Crowdsourcing Edmonton's Ribbon of Green: A Case Study of Neogeography in Edmonton's River Valley.

摘要

Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) has defined a process to support public expression of place-based knowledge. The central weakness of this approach stems from a lack of collaboration support for groups of citizens. Recent GeoWeb advances are challenging PPGIS in this regard. This research utilized a case study method centered on Edmonton’s river valley. Data was collected via 17 semi-structured interviews centered on users’ local knowledge, and their communication practices using mobile- and web-based GeoWeb technologies. Interview transcripts were analyzed thematically. In addition, a cluster analysis was conducted on 79 GeoWeb applications to assess their utility for citizen collaboration. It was found that the study cohort exhibits a nuanced understanding of place that cannot be fully captured by GeoWeb technologies. The cluster analysis corroborates this result - indicating that, in broad terms, the GeoWeb does not support collaboration, citizen-based power structures, or a variety of data types and sources.