Cartographic Considerations for Ethical Rockhounding

When does location information on an interactive web map become too detailed and identifiable? In this case study, I discuss the issues that arose when the Washington Geological Survey converted a decades-old printed rockhounding location map into multiple interactive, variable-scale web maps. These issues include topics relating to privacy, land management, rock-collecting laws, and the ethical responsibility of a state agency to consider the many different ways that such maps could be used.