Role of Participatory Mapping in Citizen Science: Challenges and Opportunities

Recent advances in geospatial technology such as global navigation satellite systems (e.g. GPS), virtual globes (e.g. Google Earth), and location-based services have increased the public’s exposure to geographic thinking and... [ view full abstract ]

Recent advances in geospatial technology such as global navigation satellite systems (e.g. GPS), virtual globes (e.g. Google Earth), and location-based services have increased the public’s exposure to geographic thinking and information. This created an unprecedented opportunity for researchers to leverage these technologies to assess the public’s spatial understanding and perception of natural hazards such as flood risks.

Much scholarship has been devoted to the substantive, normative, and instrumental arguments in favor of a participatory approach to decision making and the management of environmental risks. However, there is considerable less research aimed at bridging the theories of ideal citizen participation with technical implementation of participatory approaches. One of the major goals of this talk is to engage citizen science organizers and practitioners in this effort, and solicit suggestions in which the ideals of deliberative democracy and participation theory can be better integrated into the practice of participatory mapping and citizen science.

With support from the National Science Foundation, the Planning, Policy, and Design department and Civil and Environmental Engineering department at the University of California-Irvine have spearheaded an interdisciplinary project to assess flood risks due to climate change in Newport Beach, California. In this talk, we will assess the implementation of a cloud-based geospatial system to collect public perception and mental maps of flood risks in the study area. In particular, we will examine the challenges that the research team encountered in (1) the development of the platform, (2) the implementation of the survey, and (3) the analysis of crowdsourced data and data integrity issues. The talk will conclude with recommended suggestions for greater stakeholder involvement and field testing as means of overcoming the identified challenges.