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Participation On The Geoweb: Map‐Based Discussion To Engage Residents In Local Climate Change Response And Adaptation, Insoo (Steven) Chung, Aaron Sani, Jacqueline Young, Claus Rinner The consequences of climate change concern numerous stakeholders, including governments, NGOs and the general public, in matters pertaining to environment, health, and security. The complex nature of climate change, however, involves large amounts of information and opinions often in a format not conducive to comprehension and contribution during the policy‐making process. Furthermore, the consequences of climate change are inherently local in nature, and thus geography is a critical component in the discussion. The Pilot Project PP‐041 promotes the use of the geospatial Web 2.0 for engaging the public in climate change response and adaptation. One of the case studies is being prepared in the context of the Live Green Toronto initiative where “community animators” are engaging residents in greenhouse gas reduction and green living. The goals for this project, therefore, are to 1) develop an open Web‐based platform to engage the public while avoiding limits imposed by geography and time, 2) stimulate and facilitate local discussion and action, 3) provide a forum by which adaptation strategies and policies to cope with the impacts of climate change can be developed in a collaborative manner, and 4) assess the effectiveness of this approach. In this project, we use an argumentation mapping tool, which enables stakeholders to access and more importantly contribute information to the policy process through spatially referenced discussion. The Argoomap tool is an open‐source discussion forum based on Google Maps. It leverages open APIs and Web standards at the front‐end, and has a back‐end architecture that allows for further extensibility (e.g., integration of Twitter and SMS‐based discussions). OGC compatibility for viewing discussions, and including geoprocessing and spatial decision support is envisioned for future versions. The tool has potential applications in a number of other fields, including public health and disaster response. For example, information regarding areas affected can be contributed during a natural disaster by the public, helping in directing people and prioritizing resource use. In addition, discussion of health issues affecting the community can be used to direct support services. Organizations and communities may find the Geoweb useful for increasing public participation in all aspects of society.

Citizens As Environmental Change Sensors: A Case Study Of Barbados, Britta Ricker and Renee Sieber. The Geoweb is unique due to its low overhead cost, its hackablity and the availability of large and diverse data sets. Applications such as Google Earth and Google Maps are increasing the public’s awareness and comfort with geospatial thinking. The Geoweb is important to the study of Geomatics because of the increasing number of opportunities to share spatial data. A wide audience of Internet users has tapped into the abundance of free and straightforward applications available on the web. The Geoweb has presented an opportunity to share new types of data in the form of photographs, audio, and videos. Users are able to add their own volunteered geographic information (VGI) for other Internet users to observe. Further, users are able act as sensors reporting on their local environment. This research explores the opportunity to use VGI to communicate environmental change concerns of Barbadians on the Geoweb. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are particularly vulnerable to environmental changes. Scientific data reveals that SIDSs are at high risk of losing valuable resources to sea level rise and temperature changes. Economic hardship could occur from beach erosion, fewer tourists, coral bleaching, and an increase in the number and intensity of hurricanes. Spatial data representing some of these vulnerabilities to climate change are available to selected government officials and Non Governmental Organizations. This spatial data does not reveal what the local environmental changes mean to the people living in these regions. During this research project, I spent to Barbados two months and asked forty‐one Barbadians what environmental changes they have noticed. I then asked the participants to report these changes on a Google My Map. In this poster I will describe the results of utilizing the participatory Geoweb to engage Barbadians in a dialogue about environmental change and their interaction with the Geoweb. Some participants were actively engaged with the user interface while others less so highlighting several barriers to current engagement.