Navigating beyond places: The significance of navigation tools in everyday media use
Journal
New Media & Society
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2025-08-01
Author(s)
Abstract
This study examines navigation tools as key mediators of spatial perception, mobility,
and digital infrastructures, contributing to scholarship on mediatization, geomedia,
and surveillance studies. Navigation apps like Google Maps do not merely facilitate
wayfinding; they actively shape spatial experiences, decision-making, and social
interactions. Using a mixed-methods approach, we combined real-time activity tracking
via the “MapRecorder” tool with qualitative interviews to analyze how users engage with
Google Maps. Our findings reveal that navigation tools function as interfaces of spatial
production, social connection, and data extraction, embedding themselves in everyday
media repertoires. We identify four key usage patterns—search, place, directions, and
map view manipulation—demonstrating that navigation is increasingly entangled with
broader digital habits. In addition, the data suggested a paradoxical relationship between
user convenience and concerns over dataveillance, contributing to debates on privacy resignation and the platformization of spatial control. By foregrounding these tensions,
our study extends discussions on the deep mediatization of space, the role of geomedia
in shaping mobility, and the sociotechnical power of digital navigation infrastructures.
and digital infrastructures, contributing to scholarship on mediatization, geomedia,
and surveillance studies. Navigation apps like Google Maps do not merely facilitate
wayfinding; they actively shape spatial experiences, decision-making, and social
interactions. Using a mixed-methods approach, we combined real-time activity tracking
via the “MapRecorder” tool with qualitative interviews to analyze how users engage with
Google Maps. Our findings reveal that navigation tools function as interfaces of spatial
production, social connection, and data extraction, embedding themselves in everyday
media repertoires. We identify four key usage patterns—search, place, directions, and
map view manipulation—demonstrating that navigation is increasingly entangled with
broader digital habits. In addition, the data suggested a paradoxical relationship between
user convenience and concerns over dataveillance, contributing to debates on privacy resignation and the platformization of spatial control. By foregrounding these tensions,
our study extends discussions on the deep mediatization of space, the role of geomedia
in shaping mobility, and the sociotechnical power of digital navigation infrastructures.
Language
English
Keywords
Artificial intelligence
everyday media use
Google Maps
maps
media repertoires
mobility
navigation
space
Refereed
yes
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