GEODESY AND CARTOGRAPHY Vol. 65, No 2, 2016, pp. 129-138 © Polish Academy of Sciences DOI: 10.1515/geocart-2016-0009 Real-Time Mapping: Contemporary Challenges and the Internet of Things as the Way Forward Kazimierz Becek Wroclaw University of Science and Technology Faculty of Geoengineering, Mining and Geology Na Grobli 15, L-1, Geocentrum 50-421 Wroclaw, Poland, e-mail: kazimierz.becek@pwr.edu.pl Received: 2 June 2016 / Accepted: 20 August 2016 Abstract. The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging technology that was conceived in 1999. The key components of the IoT are intelligent sensors, which represent objects of interest. The adjective ‘intelligent’ is used here in the information gathering sense, not the psychological sense. Some 30 billion sensors that ‘know’ the current status of objects they represent are already connected to the Internet. Various studies indicate that the number of installed sensors will reach 212 billion by 2020. Various scenarios of IoT projects show sensors being able to exchange data with the network as well as between themselves. In this contribution, we discuss the possibility of deploying the IoT in cartography for real-time mapping. A real-time map is prepared using data harvested through querying sensors representing geographical objects, and the concept of a virtual sensor for abstract objects, such as a land parcel, is presented. A virtual sensor may exist as a data record in the cloud. Sensors are identified by an Internet Protocol address (IP address), which implies that geographical objects through their sensors would also have an IP address. This contribution is an updated version of a conference paper presented by the author during the International Federation of Surveyors 2014 Congress in Kuala Lumpur. The author hopes that the use of the IoT for real-time mapping will be considered by the mapmaking community. Keywords: Internet of Things, Real-Time Mapping 1. Introduction The ultimate goal of cartography is to prepare a map—a quantitative model of reality— to be used to develop information and knowledge. For a map to fulfil this role, data used for its construction must be current. Since real-world objects continuously change by altering their location and attributes, each map is always, to varying degrees, an historic document. The currency of a map’s content has always been a problem for cartographers and map users. Over the centuries, various methods have been used to ensure maps are current or up-to-date, including severely punishing mapmakers,