Relationships between spatial and non-spatial preferences and place-based values in national forests

The management of multiple-use public lands such as national forests in the U.S. is controversial because of the wide range of potential uses and contested public values for these lands. Previous research on national forest values and management preferences examined these relationships non-spatially. The development of public participation GIS (PPGIS) and volunteered geographic information (VGI) systems provide new opportunities to assess spatial relationships between perceived national forest values and preferred uses. This research used empirical data collected from a PPGIS/VGI study for three national forests in California to examine spatial and non-spatial relationships between place-based forest values and preferred uses. The relationships suggest public participants translated some of their non-spatial forest values and preferences into behavioral choices when mapping place-specific values and preferred uses. The empirical relationships between place-based forest values and uses were generally consistent with previous survey research results. Positive, non-spatial attitudes toward extractive uses of national forests were correlated with participant mapping of economic values and related extractive uses, while nonmaterial forest attitudes were correlated with participant mapping of amenity values and conservation-related uses. Further, spatial preferences for extractive forest uses such as timber harvesting were mapped proximate to economic values, while nonmaterial spatial preferences were mapped proximate to amenity-related forest values. PPGIS offers the potential to translate philosophical and ideology-based national forest preferences into place-specific discourse about forest management activities where public accommodation may be more achievable.     

Measuring Change in Place Values for Environmental and Natural Resource Planning Using Public Participation GIS (PPGIS): Results and Challenges for Longitudinal Research

Landscape values are a type of place value and are identified and mapped using public participation GIS (PPGIS). PPGIS engages nonexperts to identify important spatial information for environmental or natural resource planning. In 1998, we used PPGIS to identify landscape values for the Chugach National Forest (Alaska) plan revision process. In 2012, we conducted a longitudinal study of the same national forest using Internet PPGIS to identify changes in landscape values. The empirical results indicate stability in landscape values both in importance and spatial distribution. However, the use of different PPGIS methods (paper map vs. Internet) in the longitudinal study also introduced challenges in interpreting and explaining the spatial results. We discuss trade-offs in conducting longitudinal PPGIS research using mixed methods. PPGIS appears well suited for public lands planning, and national forest planning in particular, but barriers to use, such as regulatory approval, remain formidable.     

Mapping and measuring place attachment

The concept of place attachment has been studied extensively across multiple disciplines but only recently with empirical measurement using public participation GIS (PPGIS) and related crowd-sourcing mapping methods. This research trialed a spatially explicit method for identifying place attachment in a regional study in South Australia. Our research objectives were to (1) analyze and present the spatial results of the mapping method as a benchmark for future research, (2) compare mapped place attachment to the more common practice of mapping landscape values in PPGIS that comprise a values home range, (3) identify how participant socio-demographic and home location attributes influence place attachment, (4) provide some guidance for mapping place attachment in future research. We found large spatial variability in individual place attachment and mapped landscape values using both area and distance-based measures. The area of place attachment is influenced by occupational roles such as farming or conservation, as well as home location, especially in coastal versus non-coastal contexts. The spatial distribution of mapped landscape values or values home range is related to, but not identical to mapped place attachment with just over half of landscape values located outside the area of mapped place attachment. Economic livelihood values, as an indicator of place dependence, and social values, as an indicator of place identity, are more likely to be mapped within the place attachment area. Aggregated place attachment across participants in the region showed similar spatial intensity to aggregated values home range, but area-based assessment of place attachment and values home range are distorted by edge effects such as a coastline. To further develop the mapping of place attachment in PPGIS, we identify knowledge gaps from our study and offer suggestions for future research design.     

Public Participatory GIS and the Geography of Inclusion

Public participatory geographic information systems (PPGIS) have been advanced as a means to include those who have been traditionally excluded from numerous place-specific governance activities, including planning and policymaking and as a way to resolve some of the long-standing tensions between critical traditions in human geography and the ever-expanding field of GIS. Despite the rapid adoption of participatory GIS by academics, government officials, and planning professionals, there are few guidelines of best practices for PPGIS researchers and practitioners to draw on and little effort has been made to understand how and in what ways PPGIS efforts are (or perhaps are not) effective. This article contributes to these important debates by evaluating the geography of participation in a recent participatory planning project undertaken in Muncie, Indiana. Using the mapped information that was generated from a series of public meetings, we have identified the presence of significant spatial bias in the process of participation that affected the resulting plan. This was an unexamined source of bias during this process and an example of why any emerging conversations about the best practices for PPGIS must include a consideration of the geography of participation.     

旅游社区多群体态度差异和冲突倾向的空间特征——以西安汤峪镇为例

随着乡村旅游的快速发展,乡村旅游社区逐步成为多群体竞争与冲突的场所,其内部多群体的态度差异成为指示社区冲突的重要指标。本文以西安汤峪镇为例,采用参与式制图（Participatory Mapping）和半结构访谈方法对当地居民、度假购房业主和游客3类群体的旅游开发态度和景观价值感知进行调查,最终获得315套访谈表与填图,共提取空间信息点5518个。基于对Brown等土地利用冲突倾向指标模型的修订,并结合地理空间分析方法探讨旅游社区态度差异和冲突倾向的空间特征。结论显示：① 旅游开发态度及其差异具有明显的地点指向性,并与景观价值的空间感知相关联。旅游开发冲突倾向空间上并非均匀分布,而是呈斑状格局,高值集中于社区旅游开发核心区域,且强度由开发的核心区域向外围区域减弱;② 潜在冲突地点的形成既有传统冲突因素的影响,又有特殊空间因素的作用,旅游开发要素的空间结构、多人群景观价值的空间感知、社区旅游发展阶段和相关人群的涉入程度都会影响冲突空间的形成;③ 参与式制图与深度访谈结合的方法能够帮助获得多人群主观数据,为认识态度和旅游开发冲突的空间特征提供了新的技术支撑。     

Usability evaluation and PPGIS: towards a user-centred design approach

Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) is a field of research that, among other things, focuses on the use of GIS by non-experts and occasional users. These users tend to have a diverse range of computer literacy, world views, cultural backgrounds and knowledge. These aspects require that the systems used within PPGIS are accessible and easy to use. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and the related usability evaluation techniques focus on how to make computer systems more accessible, while focusing on user needs and requirements. Thus, the synergy between PPGIS and HCI seems natural. In this paper, we discuss the aspects of this synergy, building on our experience from three workshops. We demonstrate how usability evaluation can contribute to PPGIS research, and how PPGIS research can contribute to the HCI aspects of GIS in general. We conclude this paper with a call for a user-centred design approach to PPGIS projects.     

An evaluation of crowdsourced information for assessing the visitation and perceived importance of protected areas

Parks and protected areas provide a wide range of benefits, but methods to evaluate their importance to society are often ad hoc and limited. In this study, the quality of crowdsourced information from Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) and Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) sources (Flickr, OpenStreetMap (OSM), and Wikipedia) was compared with visitor counts that are presumed to reflect social importance. Using the state of Victoria, Australia as a case study, secondary crowdsourced VGI data, primary crowdsourced (PPGIS data) and visitor statistics were examined for their correspondence and differences, and to identify spatial patterns in park popularity. Data completeness—the percent of protected areas with data—varied between sources, being highest for OSM (90%), followed by Flickr (41%), PPGIS (24%), visitation counts (5%), and Wikipedia articles (4%). Statistically significant correlations were found between all five measures of popularity for protected areas. Using stepwise multiple linear regression, the explained variability in visitor numbers was greater than 70%, with PPGIS, Flickr and OSM having the largest standardized coefficients. The social importance of protected areas varied as a function of accessibility and the types of values (direct or indirect use) expressed for the areas. Crowdsourced data may provide an alternative to visitor counts for assessing protected area social importance and spatial variability of visitation. However, crowdsourced data appears to be an unreliable proxy for the full range of values and importance of protected areas, especially for non-use values such as biological conservation.     

Exploring Saturation of Themes and Spatial Locations in Qualitative Public Participation Geographic Information Systems Research

Use of public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) studies that collect local knowledge in a spatial format is increasing as a tool in natural resources management. Qualitative PPGIS studies have been conducted as individual interviews, as workshops, and in focus groups. As the number of qualitative PPGIS studies increases, so does the need to understand their quality. Saturation, the point when the researcher determines that the collection of additional data will provide minimal new information as it relates to a particular issue, directly reflects on the validity of the study. While the concept of saturation is well established, it is still inconsistently assessed and reported. Furthermore, how saturation applies to qualitatively collected spatial data has not been addressed. A method is presented to assess spatial saturation of qualitative PPGIS data from 19 focus groups that were conducted to investigate important places for recreation, livelihoods, and the environment in the Florida Panhandle.     

Community-based production of geographic information using open source software and Web 2.0

This article presents an innovative approach to citizen-led production of Web-based geographic information where new and/or existing digital map features are linked to annotations or commentary and citizens engage in synchronous and/or asynchronous discussion. The article discusses the relationship of the approach to public participation geographic information systems (PPGISs) and the emerging challenges associated with volunteered geographic information. A custom-developed, open source software tool named MapChat is used to facilitate the citizen inputs and discussions. The information generated from applying the approach through a series of community workshops is presented and discussed in light of current issues in PPGIS and volunteered geographic information research.     

Plastic litter in streams: The behavioral archaeology of a pervasive environmental problem

Plastic deposition in hydrological systems is a pervasive problem at all geographic scales from loci of pollution to global ocean circulation. Much attention has been devoted to plastic deposition in marine contexts, but little is known about inputs of plastics into local hydrological systems, such as streams. Attempts to prevent plastic litter must incorporate the role of people's behaviors, so we employ a behavioral archaeological framework to distinguish between various cultural inputs (e.g., littering) and noncultural forces (e.g., stream transport and wind) that affect litter patterns on the landscape. Four sites with varying cultural uses were surveyed monthly for eight months along a creek in Texas, and analysis of the data included chi-square and Kruskal Wallis tests, and abundance indices comparing material types across sites. We found that sites have drastically different distributions in plastic litter, and these patterns appear to align with the cultural uses (hiking, fishing, roadway) and presence or absence of noncultural forces at each site. This information can be used to inform efforts to reduce littering at these and potentially other locations with similar characteristics. This study illustrates that an archaeological framework provides an efficient and accurate way to generate local data on littering behaviors.     

Combining geographic information systems and ethnography to better understand and plan ocean space use

Agencies in the US with oversight for marine renewable energy development idealistically have sought space where this new use might proceed unhindered by other uses. Despite experiential evidence of spatial overlap among existing ocean uses, a lack of documentation made the identification of potential space-use conflicts, communication between existing and potential ocean users, and the design of mitigation exceedingly challenging.We conducted a study along the US Atlantic and Pacific coasts to gather and document available spatial information on existing use through a compilation and organization of geographic information system (GIS) data. Stakeholder group meetings were used to vet the collected spatial data, and ethnographic interviews were conducted to gather knowledge and cultural perspectives. Results show extensive coverage and overlap of existing ocean space uses and provide a visualization of the social and cultural landscape of the ocean that managers can use to determine which stakeholders to engage.Marine resource managers are encouraged to recognize that marine space use is dynamic and multi-dimensional and as such research thereof requires a balance between the efficiency of GIS and the stories captured and told by ethnographic research. There are important linkages within and across fisheries and other uses, communities and interests, and across the land–sea interface. Therefore, it is important to use techniques demonstrated in this research that (1) integrate ethnographic and geospatial data collection and analysis; (2) engage stakeholders throughout the process; and (3) recognize the unique qualities of each geographic location and user group to support sound decision-making.     

FROM NIMBY TO FAIR SHARE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW YORK CITY'S MUNICIPAL SHELTER SITING POLICIES, 1980-1990

A trajectory of city siting policies for homeless shelters is examined, reflecting either community opposition per se or the city's fear of community opposition. Furthermore, these policies created distinct geographic patterns of shelter siting. New York City's shelter siting history, from the beginning of mandatory shelter provision in the early 1980s to the institution of fair-share planning for the dispersal of city-owned facilities in 1990, is examined. City siting responses—isolation, circumvention, and cooperation—correlate with the type of community opposition being mounted.     

Assessing linkages between ecosystem services,land-use and well-being in an agroforestry landscape using public participation GIS

While a number of studies have applied public participation GIS (PPGIS) approaches to the spatial assessment of ecosystem services, few have considered the associations between the spatial distribution of ecosystem services and the context-specific nature of self-reported well-being. In this study, we engage the general public to identify and map a range of ecosystem services that originate in place-based, local knowledge and explore the context-dependent nature of subjective well-being. We conducted a PPGIS survey with 219 local residents in a Spanish agroforestry (dehesa) landscapes and analysed the spatial patterns of mapped ecosystem services, their relation to land cover, protected area and common land patterns. In addition, we explored the landscape values contributing to people’s well-being; and the relationships between ecosystem services in different land covers, landscape values and socio-demographic characteristics. A mosaic of landscape types (i.e., the landscape) provided more ecosystem services (especially cultural and provisioning) to people compared with the individual land system of agroforestry. However, land tenure and public access significantly guided the spatial practices and values of the people beyond the preferred landscape types. The contribution of the landscape to well-being is largely related to values based on interactions among people and the landscape, as tranquillity/relaxation and people-people interactions such as being with family and friends. We discuss the specific contribution of agroforestry landscapes to the provision of ecosystem services and human well-being. We conclude that the integration of the applied methods of social-cultural assessment on the one hand links to ecosystem services frameworks but on the other hand represents a more holistic conceptualisation of people’s benefits from landscapes.     

Media Institute on Geographic Concepts

Abstract

A new political geography has emerged that stresses the political conflict behind the production of space. This orientation in the subdiscipline constitutes a turn away from traditional political geography, where the emphasis had previously been on the spatial distribution of political phenomena. The “new” political geographic theory has been applied to the study of environmental issues, turning the attention of scholars to the political struggle behind the construction of nature as well as space. This article reviews how the new political geography of the environment (NPGE) perspective has impacted the study of such environmental phenomena as hazards, siting issues, human-land relationships, resources, development, and international environmental governance. It concludes by suggesting how the NPGE perspective can inform pedagogy in environmental education.     

PPGIS approach for defining multimodal travel thresholds: Accessibility of popular recreation environments by the water

It is essential to ensure equal accessibility to services, such as sport and recreation facilities or green and water environments. Differences in accessibility can potentially cause negative health and social welfare implications. Accessibility and service area analyses from the perspective of access equality are typically rather simple. They are often based on arbitrary travel-distance thresholds and made only with a single mode of transport in mind. Thus, they exclude the multidimensional nature of accessibility where individuals' travel behavior and perceived accessibility also play an important role. In this paper, a PPGIS method was used to empirically investigate distances and durations that respondents travel with different modes of transport to access popular water environments. Service area analyses were built on person-based and objectively measured threshold values that not only take into account the spatio-temporal elements of transport networks and a land use component but also recognize the requirements and preferences of individuals and their capacity to access and participate. The results showed that the most common mode of transport to access waters is walking. Generally, the residents travel by foot for 1.7 km to access water environments. Cars were found as the second most common mode of transport used, and most of the popular water environments are accessible by car from every corner of the study area in a given travel threshold time. The results demonstrate the importance of deriving local parameters and the potential of the PPGIS approach for accessibility and service area delineation.     

West Virginia's Lost Youth: Appalachian Stereotypes and Residential Preferences

Abstract

This study uses a cognitive mapping survey to examine the effect of Appalachian stereotypes on West Virginia high school students' residential preferences. The research addresses the popularly held hypothesis that West Virginia is suffering out-migration of its young people in part because of negative regional imagery. Survey results provide some support for this position. Appalachian stereotypes are a leading explanation given by survey respondents for their residential disinclinations toward their home state. This research indicates the influence of regional stereotypes on residential intentions and the usefulness of cognitive mapping in exploring geographic stereotyping.     

河南省乡村住区可持续发展研究

文章通过对河南省乡村住区建设现状的分析,总结了其成功的经验及其存在的问题,进一步提出了搞好乡村住区建设规划、注重不同类型的乡村住区土地整理、重视乡村住区生态环境和加大乡村文化建设力度等河南省乡村住区可持续发展对策与措施。     

电动汽车充电站选址研究进展

在电动汽车产业高速发展的科技浪潮中,充电站选址未来将成为城市发展战略布局不可或缺的一部分,深受交通工程、电力能源、管理学等各领域学者的广泛关注。已有的综述类文章缺乏对充电站选址相关研究进行全面梳理,论文利用CiteSpace软件对电动汽车充电站选址文献进行梳理,一方面归纳总结2009—2017年间国内外该研究主题的研究现状和热点,对其进行可视化分析;另一方面梳理充电站选址影响因素、选址方法和选址的成本-效益评估等研究内容,同时对国内外充电站选址研究的趋势予以简要介绍,厘清研究发展脉络,为充电站选址在地理学中的研究和实践提供方法和指引。未来,随着各地新能源汽车充电站选址研究的不断发展,有望在充电站选址布局中识别多元化和精细化充电需求和服务、统筹不同主体间成本-效益目标等方面不断完善,从而优化城市交通网络及基础设施布局,为新一轮的城市规划提供指引。     

Mental Maps and Fuzziness in Space Preferences*

Mental maps are widely used to represent aggregate residential preferences in a population. This study examines the contention by researchers that the dominant viewpoint in a group in terms of residential desirability is not affected by the fuzziness in individual space preferences. Results indicate that a significant misrepresentation of group preferences can result when fuzziness of individual preferences is overlooked. The use of ordinal scales to generate mental maps is likely to distort the actual pattern of residential preferences that dominates in the group because of the failure of the ranking approach to account for imprecision and ambiguity in individual preferences. Because interval scales used in rating or evaluating tasks do not force individuals to give a crisp judgement of places, they are more adequate than ordinal scales for mental mapping and for behavioral analysis.