologies

Jakobi, Ákos (2014) Turning towards quality : a Japanese-Hungarian comparative study of the unequal usage of geographical information technologies. CSIS Discussion Papers, 134 . Center for Spatial Information Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

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Abstract

General theories explain the altering role of the influencing effects of ICT-related inequalities by diffusion models, in which differences of accessibility slowly turn to inequalities between users in the quality of usage. This paper is focusing on this latter and newer form of inequalities, by examining what differences appear between people in using a specific type of qualitative information, the spatial information. The presented study has chosen Japan, an advanced country, and Hungary, a follower country, to introduce how geographical information technology is used. In the paper outcomes of a comparative survey are presented, focusing on the Japanese and the Hungarian peoples’ relation to map-information applications and services. According to the results it is assumed that Japan entered the “quality phase” of ICT development earlier, but later Hungary mirrored also good numbers on qualitative information usage. In Japan location based services and geolocated searching are unambiguously more common, which is a result of larger numbers of geo-equipped smartphones. The usage of modern devices may have deliberated users from spatial bounds of location; which has already signs in Japan. On the other hand small differences between the two countries are better to be explained by local specifications than by ICT development differences.

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