Blog

Over the past year, I've had two publications come out that investigate how municipal planners can use data from the fitness tracking application Strava within active transportation planning contexts. This has been a really fun project to work on, and one where I've gotten to hear directly from planners about how novel data sources can impact their work. I'm grateful to my colleague Dr. Pamela Robinson, from the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University for our collaboration on this project, as well as key efforts from students Madison Vernooy and Leorah Klein. Two publications have resulted from this work:

Robinson, P. J., Johnson, P. A., Vernooy, M., & Klein, L. (2025). Strava Metro Data as an Urban Planning Input: Seizing Opportunities and Managing Limitations. International Journal of E-Planning Research (IJEPR), 14(1), 1-14.

and

Robinson, P., Johnson, P., & Vernooy, M. (2024). Strava Metro Data: How can urban planning leverage crowdsourced fitness activity data?. Canadian Planning and Policy, 2024(1), 90-108.

Both articles are available from the links as open-access, so check them out! Though there are still issues with applying Strava data in some contexts, I was impressed with the generally cautious approach that municipal planners were taking to adopting this data, and the findings point to some unique application areas for this data source. More to come!

Recent contribution from Dr. Peter Johnson to the Ontario Professional Planners Institute professional publication Y Magazine. Lead by Dr. Pamela Robinson and Morgan Boyco, this article addresses how participatory technology intervenes in the process of citizen engagement in planning. Given the broad adoption of digital platforms, how do planners wrestle with the challenges and constraints of this technology? Check out the full article starting on page 29.

Digital public participation: The complicated ways that technology platforms both help and challenge planners.

I am pleased to announce that a recent book chapter, co-authored with co-op student Christine Varga, has recently been published in the edited volume "The Future of Open Data", edited by Teresa Scassa and Pamela Robinson (University of Ottawa Press). Our chapter investigates the barriers and challenges to the use of open data by private sector companies, including start-ups in the Waterloo/Kitchener-Toronto tech corridor. I am grateful to SSHRC and the Geothink Partnership Grant for providing funding for this work.

Congratulations to lab members and colleagues for the recent publication of an entire special issue in The Canadian Geographer on Smart Citizens creating Smart Cities! This special issue had its beginning in a special session at the 2019 AAG in Washington. With the editorship of Dr. Rina Ghose and myself "..the six papers collected in this special section aim to open a discourse to address these questions, presenting conceptual and applied perspectives.

Congrats to former GEM masters student Sara Harrison (now pursuing a PhD at Massey University, NZ) for her recent publication of a chapter of her MES thesis in the leading international journal of government/information studies - Government Information Quarterly.

Congrats to PhD Candidate Simone Philpot for her latest publication in The Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.

Several team members are presenting at this year's Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting in Washington, DC April 2-7th, 2019. This conference is a great opportunity to share our research with a large community of geographers and get valuable feedback.

Applications are now being accepted for a postdoctoral research associate to support current research measuring the value and impact of civic technology, with a specific focus on open data, mobile apps, crowdsourcing, and participatory data creation for use in government. The successful candidate will be invited to co-develop a program of research that advances one or more of these themes, and falls within their area of expertise. This position is full-time, based at the University of Waterloo, with an initial appointment of one year, with potential for extension depending on funding and performance. Salary is competitive, with benefits and a travel/conference stipend.

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and recent record flooding in Bangladesh, I was reminded of the foundational role of mobile communications technology in the response to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.

I had the amazing opportunity recently to attend the 2017 Esri User Conference (UC) in San Diego, California. The Esri ‘UC’ as it’s known is an annual event that showcases what’s new and hot in the Esri GIS world, and provides a chance for over 16,000 GIS and map nerds to get together, learn from each other, and generally celebrate everything geospatial.