Geospatial Web, Participatory

The Geospatial Web is increasingly being used in participatory processes to collect and represent the place-based information, experiences and perspectives of lay individuals, communities and organizations. Unlike Volunteered Geographic Information collection techniques that involve the passive collection of data using location aware devices, the Participatory Geoweb involves the purposeful contribution of location-based information by nonexperts in order to address social and/or environmental issues and to support their inclusion in land related decision-making processes. This growing practice is built on the principles of Participatory Mapping, a well-established methodology that utilizes a range of approaches and techniques including the Participatory Geoweb. Participatory Mapping combines map making with participatory methods to delineate and represent the unique spatial knowledge and lived experiences of local communities. Despite the potential for the Participatory Geoweb to represent a socially or culturally distinct understanding of community spatial knowledge, there remain a number of challenges to both its uptake and efficacy. These challenges include the persistence of the digital divide and the inability of large numbers of people to access the internet with sufficient bandwidth to both view and contribute to the Geoweb; the controversy of data sovereignty and the storage of sometimes sensitive local knowledge in a web-based digital medium; the internet potentially distancing the participants from the immediacy of the issue that the Participatory Geoweb project seeks to address; and the underlying uncertainty and motivations related to the code, algorithms and information displayed on the base maps on which many Participatory Geoweb applications are built.