Geographies of the information society

This article presents the Varenius perspective on the societal dimensions o f geographical information technologies and the geographical dimensions of information technologies in general, and puts them in the context of the re search literature of the last ten years. The central themes examined are: t heoretical perspectives on the societal implications of geographical inform ation technologies; the changing significance of key geographical concepts in the information age; and societal aspects of the practical application o f geographical information technologies. The relationships between these th emes and three NCGIA Varenius research initiatives on geographies of the in formation society are summarized, and some directions for future research i n this broad area are outlined.