Guidelines for trust interface design for public engagement Web GIS

Attesting to the powerful capabilities and in technology trends, many scholars envisioned the consolidation of geographic information systems (GIS) into vital tools for disseminating spatial information. GIS are presently used to inform, advise and instruct users in several contexts and to further engage citizens in decision-making processes that can impact and sustain policy development. Interaction with these applications incorporates risk and uncertainty, which have been repeatedly identified as preconditions in nurturing trust perceptions and which instigate a user's decision to rely on a system and act on the provided information. Research studies consistently demonstrated that a trust-oriented interface design can facilitate the development of more trustworthy, mainly e-commerce, systems. Trust in the Web GIS context, despite its significance, has only relatively recently received some attention. A set of human–computer interaction (HCI) user-based studies revealed some Web GIS trustee attributes that influence non-experts' trust beliefs and found that when these are problematic or absent from interface design, users form irrational trust perceptions, which amplifies the risk and may impose dangers to the user. These Web GIS trustee attributes that influence non-experts' trust perceptions are formulated here into a set of trust guidelines. These are then evaluated using the PE-Nuclear tool, a Web GIS application, to inform the public about the site selection of a nuclear waste repository in the United Kingdom. Our preliminary results indicate that the proposed trust guidelines not only support the development of rational trust perceptions that protect non-experts from inappropriate use of Web GIS technology but also contribute towards improving interaction with such applications of public interest issue.     

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.     

广州城市快速公交干道网络设计

结合广州市天河路的案例分析,借助交通标准化和规模效益原理,利用地理信息系统的空间分析手段,尝试重新设计运量大、速度快、时效强的快速城市公共交通干线网络,提出建设广州城市一路一线快速公交网络模式的构想。认为一路一线的城市公共交通网络,既利于公交车辆的统一调配,提高道路使用效率,也便于按需发车,缩短等车时间,使整个城市公共交通的运营从真正意义上做到方便快捷。     

Prospects for the Development and Application of the Earthquake Monitoring Network

With the rapid development of the economy in China, the seismic network has been changing rapidly, in that the capability of instruments, technological systems and network density are approaching those of developed countries and a large quantity of observation data has been accumulated. How to apply these resources to economic construction and public safety has become an important issue worth studying. In order to improve earthquake prediction and earthquake emergency response, it is suggested in this paper that extracting valuable precursor information, improving earthquake rapid reporting ability and extending rapid intensity reporting function are key issues. Integrating network resources, building unified standards and a multifunction seismic monitoring network are preconditions of establishing a public safety service platform and earthquake observation resources will contribute significantly to the fields of engineering, ocean, meteorology, and environmental protection. Thus, the future directions of the development of the seismic network are exploring monitoring resources, enhancing independent innovation, constructing a technological platform and enlarging the service field.     

Socioeconomic characteristics and crash injury exposure: A case study in Florida using two-step floating catchment area method

The objective of this study is to investigate the exposure of different population groups to severe injury crash hotspots using an empirical-Gaussian two-step floating catchment area (EG-2SFCA) method based on roadway network distances and a socioeconomic-based weighting approach. This is performed by developing a special form of a crash-to-population ratio index that incorporates the severe crash hotspots relative to the locations of populations they might impact. While identifying these hotspots, four different age groups are considered: 17 and younger, 18 to 21, 22 to 64 and 65 and older. For each age group, severe crash hotspots are identified based on the roadway network and the number of severely injured crash occupants that belong to the specific age group. Using these age-specific crash hotspots and the EG-2SFCA method, communities that were exposed to elevated crash injury risk (crash injury exposure) have been identified. Furthermore, from a residential perspective, a socioeconomic analysis is conducted in order to develop a socioeconomics-based crash injury exposure measure. This measure assesses the exposure of different socioeconomic groups to the risk of being injured. Results demonstrated by applying this measure in the Tampa Bay region, FL show that different population groups are under varying risk of being injured depending on their residential location. The developed approach has the potential to be a social fairness measure able to be applied by agencies, which could enhance the well-being of communities that are subject to elevated injury risk.     

Trust Matters – Social Capital in Herding Cooperation in Finland

Reindeer herding is a nature-based livelihood of the indigenous Sámi people in northern parts of Europe and Russia. During the last decades, reindeer herding has become a more significant issue in the context of the market economy: the livelihood has transformed toward entrepreneurship, and the subsidies demand growth in the scale of herding. According to the national administration, the market values are highlighted. However, for herders, market economies are only one part of their livelihood. Another important part is their experience of reindeer herding as a way of life; for many reindeer herders trust in their livelihood and the social relations associated with their way of life are of equal or greater importance than economic aspects. In this paper, the role of social trust in the changing process of reindeer herding is discussed. Inherited tacit and cultural knowledge, as a part of social capital, strengthen reindeer herders’ experience of trust.     

Brokering Trust in Citizen Science

Citizen science (CS) information requires systematic review that incorporates a range of interests and concerns. Yet, there has been little research on what might constitute reviewing best practice to ensure CS is trusted by contributors and users of the data. Insights from a survey of all 1134 reviewers who curate the global eBird Project highlight the knowledge-brokering work involved to ensure CS data are trusted by both citizens and science. Drawing on scholarship focused on key drivers of useable knowledge for natural resource decision-making, we consider CS reviewing best practice to ensure CS can be useful to the producers and users of this knowledge. We find that CS reviewers need to be motivated to provide appropriate feedback to improve CS data, commit to reviewing practice that is respected by citizens, and ensure the information published is credible and be reviewed by a supportive and accountable network of fellow reviewers.     

A copula-based closed-form binary logit choice model for accommodating spatial correlation across observational units

This study focuses on accommodating spatial dependency in data indexed by geographic location. In particular, the emphasis is on accommodating spatial error correlation across observational units in binary discrete choice models. We propose a copula-based approach to spatial dependence modeling based on a spatial logit structure rather than a spatial probit structure. In this approach, the dependence between the logistic error terms of different observational units is directly accommodated using a multivariate logistic distribution based on the Farlie-Gumbel-Morgenstein (FGM) copula. The approach represents a simple and powerful technique that results in a closed-form analytic expression for the joint probability of choice across observational units, and is straightforward to apply using a standard and direct maximum likelihood inference procedure. There is no simulation machinery involved, leading to substantial computation gains relative to current methods to address spatial correlation. The approach is applied to teenagers’ physical activity participation levels, a subject of considerable interest in the public health, transportation, sociology, and adolescence development fields. The results indicate that failing to accommodate heteroscedasticity and spatial correlation can lead to inconsistent and inefficient parameter estimates, as well as incorrect conclusions regarding the elasticity effects of exogenous variables.

Public engagement with carbon and climate change: To what extent is the public ‘carbon capable’?

The relevance of climate change for society seems indisputable: scientific evidence points to a significant human contribution in causing climate change, and impacts which will increasingly affect human welfare. In order to meet national and international greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets, there is an urgent need to understand and enable societal engagement in mitigation. Yet recent research indicates that this involvement is currently limited: although awareness of climate change is widespread, understanding and behavioral engagement are far lower. Proposals for mitigative ‘personal carbon budgets’ imply a need for public understanding of the causes and consequences of carbon emissions, as well as the ability to reduce emissions. However, little has been done to consider the situated meanings of carbon and energy in everyday life and decisions. This paper builds on the concept of ‘carbon capability’, a term which captures the contextual meanings associated with carbon and individuals’ abilities and motivations to reduce emissions. We present empirical findings from a UK survey of public engagement with climate change and carbon capability, focusing on both individual and institutional dimensions. These findings highlight the diverse public understandings about ‘carbon’, encompassing technical, social, and moral discourses; and provide further evidence for the environmental value-action gap in relation to adoption of low-carbon lifestyles. Implications of these findings for promoting public engagement with climate change and carbon capability are discussed.     

深圳市公共文化场所空间分布格局研究

随着深圳市逐步实施文化立市的发展战略，公共文化场所的设置和选址变得日益重要。利用ArcGIS和SPSS软件，通过定性描述与定量分析相结合的方法探究深圳市公共文化场所的空间分布格局，得出区际差异大，集中程度高，总体上呈现以特区内为核心、特区外为边缘地带的分布格局．外向型公共文化场所集中化分布的特征更为显著，公共文化场所的空间分布格局呈更加均衡的发展趋势等是其主要特征，进而分析了居民生活品质、人口分布、交通区位、政府行为等因素对现有分布格局的影响，并建议应适度加大政府行为因素对分布格局的影响等。