Allen presentation at GEOIDE 2009

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:39:20 +0000

Transitioning To The Geoweb: The Changing Face Of Online Community Atlases, Patrick Allen, Jon Corbett This poster will present on a research project that investigates the status of online community atlases in British Columbia hosted by the Community Mapping Network (CMN). Since 1997, community atlases have been developed on the premise that emerging geographical information technologies (GIT) can facilitate participation in integrated and effective community land‐use planning and implementation. The majority of atlases on the CMN are the result of collaborative efforts involving government and non‐governmental partners. They often seek to gather and distribute land‐use related information. Using online and telephone interviews, the researchers surveyed community atlas managers and coordinators for 22 of 62 CMN hosted atlases. The survey sought to determine the current status of these atlases and gain insight into future directions for use, presentation and management of spatial data. As a sub‐component of this research, we reviewed the existing and potential role for incorporating volunteered geographic information (VGI) into existing atlases, and determine issues that might emerge relating to user engagement and the management of VGI data. Of the atlases reviewed, most are now stagnant and unused; in many cases no changes or revisions have been made in over a year. Furthermore, no evaluations have been conducted on the existing data presented. Many respondents indicate that though their initial goal of providing open access to data has been met, the limited public use of the atlases does not justify the continued time, effort and funding required to manage the atlases over the long‐term. New atlases are still being developed with an awareness of these challenges and thus are increasingly attempting to be more user‐friendly, self managed and employ low cost methods of making information available and manageable. There is a growing interest the potential of the Geoweb to integrate free and open source software into atlas design, and to include interactive tools in order to engage users in accessing and contributing their own data to the atlases. However, there does not yet appear to be clarity on the best approach or model to follow in the ever changing world of GIT.

The Participatory Geoweb - community mapping network

Allen presentation at GEOIDE 2009