The Participatory Geoweb

In the Participatory Geoweb project, funded by GEOIDE, we will employ the Geoweb in order to stimulate, mediate, facilitate, and advocate public understanding, engagement, and action towards a sustainable development of the nature-society system. The project team seeks to examine what defines effective participation through the Geoweb, contextualize observations and opinions on environmental change, and develop a technical and policy infrastructure to support climate change response and adaptation.

Examples of the Geoweb include Google Earth, Google Maps, MapQuest, and other online interactive maps.

Community-Based Validation of
Volunteered Observations of Invasive Plant Species

Through this project, led by Dr. Brian Klinkenberg and Ph.D. student Alan McConchie, a new method for improving public reporting of invasive alien plant species will be developed. This system will test new approaches to the validation of Voluntary Geographic Information (VGI) by leveraging the local expertise of users of the system and combining it with a validation method based on formal, scientific expertise represented as a map layer. By applying ecological characteristics associated with specific invasive alien plant species to new reports of species we will be able to provide an initial step in the validation of user-submitted records, and allow for an initial determination of the validity of the record. That is, can the record be accepted 'as is' or should there be confirmation by examining, for example, a photo or specimen record.

Key Resources

E-Flora BC
Report-A-Weed

GEOIDE

The GEOIDE Network is working to consolidate and strengthen Canada's geomatics industry. The Network brings together the broader geomatics community to pool its knowledge and create partnerships that support research.

Additional Participatory Geoweb Sites