The big data paradigm has generated new ways of producing information (Kitchin, 2014; Kitchin & Dodge, 2014). One of the novel ways through which data is now produced is volunteered information, via crowdsourcing initiatives. In this communication, we will explore the theme of volunteered geographic information (VGI), which is characterized by the ability of users to create explicit or implicit spatial content about places (Goodchild, 2007). The concept of sharing economy has been associated to this new mode of production with a significant capacity of influence, which is based in the freedom and creativity of the consumer (McNeill, 2016; Sui, Goodchild, & Elwood, 2012). The usefulness of VGI has been recognized for generating information with high spatial (and temporal) resolution. Yet, it also contributes to intensify spatial inequalities as the coverage of VGI is more extensive in some particular areas (e.g. urban areas), though not equal for all territories (Elwood, Goodchild, & Sui, 2012). The production of VGI depends on the resources and availability of user-generated-content, and this has spawned digital urban voids (Graham, Hogan, Straumann, & Medhat, 2014).

With this in mind, this work will focus on restaurant firms to which online visibility (through the rankings, reviews and filters in online digital platforms that can create virtual representations about them while influencing patronage) is as significant as offline visibility. The objective of this paper is to identify digital urban voids by correlating data collected from a field survey on the restaurant sector in Lisbon and its representation on one digital platform (i.e. TripAdvisor). In order to obtain this representation, a webscrapper was developed in R to extract available information from TripAdvisor. This investigation also sparks a significant discussion of the new challenges that entrepreneurs are facing regarding this digital urban voids. There are timely questions that must be answered, such as: (i) how much of a measuring the disadvantage of not being integrated digital platforms? and therefore, (ii) how is VGI virtually reshaping the real territory? Although current literature has recognized the importance of VGI for firms, these challenges have not been studied so far.

This communications is part of a doctoral project funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/131253/2017).