Abstract
Research on information geography remains divided between studies of how digital systems reorganize space and how computational technologies transform geographic knowledge, limiting understanding of their interactions. This review integrates these strands through two complementary dimensions: the geography of information, which examines the spatial organization of digital infrastructures, networks, and platforms and their socio-spatial consequences; and the informatics of geography, which examines computational approaches to geographic sensing, representation, modeling, and decision support. The synthesis connects spatial reconstruction through the chain “material infrastructure–network organization–platform governance–socio-spatial outcomes” with geographic computing through “sensing–data integration–representation–inference–simulation and feedback.” It shows that digitalization does not eliminate spatial constraints but reconfigures them through infrastructure distribution, network topology, platform rules, and unequal capacities to access and benefit from digital systems. Computational methods extend geographic observation, prediction, and simulation, yet their explanatory validity and transferability depend on data representativeness, scale, uncertainty, geographic knowledge, and independent validation. Key challenges concern data–knowledge integration, privacy and data trustworthiness, cross-scale inference, and feedback among social, physical, and digital systems. Future research should establish testable mechanisms linking these dimensions and develop validated, uncertainty-aware approaches to coupled-system analysis and scenario reasoning. By connecting spatial reconstruction with computational geographic cognition, this review clarifies their complementary functions, shared constraints, and conditions of applicability, advancing a process-oriented framework for explaining how digitalization reshapes geographic systems.
