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Crowdsourcing as a Novel Approach to Mapping Ecosystem Services in a Great Lakes Area of Concern
Citation:
Williams, K., J. Launspach, AND Dave Bolgrien. Crowdsourcing as a Novel Approach to Mapping Ecosystem Services in a Great Lakes Area of Concern. Minnesota GIS/LIS Conference, Duluth, MN, October 26 - 28, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
Not applicable
Description:
A successful crowdsourcing application depends on two dimensions – the theory and experimental design that guides data collection and the application of the technology to execute the plan. The USEPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division is working on the creation and implementation of such an app to support ongoing research in environmental remediation/restoration and community revitalization in the City of Duluth and the St. Louis River Area of Concern. The purpose of the proposed app is to collect data about ecosystem goods and services utilizing a crowdsourcing methodology, where its primary functions will be to enable users to collect, and then submit to investigators, geotagged photos and survey responses related to the user’s personal experience with a particular geographic site or place. In addition to the photo, we ask citizens to tell us why they took the photo and what they were doing in that place, in order to capture both interest and use. The application is built on ESRI ArcGIS online architecture, utilizing Survey123 to develop the survey questions, GeoForm as the main template and Web AppBuilder to display the results. The app proposed here mirrors the use of photo data in other ecosystem service studies, but is distinct because we are soliciting a brief appraisal of the environment in terms of ecosystem services. The larger goal is to make the data available in real-time so that federal, state, and local agencies will have access to public input on a continuous basis.