Complementary methods for citizen mapping of ecosystem services: Comparing digital and analog representations

In June 2014, the authors organized and led a citizen mapping activity for primary and secondary teachers with the dual goal of educating them about ecosystem services of a local river (and its environs) and empowering them as contributors of important social information about the valuation of their local ecosystem. We employed two methods to enable this citizen mapping: an “analog” method, using Mylar sheets, dry-erase markers, and print-outs of a satellite view of the area of interest; and a “digital” method, employing Collector for ArcGIS and related databases to create a community map of ecosystem services in real time. This chapter reports on the similarities and differences in content and style of the resulting maps, and in engagement and behavior of the participants. As citizen-enabled geospatial inquiry (in the form of both contributions and analysis of geographic data) continues to grow, an examination of multiple ways of enabling that inquiry is relevant and required. We conclude that, in the context of an open-ended citizen mapping activity with the intent to empower participants and collect survey-like geo-referenced data, both techniques are recommended to document the phenomenon and attitudes about it most completely.