{"id":1082,"date":"2023-10-11T22:10:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T22:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2025-09-24T12:43:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T12:43:28","slug":"pokemon-go-and-the-ethics-of-map-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bethanhemus.art\/?p=1082","title":{"rendered":"Pokemon Go and the ethics of map data"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

After a decade developing Google Maps, programming <\/span>innovator<\/span> John Hanke branched off a new software company, Niantic, to realise his dream of turning Earth into the ultimate game map. \u201cWhen we started Niantic, we had the idea of people exploring the world \u2013 exercising and engaging with other people. We thought that if our games do that, then people will be better off than they were before.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

Both companies had high hopes for Pok\u00e9mon Go, but neither were prepared for what was about to unfold. \u201cThe amount of money that we forecast the game would make in the first year, we made within the first week of launch,\u201d Hanke recalls, shaking his head in disbelief. \u201cThe late-night comedians, politicians, morning-show hosts were all mentioning it. It was great to be part of the cultural conversation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

But just as there are ethical implications in surveilling the world to amass map data, Niantic had to think hard about its responsibilities if it were to be sending loads of kids on an unsupervised treasure hunt via a device that monitors their location. \u201cCompanies have to have a position on how their technology is going to be used,\u201d John says. \u201cI think it\u2019s a trap to say, \u2018we\u2019re agnostic, we\u2019re putting the technology out there, somebody might do something bad with it, other people might do something good with it.\u2019 No, I don\u2019t believe that. It is incumbent upon the creators to have a thesis about how it\u2019s going to get used, how it\u2019s going to make the world a better place and why it deserves to exist \u2026 It\u2019s really, I think, the responsibility of the CEOs and the board to kind of take control of what\u2019s happening with their technology and be intentional about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/span><\/div>
<\/span>John Hanke during his keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain in February 2017.<\/span> Photograph: Paul Hanna\/Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n