GS-24 - Citizen Science with GIS&T

Figure 1. Participant in a BioBlitz records bird observation (Source: Jo Somerfield)
Citizen Science is defined as the participation of non-professional volunteers in scientific projects (Dickson et al, 2010) and has experienced rapid growth over the past decade. The projects that are emerging in this area range from contributory projects, co-created projects, collegiate projects, which are initiated and run by a group of people with shared interest, without any involvement of professional scientists.
In many citizen science projects, GIS&T is enabling the collection, analysis, and visualisation of spatial data to affect decision-making. Some examples may include:
- Recording the location of invasive species or participating in a BioBlitz to record local biodiversity (Figure 1).
- Measuring air quality or noise over a large area and over time to monitor local conditions and address them
- Using tools to educate on and increase access to local resources, improving community resilience
Such projects have the opportunity to empower or disempower members of the public, depending upon access to and understanding of technology. Citizen Science projects using GIS&T may help communities influence decision makers and support the gathering of large-scale scientific evidence on a range of issues. This may also renew people’s interests in the sciences and foster continued and lifelong learning.
DC-42 - Changes in Geospatial Data Capture Over Time: Part 2, Implications and Case Studies
Advances in technological approaches and tools to capture geospatial data have contributed to a vast collection of applications and enabled capacity for new programs, functions, products, workflows, and whole national-level spatial data infrastructure. In this entry, such outcomes and implications are described, focusing on developmental changes in specific application areas such as land use & land cover inventory, land parcel administration, and business, as well as examples from federal agencies, including the US Geological Survey, the Census Bureau, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the US Department of Agriculture. These examples illustrate the diverse ways that the dramatic changes in geospatial data capture methods and approaches have affected workflows within agencies and have spatially empowered millions of users and the general public. For additional information on specific technical changes, see Part 1: