Neogeography of Edmonton's River Valley
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The Neogeography of Edmonton’s River Valley Matthew Dance University of Alberta
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Place can be defined as the meanings that are created at the confluence of location and activity (Relph, 1976). The places that comprise an urban environment are increasingly networked through the ubiquitous disbursement of connected, hand-held, location-aware mobile devices (Castells, 2004). This, coupled with the evolution of the GeoWeb supporting volunteered geographic information (VGI), is defining a key method of citizen engagement with spatial data and information. Specifically, citizens are able to communicate place-based information through these technologies. These emerging phenomena give rise to some pertinent questions: (1) To what extent are GPS systems able to capture users' understanding of location, and; (2) How do people contribute spatial information to the GeoWeb? Using a case study method that centered on Edmonton’s river valley trail network, 17 informants were interviewed regarding their use of GPS devices in the capture and communication of spatial information, and their corresponding knowledge of place. Our findings indicate that people possess and are able to articulate place knowledge that is deep and personally meaningful, especially in regards to parts of the river valley they use and enjoy most often. However, location-aware mobile devices do not currently provide the tools necessary to communicate users' deep understanding. We conclude that current web based maps that support VGI only allow for a small portion of knowledge to be uploaded. This knowledge is restricted to the structure or form of a place, rather than its meanings or context.
Transcript of Neogeography of Edmonton's River Valley
The Neogeography of Edmonton’s River Valley
Matthew DanceUniversity of Alberta
Presentation Overview
• Purpose & Setting• Methods• Context• Results & Discussion– How do people understand place– What can technology communicate about this
• Conclusions• Acknowledgements
Matthew Dance University of Alberta 2/21
Research PurposeTo connect the rich human geography tradition of place-based enquiry to the emerging GeoWeb.
• To what extent are GPS systems able to capture users' understanding of place?– How do users’ understand place?
• How do people contribute information about place(s) to the GeoWeb?
University of Alberta 3/21Matthew Dance
Edmonton
University of Alberta 4/21Matthew Dance
From: OpenStreetMap.com
Context
1. Place based technologyTending towards ubiquity in high income North American
2. GeoWeb
3. A utopian promise of citizen collaboration But … digital divide
Matthew Dance University of Alberta 5/21
Methods
• Qualitative Methodology• Case Study Method– Semi-structured interviews (N=17)• Mental Maps• Place and space• The GeoWeb
– Discourse analysis of transcripts– Primary on-line sources such as Facebook &
Garmin Connect
University of Alberta 6/21Matthew Dance
Results: Emergent Themes & Associated Places
University of Alberta
Theme Hawrelak Park
Kinsmen Park
Terwillager Park
Mill Creek Park
Gold Bar Park
All Other Locations
Totals
Sports Activity 20 8 0 10 10 14 62
Recreational Activity 4 1 9 0 0 6 20
Activity Routes 15 18 0 6 5 15 59
Impressions 7 0 3 3 4 4 21
Memories 0 0 0 0 5 5 10
Special Place 0 2 4 0 0 1 6
Power 0 0 5 6 4 2 17
GeoWeb 2 2 3 5 0 12 24
Total Mentions 48 31 24 30 25 59 220
7/21Matthew Dance
Results: Activities
University of Alberta 8/21Matthew Dance
When I run along the river trails a lot of the time, I’m in the trees which limits views of seeing the city. Also, being isolated, depending on where you are in the trails, limits you from seeing just you know, lots of other people too. You can be further away from other people as welland I just really appreciate that feeling of being a little bit more isolated and feeling that connection to nature.
Mya
Results: Description
University of Alberta 9/21Matthew Dance
Results: Activity
University of Alberta 10/21Matthew Dance
Results: Description
Oh golly, we start somewhere around Hawrelak, so, we’ll throw that in right about here, and I would definitely add an ‘X’ here for the Sugar Bowl, because that’s where you want to end up.
Nate
University of Alberta 11/21Matthew Dance
Results: Memories
12/21Matthew Dance
There was a path in the woods there, and we call that Moonies run because our teacher, Mr. Moonie, lived right there. My friend played guitar and I played guitar, and we used to take our amps, carry our amps across back and forth across the river. At this point here right in the middle of the bridge was we deemed that as perfectly half way, so we would say, ‘Okay, I’ll meet you on the bridge’. But yeah, I spent a lot of time down there, in Gold Bar.
Chris
Results: Description
University of Alberta 13/21Matthew Dance
Place Understanding
• Deep, nuanced and varied understanding.• Rooted in memory coupled with experience
and activity• River Valley offers:– Escape from the day to day– Both social and isolation depending on need– A natural environment where routine interactions
with it ‘may shape individual … identity.’ (Collins and Kearns, 2007, p16)
University of Alberta 14/21Matthew Dance
University of Alberta
Results: Data GenerationWeb Mobile Data Types
Evan Garmin Connect, Facebook
GarminForerunner
GPS trace, heart rate, time, distance, elevation.
Megan Google Earth Garmin eTrex, iPhone
GPS trace, video, photos, GE fly through visualization
Isabel Google Earth, Map my run
Garmin Forerunner
GPS trace, time, distance
Chris Running map Garmin Forerunner GPS trace, time, distance
John OSM Garmin eTrex GPS trace, line, polygons
15/21Matthew Dance
University of Alberta
Results: Data Communication
16/21Matthew Dance
Evan
Garmin Connect:
Facebook:
Results: Data Work Flow
I waypoint, I start a track on my iPhone or Garmin, and then I take a picture, and then I go on take my iPhone out, and the I go and correlate the picture and waypoint number together because there’s no way to do it on either of my two devices.
Then I go home and load the photos into panoramio.com and then input the waypoints, and I can then load all of this into Google Earth.
Megan
University of Alberta 17/22Matthew Dance
Conclusions (1)
• Interview cohort expressed a deep understanding of place– Places provide a range of uses, depending on
individual need, that can shape a person’s identity.• Current neogeography tools are not able to
capture this depth of understanding– Tools such as Garmin devices or smart phones
capture a very small portion of the experience.
Matthew Dance University of Alberta 20/22
Conclusions (2)
• The GeoWeb is, generally, not able to support deep and nuanced citizen contributions
• Gaming systems (i.e.WoW) are a few steps ahead of the GeoWeb, and may provide a direction
University of Alberta 19/22Matthew Dance
Acknowledgements
• The informants, and all who spent time to discuss this project with me.
• My thesis supervisors:– Drs. Arie Croitoru, Ofer Arazy, Damian Collins
• My family, especially my wife (and primary funding source), Erica.
Matthew Dance University of Alberta 21/22
