Peter Johnson

Associate Professor

EV1-236, ext. 43078
peter.johnson@uwaterloo.ca

Fellow, Balsillie School of International Affairs

Peter joined GEM in 2012 having been a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University. His research seeks to understand how governments, citizens, and private companies share information through geospatial technology, including open data, the Geoweb, social media, mobile devices, and the process of crowdsourcing. Recent projects have focused on understanding the value of government open data, the integration of volunteered geographic information in government, Geoweb platform development, and mobile application testing and evaluation. Peter is a co-applicant in the SSHRC-funded Partnership Grant Geothink.ca, where he leads research on open data and municipal government.

For more information, visit Peter Johnson's research team website.

Key Areas of Graduate Supervision

The Geoweb, open data, mobile technology, public participation GIS, community-based geomatics, geospatial technology in planning and government.

Note: Peter is recruiting new graduate students, particularly PhD students, with interests and experience working in open data, smart cities, and technology adoption. Please contact Peter directly for more information.

Recent Courses Taught


GEOG 187: Problem Solving in Geomatics
GEOG 381: Spatial Analysis Using Geographic Information Systems
GEOG 483/683: The Geoweb and Location-Based Services

Research Interests

My research seeks to understand how governments, citizens, and private companies share information through geospatial technology, including open data, the geoweb, social media, mobile devices, and the process of crowdsourcing. As location-based technology untethers communications from the traditional spaces of home, work, and play, there is a vital need for critical reflection. My research evaluates the affordances that geospatial technology creates for communications and information sharing, identifying emergent adoption challenges and constraints.

Selected Recent Publications

For up to date listing and links to papers, see Peter Johnson's Google Scholar page.

  • 2019. Johnson, P.A. Open Source Mapping. International Encyclopedia of Human Geography – 2nd edition.
  • 2019. Philpot, S., Philpot, C., Hipel, K., and Johnson, P. Identifying potential conflict in land-use planning using a values-centered e-participation tool: A Canadian case study in aggregate mining. Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences 2019.
  • 2019. Johnson, P.A. Disintermediating Government: The role of Open Data and Smart Infrastructure. Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences 2019.
  • 2018. Minano, A., Johnson, P., and Wandel, J. How the Geoweb supports climate change adaptation in coastal communities in Nova Scotia. Geojournal. 83(3), 413-425.
  • 2017. Johnson, P.A., and Greene, S. Who are government open data infomediaries?: A preliminary scan and classification of Canadian open data users and products. Journal of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA). 28(1), 9-18.
  • 2017. Philpot, SL, Johnson, PA, Hipel, KW. Analysis of a brownfield management conflict in Canada. Hydrological Research Letters. 11(3), 141-148.
  • 2017. Johnson, P. A., Sieber, R., Scassa, T., Stephens, M., & Robinson, P. The Cost (s) of Geospatial Open Data. Transactions in GIS, 21(3), 434-445.
  • 2017. Johnson, P.A., Models of direct editing of government spatial data: Challenges and constraints to the acceptance of contributed data. Cartography and Geographic Information Science. 44(2), 128-138.
  • 2017. Johnson, P.A., and Sieber, R.E. The Geoweb for community-based organizations: Tool development, implementation, and sustainability in an era of Google Maps. The Journal of Community Informatics 13(1).
  • 2017. Johnson, P.A., Nicholls, S., Student, J., Amelung, B., Baggio, R., Balbi, S., Boavida-Portugal, I., de Jong, E., Hofstede, G.J., Lamers, M., Pons, M., and Steiger, R. Easing the adoption of agent-based modelling (ABM) in tourism research. Current Issues in Tourism. 20(8), 801-808.
  • 2017. Johnson, P.A., Ricker, B.A., and Harrison, S. Volunteered Drone Imagery: Challenges and constraints to the development of an open shared imagery repository. Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences 2017.
  • 2016. Harrison, S. and Johnson, P.A. Crowdsourcing the disaster management cycle. International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. 8(4).
  • 2016. Amelung, B., Student, J., Nicholls, S., Lamers, M., Baggio, R., Boavida-Portugal, I., Johnson, P.A., de Jong, E., Hofstede, G.J., Pons, M., Steiger, R., and Balbi, S. The value of agent-based modelling for assessing tourism-environment interactions in the Anthropocene. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 23, 46-53.
  • 2016. Sieber, R. E., Robinson, P.J., Johnson, P.A., & Corbett, J.C. Doing Public Participation on the Geoweb. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 106(5), 1030-1046.
  • 2016. Chan, M., Johnson, P.A., and Shookner, M. Assessing the use of government open data and the role of data infomediaries. JeDEM - eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government 8(1), 1-27.
  • 2016. Johnson, P.A. Reflecting on the success of open data: How municipal government evaluates their open data programs. International Journal of E-Planning Research 5(3), 1-12.
  • 2016. Robinson, P.J. and Johnson, P.A. Civic Hackathons: New Terrain for Citizen-Local Government Interaction? Urban Planning 1(2), 65-74.
  • 2016. Lu, Q. and Johnson, P.A. The use of volunteered geographic information in the public sector: A case study of 311 requests in Edmonton, Canada. Urban Planning 1(2), 18-31.
  • 2016. Philpot, S., Hipel, K., and Johnson, P.A. Strategic analysis of a water rights conflict in the south western United States. Journal of Environmental Management 180, 247-256.
  • 2015. Johnson, P. A., Corbett, J., Gore, C., Robinson, P., Allen, P., & Sieber, R.E. A Web of Expectations: Evolving Relationships in Community Participatory Geoweb Projects. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies. 14(3).
  • 2015. Sieber, R.E. & Johnson, P. A. Civic open data at a crossroads: Dominant models and current challenges. Government Information Quarterly. 32(3), 308-315
  • 2014. Johnson, P. A. & Robinson, P.J. Civic Hackathons: Innovation, Procurement, or Civic Engagement? Review of Policy Research 31(4), 349-357
  • 2014. Pons-Pons, M., Johnson, P. A., Rosas-Casals, M., & Jover, E. A georeferenced Agent Based Model to analyze the climate change impacts on ski tourism at a regional scale. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 28(12), 2474-2494.