Lab 3 - Top Surfing & Hiking Destinations on the Island of Kauai

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This interactive map provides tourists, unfamiliar with the island of Kauai, with a better idea of the island's activities such as the top surfing beaches, my personal favorite two hiking locations, and the locations of the Lihue Airport and the Marriott’s Beach Club. Various beaches along all coasts host great breaks throughout different times of the year. November through March brings large north, west swells common at the locations of Cannon, Tunnels, Hanalei Bay, and Kalihiwai Point. The north shore comes to life with swells averaging around 6-12 ft. However, the north shore can become dangerous when the weather pushes swells to 25 ft. The springtime offers the best weather for the beginning-intermediate surfer on the north shore. The waves do stay within the 6 ft range, which makes the north shore beaches perfect for families and intermediate surfers. The southeastern beaches, Kekaha Beach, Pakala, PK’s, and Poipu, catch the best wind swells throughout the months of May through September.

There are many different trails to hike in Kauai, but my personal favorites lead you to Kalalau “Hideaway” Beach and Kipu Falls. The hike to Kalalau is a lengthy 11 miles, and is considered dangerous with the trail hanging on the edge of steep cliffs. The cliffs reach up to 1,000 ft, which adds the element of harsh winds. The reward at the end of this adventure is too great to initially hesitate attempting the hike. The beautiful beach of Kalalau is extremely secluded, and offers great calm swimming and snorkeling waters. The hike into Kipu Falls is far less intimidating, and is much more accessible to tourists, than the Kalalau hike. The falls are much more crowded, but they offer one of my favorite activities on Kauai. The Kipu Falls rope swing, with a 30 ft peaking drop, is one of the most exhilarating and fun experiences I have had on the island. Every time my family visits Kauai, we set aside two days in order to complete both the Kalalau and Kipu Falls hikes.

Even though neogeography offers a dynamic and intriguing map of a given region, there are a pitfalls and inconsistencies which bias the readers viewpoint. Since an individual or a company makes the map, the map’s locations can be biased in order to increase locations popularity. By me establishing my personal favorite beaches and hikes, this does not give the reader an overall neutral perspective to every available beach and hiking location on the island. I also established the timeshare, which my family stays during each vacation we take to Kauai. This does not mean that the Marriott’s Beach Club is the cheapest or most luxurious hotel, but the viewer can easily misinterpret it to be one of the best hotels.

Another pitfall to be considered with neogeography is its availability to the global population. Since neogeography is specific for technological use, much of the world’s population cannot make use of the system. Many developing nations do not have the technology available to allow each citizen access to such an efficient and knowledgeable mapping system. This results in much of the world’s population to not have the tools and information available by neogeography.

If an individual does have access to the appropriate technology, then the positive consequences of neogeography are substantially advantageous to the viewer. The viewer is given the opportunity to interact with the map through location reference images, videos, and listed activities. Even though the biased format of neogeography can be a disadvantage, it can also be a highly advantageous. For example, if a map of Kauai’s best surf destinations is made by a professional local surfer, then the viewer is most likely to find the best beaches secluded from tourists, and beaches offering the best swells. The knowledge of the map creator can be relayed thoroughly when using neogeographic tools. 

Neogeography is a terrific method offering an immediate, and an interesting, interpretation of a given region. Whether it comes to businesses, traveling activities, restaurant locations, and more, neogeography allows the viewer to gain a detailed sense of any location. Neogeography created a new method of communicating many different aspects of a location.