Geowanking

Getting my daily BoingBoing digest, through NetVibes, i saw an article on Geowanking... now, i love new words i haven't seen before so this one caught my attention. The question i have to ask is - what does wanking mean to Americans? because i'm hoping it doesn't mean the same as it does in the UK... or maybe it does and that's the point...

There's no wikipedia entry to make explaining geowanking short and sweet, but basically it's to do with mapping, and the way online maps are revolutionising cartography - making it more interactive and democratic. Geowankers are "high-tech map enthusiasts": Article on AlterNet.

It's something that really interests me, i've always been fascinated by maps - road maps, world maps, old maps. When i first discovered google maps i was enthralled - the aerial photos are amazing. 6 years ago i spent a fortune on a book that comes up to my knees with aerial photos of England, now it's all there and more for everyone, for free. Geo-tagging is something i'd love to get into properly as well. My Flickr account would be so much more interesting with proper tagging...