Cartography of Digital Labor: The De-reterritorialization of Delivery Workers through the Co-creation of Maps

The development and diffusion of real-time geotechnologies, particularly GPS, since the 2009 crisis, has become a key element in new forms of labor control. Among their various applications, geofencing mechanisms, for example, have been used to create new subdivisions of urban space, prioritizing access to services in certain zones, restricting it in others, and modulating the circulation of workers. As a result, workers have appropriated geolocation technologies as a means to contest working conditions and develop strategies of resistance. This presentation proposal shows a set of maps produced in collaboration with delivery workers in Brazil, aiming to reveal the characteristics of platform-imposed labor as well as to explore possibilities for collective action. As case studies, we present: (1) shared maps produced through WhatsApp groups of delivery workers in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza, and Natal, which achieved a high number of views on the My Maps platform; (2) mappings of platform-affiliated establishments using web scraping techniques in the city of Uberlândia; (3) maps of labor allocation stimuli based on the spatialization of information received via SMS on workers' mobile devices in the city of Porto Alegre; and (4) maps of circulation and concentration within the city, produced through the digital tool Meu Corre app, which includes a feature for tracking daily work routes in the cities of Marabá and Maceió. These latter maps are also currently being tested in Lisbon, Portugal. The production of this cartography has enabled analytical cross-referencing, such as overlaying maps of establishments with maps of worker circulation, partially reconstructing the data infrastructure of platforms and allowing for the identification of emerging spatial patterns of movement within the city. The patterns identified through these mappings include: (a) simple radial patterns, associated with the period prior to the territorialization of platform companies; (b) compound radial patterns, for food delivery; (c) erratic linear patterns, for passenger transport; and (d) sequential linear patterns, related to the delivery of goods, especially in e-commerce logistics. This new spatial condition is defined as the de-reterritorialization of workers, a process in which the loss of spatial control is partially compensated by other practices, among which the production of maps stands out. This cartography is intended to be part of the Digital Atlas of Delivery Workers, currently in the planning stage and expected to be implemented in the second half of 2026 through funding from the Prototype Fund of the German government.