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Neogeography of Edmonton's River Valley
The document summarizes research on how people understand place in Edmonton's river valley and how technology can represent those understandings. Interviews with 17 participants found they had deep, nuanced understandings of places in the river valley based on memories and experiences. However, current geospatial technologies like GPS devices and apps are limited in capturing those understandings, representing only a small portion of how people experience place. While gaming platforms provide a more sophisticated representation, the emerging GeoWeb generally does not support deep, citizen-contributed understandings of place.
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Neogeography of Edmonton's River Valley
- 1. The Neogeography of Edmonton’sRiver Valley Matthew Dance University of Alberta
- 2. 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
- 3. Research Purpose To connectthe 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
- 4. Edmonton University of Alberta4/21Matthew Dance From: OpenStreetMap.com
- 5. Context 1. Place basedtechnology Tending 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
- 6. 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
- 7. 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
- 8. Results: Activities University ofAlberta 8/21Matthew Dance
- 9. When I runalong 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 well and 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
- 10. Results: Activity University ofAlberta 10/21Matthew Dance
- 11. 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
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- 13. There was apath 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
- 14. 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
- 15. University of Alberta Results:Data Generation Web Mobile Data Types Evan Garmin Connect, Facebook Garmin Forerunner 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
- 16. University of Alberta Results:Data Communication 16/21Matthew Dance Evan Garmin Connect: Facebook:
- 17. Results: Data WorkFlow 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
- 18. Conclusions (1) • Interviewcohort 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
- 19. Conclusions (2) • TheGeoWeb 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
- 20. 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
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Editor's Notes
- #2 Matthew DanceI am a recent MA graduated from Human Geography here at the UofA. This presentation is based on the results from my thesis research, and will outline my findings relevant to the NeoGoe of Edmonton.
- #3 To accomplish this, I will describe the purpose & setting of this research, describe the context and explain the research methods used, present some of the results and discuss those results.I will end by thanking those many people who contributed to my research.
- #4 The geoweb, and notions of neogeography are an ever evolving topic of research. My intent was to connect rich human geography tradition of place-based enquiry to the emerging GeoWebMotivation is two fold:1/ To understand the shifting nature of ‘public’ ‘participation’ at a time when these terms are being redefined by the internet (in general) and the GeoWeb (in specific).2/ To explore an individuals knowledge of place and connect that knowledge to what might be expressed using the tools of the GeoWeb.These are my research questions, and they span the theoretical domains of PPGIS, the GeoWeb including neogeography and VGI
- #5 NSR runs through Edmonton, with a population of 1.1 million, from the SW to the NE. This ribbon of green plays host to: over 160 KM of maintained multi-use trailAnd 450 KM of unimproved trails and isVisited by 10 million people per year.Numerous parks, including Terwillager, Hawrelak, Kinsmen, Mill Creek and Gold Bar, in addition the extensive trail networkHost these visits.
- #6 The context is:As place based technologies – or location based services tend toward the ubiquitous, a narrative that has emerged that promises an almost utopian GeoWeb that enables a broader citizen collaboration through technology, such as Open311, that marries a smartphone’s GPS with the GeoWeb and VGI.
- #7 Qualitative methodology as a means of understanding the human experience and addressing questions of social structure and individual experienceQualitative methods are commonly used in PPGIS and GeoWeb researchCase method is specific to qualitative enquiries and provides an encompassing research strategy thatUtilizes and combines several techniques such as S-S Interview, use of documents and other primary sources, Discourse analysis was utilized as the main tool of understanding the informants perceptions and attitudes, and to cluster similar attitudes under thematic categories.Those interviewed are normal people, not GeoWeb experts, but rather primarily runners and cyclists who use commonly available hardware and web based tech to document their excursions into the RV.
- #8 Place is comprised of a locations physical characteristics, the activates that occur there and the meanings derived through the interaction of users with the physical space, and their activites. The emergent data support this notion of place, and tend to cluster around two broad emergent themes: Activity – both recreational and sport, as well as recollection through memories of personal experience, or historic events.The data also identify 5 ditict places within Edmonton -