@inbook {24969, title = {Geographical expertise: From places to processes and back again}, booktitle = {The Third Wave of Science \& Technology Studies}, year = {2019}, abstract = {This chapter reviews Collins and Evans{\textquoteright} {\textquotedblleft}Periodic Table of Expertises{\textquotedblright} and applies its expanded model of expertise to geographical expertise{\textemdash}the area of expertise related to places. Taking the position that expertise can be acquired through both experience and formal training, this chapter explores how thinking about geographic knowledge and expertise has evolved to encompass both place-based and process-based dimensions. Specifically, it demonstrates how recent developments in mobile phone and geolocation technologies change the dimensional reconstruction of particular forms of geographic expertise.}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14335-0_6}, author = {Robertson, C and Feick, R.} } @inbook {24970, title = {Participatory Methods for Identifying Cultural Heritage Landscapes}, booktitle = {The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning}, year = {2019}, pages = {446-457}, author = {Drescher, M. and Feick, R. and DeGeer, C. and Shipley, R.} } @article {24968, title = {Inference and analysis across spatial supports in the big data era: Uncertain point observations and geographic contexts}, journal = {Transactions in GIS}, volume = {22}, year = {2018}, pages = {455-476}, abstract = {The ways in which geographic information are produced have expanded rapidly over recent decades. These advances have provided new opportunities for geographical information science and spatial analysis{\textemdash}allowing the tools and theories to be expanded to new domain areas and providing the impetus for theory and methodological development. In this light, old problems of inference and analysis are rediscovered and need to be reinterpreted, and new ones are made apparent. This article describes a new typology of geographical analysis problems that relates to uncertainties in the relationship between individual-level data, represented as point features, and the geographic context(s) that they are associated with. We describe how uncertainty in context linkage (uncertain geographic context problem) is also related to, but distinct from, uncertainty in point-event locations (uncertain point observation problem) and how these issues can impact spatial analysis. A case study analysis of a geosocial dataset demonstrates how alternative conclusions can result from failure to account for these sources of uncertainty. Sources of point observation uncertainties common in many forms of user-generated and big spatial data are outlined and methods for dealing with them are reviewed and discussed.}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/tgis.12321}, author = {Robertson, C and Feick, R.} } @article {24967, title = {A unified ecological framework for studying effects of digital places on well-being}, journal = {Social Science \& Medicine}, volume = {227}, year = {2018}, pages = {119-127}, abstract = {Social media has greatly expanded opportunities to study place and well-being through the availability of human expressions tagged with physical location. Such research often uses social media content to study how specific places in the offline world influence well-being without acknowledging that digital platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Yelp) are designed in unique ways that structure certain types of interactions in online and offline worlds, which can influence place-making and well-being. To expand our understanding of the mechanisms that influence social media expressions about well-being, we describe an ecological framework of person-place interactions that asks, {\textquotedblleft}at what broad levels of interaction with digital platforms and physical environments do effects on well-being manifest?{\textquotedblright} The person is at the centre of the ecological framework to recognize how people define and organize both digital and physical communities and interactions. The relevance of interactions in physical environments depends on the built and natural characteristics encountered across modes of activity (e.g., domestic, work, study). Here, social interactions are stratified into the meso-social (e.g., local social norms) and micro-social (e.g., personal conversations) levels. The relevance of interactions in digital platforms is contingent on specific hardware and software elements. Social interactions at the meso-social level include platform norms and passive use of social media, such as observing the expressions of others, whereas interactions at the micro-level include more active uses, like direct messaging. Digital platforms are accessed in a physical location, and physical locations are partly experienced through online interactions; therefore, interactions between these environments are also acknowledged. We conclude by discussing the strengths and limitations of applying the framework to studies of place and well-being.}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.09.022}, author = {Shankardass, K. and Robertson, C and Shaughnessy, K. and Sykora, M. and Feick, R.} } @inbook {24971, title = {Current themes in volunteered geographic information}, booktitle = {GIS Applications for Socio-Economics and Humanity}, volume = {3}, year = {2017}, pages = {26-41}, abstract = {Volunteered geographic information (VGI) is the use of digital tools to collect, analyze, and share geographic information that was provided by individuals. Recent advances in digital communication tools and applications have led to unprecedented advances for VGI. Because official credentials are not required, VGI can include the experiences and perspectives of many people, respond rapidly to local needs, and be more spatially and temporally extensive than traditional approaches. VGI encompasses a wide range of activities, from simple and possibly unintentional actions, such as georeferencing messages or pictures shared on the Internet, to the intentional involvement of volunteers in scientific research. The motivations of volunteers and researchers for these activities are wide and ranging and relate to the products that are generated. This article focuses on intentional efforts by geographers to collect VGI. Two main barriers to adoption of VGI for decision making are concerns about data quality and incomplete representation. Strategies to address these concerns can lead to new discoveries and improved decision making in governance. In this article we introduce VGI, discuss theoretical developments, and relate them to three recent experiences.}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.09620-2}, author = {Ferster, C. and Nelson, T. and Robertson, C and Feick, R.} } @article {198, title = {Understanding Public Opinions from Geosocial Media}, journal = {ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information}, volume = {5}, year = {2016}, pages = {74}, publisher = {Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute}, abstract = {

Increasingly, social media data are linked to locations through embedded GPS coordinates. Many local governments are showing interest in the potential to repurpose these firsthand geo-data to gauge spatial and temporal dynamics of public opinions in ways that complement information collected through traditional public engagement methods. Using these geosocial data is not without challenges since they are usually unstructured, vary in quality, and often require considerable effort to extract information that is relevant to local governments{\textquoteright} needs from large data volumes. Understanding local relevance requires development of both data processing methods and their use in empirical studies. This paper addresses this latter need through a case study that demonstrates how spatially-referenced Twitter data can shed light on citizens{\textquoteright} transportation and planning concerns. A web-based toolkit that integrates text processing methods is used to model Twitter data collected for the Region of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada) between March 2014 and July 2015 and assess citizens{\textquoteright} concerns related to the planning and construction of a new light rail transit line. The study suggests that geosocial media can help identify geographies of public perceptions concerning public facilities and services and have potential to complement other methods of gauging public sentiment.

}, author = {Zhang, Shanqi and Feick, Rob} } @article {199, title = {Bumps and bruises in the digital skins of cities: Unevenly distributed user-generated content across US urban areas}, journal = {Cartography and Geographic Information Science}, year = {2015}, pages = {1-18}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, abstract = {

As momentum and interest build to leverage new forms of user-generated content that contains geographical information, classical issues of data quality remain significant research challenges. In this article we explore issues of representativeness for one form of user-generated content, geotagged photographs in US urban centers. Generalized linear models were developed to associate photograph distribution with underlying socioeconomic descriptors at the city-scale, and examine intra-city variation in relation to income inequality. We conclude our analyses with a detailed examination of Dallas, Seattle, and New Orleans. Our findings add to the growing volume of evidence outlining uneven representativeness in user-generated data, and our approach contributes to the stock of methods available to investigate geographic variations in representativeness. In addition to city-scale variables relating to distribution of user-generated content, variability remains at localized scales that demand an individual and contextual understanding of their form and nature. The findings demonstrate that careful analysis of representativeness at both macro and micro scales can simultaneously provide important insights into the processes giving rise to user-generated data sets and potentially shed light on their embedded biases and suitability as inputs to analysis.

}, isbn = {1523-0406}, author = {Robertson, Colin and Feick, Robert} } @inbook {201, title = {Identifying locally-and globally-distinctive urban place descriptors from heterogeneous user-generated content}, booktitle = {Advances in Spatial Data Handling and Analysis}, year = {2015}, pages = {51-63}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, organization = {Springer International Publishing}, abstract = {

Place, which can be seen simply as space with meaning, has long been recognized as an important concept for understanding how individuals perceive, utilize and value their surroundings. There is increasing interest in mining information from geo-referenced user-generated content (UGC) and volunteered geographic information (VGI) to gain new insights into how people describe and delimit urban places such as neighbourhoods and vernacular landmarks and locales. In this paper, we aim to extend recent efforts to explore semantic similarity in these data by examining differences in place descriptors through georeferenced photo tags across multiple scales for selected cities in the USA. We compute measures of tag importance using both a na{\"\i}ve aspatial approach and a method based on spatial relations. We then compare the results of these methods for understanding tag semantics, and reveal to what degree certain characterizations as represented in tag-space are also spatially structured. Tag metrics are computed for multiple fixed resolutions that approximate typical urban place sizes (e.g. city, block, neighbourhood) and a simple extension of a well-known tag-frequency metric is proposed to capture differences in locally distinctive and globally distinctive tags. We present this analysis as an adaptation of traditional text analysis methods with ideas from spatial analysis in order to reveal hidden spatial structure within UGC.

}, author = {Feick, R and Robertson, C} } @inbook {203, title = {Identifying Optimal Study Areas and Spatial Aggregation Units for Point-Based VGI from Multiple Sources}, booktitle = {Advances in Spatial Data Handling and Analysis}, year = {2015}, pages = {65-84}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, organization = {Springer International Publishing}, abstract = {

In this paper, we introduce a new metric for evaluating feasible VGI study areas and the appropriateness of different aggregation unit sizes through three different components of data quality: coverage, density, and user-heterogeneity. Two popular sources of passive VGI are used for initial testing of the metric: Twitter and Flickr. We compare the component and aggregate measures for different simulated point processes and demonstrate the properties of this metric. The three components are assessed iteratively for the point user generated data (tweets and photos) on a local basis by altering grain sizes. We demonstrate the application of this metric with Flickr and Twitter data obtained for three Canadian cities as initial study areas, including Vancouver, Toronto, and Moncton. The utility of the metric for discriminating qualitatively different types of VGI is evaluated for each of these areas based on a relative comparison framework. Finally, we present a use-case for this metric: identifying the optimal spatial grain and extent for a given data set. The results of this analysis will provide a methodology for preliminary evaluation of VGI quality within a given study area, and identify sub-areas with desirable characteristics.

}, isbn = {3319199498}, author = {Lawrence, Haydn and Robertson, Colin and Feick, Rob and Nelson, Trisalyn} } @article {200, title = {Multi-scale 3D geovisualization of urban heat island data for planning dialogue in Toronto}, journal = {Emerging Issues, Challenges and Opportunities in Urban E-Planning, University of Lisbon, Portugal}, year = {2015}, pages = {166-187}, abstract = {

This e-planning visualization case study in the Toronto region investigated the\  use of 3D urban models as a visualization reference against which analytical models were\  visualized to identify micro-scale mitigation scenarios of urban heat island effects. The case\  studies were directed to processes of planning decision making. The Toronto region faces\  problems of urban heat island impacts due to the increasing frequency of extreme heat\  events (Bass, Krayenhoff, \& Martilli, 2002). The City of Toronto and the Toronto and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) have each implemented policies and programmes aimed at mitigating urban heat island and climate change effects (City of Toronto, 2006). This research explored ways of visualizing remote sensing heat island data to assist with the targeted application of planning policies and programs.

}, author = {Danahy, John and Mitchell, Jacob and Feick, Rob and Wrigh, R} } @proceedings {202, title = {Stresscapes: validating linkages between place and stress expression on social media}, year = {2015}, publisher = {{\textcopyright} The authors. Published by CEUR Workshop Proceedings}, abstract = {

Understanding how individuals and groups perceive their surroundings and how different physical and social environments may influence their state-of-mind has intrigued re-searchers for some time. Much of this research has focused on investigating\  why certain natural and human-built places can engender specific emotive responses\  (e.g. fear, disgust, joy, etc.) and, by extension, how these responses can be considered in placemaking activities such as urban planning and design. Developing a better understanding of the linkages between place and emotional state is challenging in part because both cognitive processes and the concept of place are complex, dynamic\  and multi-faceted and are mediated by a\  confluence of contextual, individual and social processes. There is evidence to suggest that social media data produced by individuals in situ and in near real-time may provide novel insights into the nature and dynamics of individuals{\textquoteright} responses\  to their surroundings. The explosion\  of user-generated digital data and the sensorization of environments, especially in urban settings, provide opportunities to build knowledge of place and state-of-mind linkages that will inform the design and promotion of vibrant placemaking by individuals and communities. In this paper we present a novel study, to be undertaken\  this summer within the Greater Toronto\  area in Canada, with 140 recruited participants who are frequent, geo-tagging, Twitter users. The goal of the study will be to assess emotional, acute and chronic stress experienced in urban built-environments and as expressed during\  daily activities. An existing automated semantic natural language processing tool will be validated through this study, and it is hoped that the methodology developed can be extrapolated to other urban environments as well, with a second validation study already planned to take place next year in London, United Kingdom.

}, author = {Sykora, Martin D and Robertson, Colin and Shankardass, Ketan and Feick, Rob and Shaughnessy, Krystelle and Coates, Becca and Lawrence, Haydn and Jackson, Thomas} } @article {204, title = {A multi-scale approach to exploring urban places in geotagged photographs}, journal = {Computers, Environment and Urban Systems}, year = {2014}, publisher = {Elsevier}, abstract = {

User-generated content (UGC) that contains spatial references, often referred to by the more bounded concept of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), is often touted as a potentially revolutionary data source for geographical research. This paper explores the capacity of one increasingly prevalent source of these data, geographically encoded photographs, to capture spatial expressions of place in an urban environment. Geotagged photographs were obtained from the Flickr API to build a geographic database of photographs for the city of Vancouver, Canada from 2001{\textendash}2012. These data were aggregated to multiple geographic units represented as hexagonal lattices. Spatial patterns of photo aggregation were examined for tessellations that ranged from 0.25 ha to 1024 ha. Tags associated with each photo were also explored through the notion of {\textquoteleft}tag-space{\textquoteright} at multiple resolutions, or {\textquotedblleft}scales{\textquotedblright}, of analysis through local log-odds ratios. Results indicate a significant interaction between tag-space semantics and spatial aggregation which suggests that consideration of scale effects should be integral to analysis of this type of tagged VGI for exploring citizens{\textquoteright} sensing of urban environments. The results indicate further that we may have to reconsider the interaction between encoded meaning, the methods used for extracting such meaning from tag-space, and exogenous and endogenous spatial scales of spatial UGC.

}, author = {Feick, Rob and Robertson, Colin} } @article {205, title = {Exploring Ways to Use 3D Urban Models to Visualize Multi-Scalar Climate Change Data and Mitigation Change Models for e-Planning}, journal = {International Journal of E-Planning Research (IJEPR)}, volume = {2}, year = {2013}, pages = {1-17}, publisher = {IGI Global}, abstract = {

This e-planning visualization case study in the Toronto region investigated the use of 3D urban models as a visualization reference against which analytical models were visualized to identify micro scale mitigation scenarios of urban heat island effects. The case studies were directed to processes of planning decision making. The Toronto region faces problems of urban heat island impacts due to the increasing frequency of extreme heat events (Bass, Krayenhoff \& Martilli, 2002). The City of Toronto and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) have each implemented policies and programmes aimed at mitigating urban heat island and climate change effects (City of Toronto 2006). This research explored ways of visualizing remote sensing heat island data to assist with the targeted application of planning policies and programs.

}, isbn = {2160-9918}, author = {Danahy, John and Wright, Robert and Mitchell, Jacob and Feick, Rob} } @inbook {178, title = {Understanding the Value of VGI}, booktitle = {Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge}, year = {2013}, pages = {15-29}, publisher = {Springer Netherlands}, organization = {Springer Netherlands}, abstract = {

Growing investments of time, money and other resources in the production of geographic information (GI) in concert with the increasingly widespread use of GI throughout society are often accompanied by statements that reference the economic, cultural and social value of GI. Despite considerable effort over the past decade, our capacity to quantify the value of GI or even understand how value should be conceptualized remains limited. The recent emergence of volunteered geographic information (VGI) has introduced several new facets to the challenge of understanding the value of (V)GI. This chapter examines how VGI use and production are challenging our understanding of how GI and VGI alike are valued. Following a review of the traditional approaches to valuing GI, the chapter explores the distinctive characteristics of VGI use and production that introduce new dimensions to value. More specifically, the chapter proposes several metaphors (serendipitous and unexpected discovery, Debord{\textquoteright}s {\textquoteleft}D{\'e}rives{\textquoteright} metaphor, Lego block theory) that can be used to conceptualize VGI value and the potential to adapt the {\textquoteleft}fitness-for-use{\textquoteright} concept to guide user assessments of VGI value in practice.

}, author = {Feick, Rob and Roche, St{\'e}phane} } @inbook {179, title = {Collaborative development of geo-spatial tools to support climate change decision-making}, booktitle = {The added value of scientific networking}, year = {2012}, pages = {213-250}, publisher = {GEOIDE Network}, organization = {GEOIDE Network}, abstract = {

GEOIDE NCE funding has enabled a decade of collaborative development of geospatial decision-support tools on sustainability issues, working with several regional and local governments, and multiple academic teams. Project strengths have been the innovative development and/or application of geospatial tools to climate change within collaborative processes, the on-going development of relationships between researchers and local communities, and longitudinal project evaluation, made possible through on-going, multi-year GEOIDE grants. The linked projects have led to increased local government awareness and capacity-building around climate change, the development of localized and downscaled climate change scenarios tied to local issues, local champion support, and early uptake of spatial planning tools and project outputs within communities. The flexibility of the Local Climate Change Visioning process has allowed the adaptation of geospatial tools to a range of contexts and thematic areas. It is one stream of activities that integrates climate change within the operations of municipal and regional governments.

}, author = {Pond, Ellen and Schroth, Olaf and Sheppard, Stephen and Feick, Rob and Marceau, Danielle and Danahy, John and Burch, Sarah and Cornish, Laura and Cohen, Stewart and Flanders, David} } @article {182, title = {Community-based production of geographic information using open source software and Web 2.0}, journal = {International journal of geographical information science}, volume = {24}, year = {2010}, pages = {761-781}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, abstract = {

This article presents an innovative approach to citizen-led production of Web-based geographic information where new and/or existing digital map features are linked to annotations or commentary and citizens engage in synchronous and/or asynchronous discussion. The article discusses the relationship of the approach to public participation geographic information systems (PPGISs) and the emerging challenges associated with volunteered geographic information. A custom-developed, open source software tool named MapChat is used to facilitate the citizen inputs and discussions. The information generated from applying the approach through a series of community workshops is presented and discussed in light of current issues in PPGIS and volunteered geographic information research.

}, isbn = {1365-8816}, author = {Hall, G Brent and Chipeniuk, Raymond and Feick, Robert D and Leahy, Michael G and Deparday, Vivien} } @article {183, title = {The ecoGeo cookbook for the assessment of geographic information value}, journal = {International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research}, volume = {5}, year = {2010}, pages = {120-144}, abstract = {

The EcoGeo II project has, as its main goal, the establishment of an economic model to evaluate geographic information (GI). The first phase of the EcoGeo Project has provided a visual representation, called Socioscope, of the overall flows of geospatial data between the main private and public stakeholders of the geomatic sector in the province of Quebec (Canada). From this foundation, EcoGeo Phase II was launched in 2008 with several goals. The first goal was to analyze the most important existing research and approaches to evaluate the economic value of the GI sector. The results show that the value chain concept is, in theory, one of the most suitable approaches that can be adapted to assess GI value. However, it is also one of the most complex due to the number of variables involved with how are GI produced and used within and between organizations. Our second goal was to define the basis or conventions for evaluating GI and, more specifically, to develop a list of parameters which need to be considered for evaluating GI. We defined a set of guidelines that we called the EcoGeo cookbook, which aims at identifying, listing and describing the most important variables and attributes relating to GI value which have been identified in literature. These attributes relate to how GI is produced and used (e.g. value of the location attribute, time dependency, quality, etc.), the costs of the GI product (e.g. transaction costs) and the price definition (based on value pricing strategy). Caution must be used when evaluating intangible benefits, which are less easily estimated than tangible ones. The final goal will be to implement such variables and attributes into the Socioscope{\textquoteright}s database structure. This will also allow for the definition of a specific value chain for the GI sector in Quebec.

}, author = {Genovese, Elisabetta and Roche, St{\'e}phane and Caron, Claude and Feick, Robert} } @article {180, title = {Evaluating selected visualisation methods for exploring VGI}, journal = {Geomatica}, volume = {64}, year = {2010}, pages = {427-437}, publisher = {Canadian Institute of Geomatics}, abstract = {

The increasing prevalence of user-generated, or volunteered, geographic information is changing established practices of spatial data production and use in ways that were largely unanticipated in nature or in scope. This paper investigates one dimension of VGI use that has received relatively little attention to date, namely the influence of different cartographic visualisation methods on citizens{\textquoteright} ability to explore and understand VGI. Following a brief review of key challenges related to VGI use, the paper describes a webbased software prototype that was designed to allow users to compare several simple geovisualisation and data filtering techniques for VGI exploration. Next, attention is directed to a specific study context where citizens used the software tool to explore a rich data set of locally-produced VGI related to community assets. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results from this experiment.

}, author = {Feick, Rob and Deparday, Vivien} } @inbook {181, title = {Spatial Multicriteria Evaluation}, booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Geography}, volume = {5}, year = {2010}, pages = {2655-2657}, publisher = {Sage}, organization = {Sage}, author = {Feick, Rob} } @article {184, title = {Evaluating the socio-economic impact of Geographic Information: A classification of the literature}, journal = {International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research}, volume = {4}, year = {2009}, pages = {218-238}, abstract = {

Geographic information (GI) is increasingly important to citizens, businesses and governments in modern societies. Considerable effort has been devoted to understanding how GI affects the information management strategies and practices of individual organizations (GITA, 2006). However, there is an increasing awareness across public and private organizations that more attention has to be paid to assessing the broader economic and socio-economic impacts of GI applications (Craglia and Nowak, 2006). Given the investments that local, regional, national and supra-national organizations have made in GI and may consider for the future, it is imperative that the impacts of GI be assessed across all scales. This is particularly relevant as GI is viewed increasingly as an infrastructural element for which investments and benefits must be justified and quantified (Grus et al., 2007). Although an increasing number of researchers are examining different approaches to evaluating specific GI applications, it is clear that the documentation of business cases and assessment strategies for GI economic and socio-economic impacts is still incomplete (GITA, 2006). The key objective of this paper is to analyze and classify some of the current literature related to assessing the impact of GI. This review, which was conducted under the auspices of the EcoGeo II project (http://ecogeo.scg.ulaval.ca), is based on an examination of 32 academic, business and government studies. A classification framework was constructed to compare these studies with reference to two key variables: topics and approaches. The studies we analyzed were developed within different public and private organizations and spanned international, national and regional scales. The results show that assessing the economic and socio-economic impacts of GI remains largely embryonic in nature. In particular, we identify the need for a common vocabulary and understanding of which topics should be assessed, as well as testing of any proposed evaluation techniques.

}, author = {Genovese, Elisabetta and Cotteret, Gilles and Roche, St{\'e}phane and Caron, Claude and Feick, Robert} } @article {185, title = {A practical approach for evaluating cultural heritage landscapes: Lessons from rural Ontario}, journal = {Planning, Practice \& Research}, volume = {24}, year = {2009}, pages = {455-469}, publisher = {Routledge}, abstract = {

The identification and conservation of cultural heritage landscapes (CHL) is becoming a standard part of planning practice. In Ontario, Canada, the provincial government issued a directive in 2005 to mandate protection of CHLs. Since that time, local and regional planners have been active, operationalizing CHL identification and developing appropriate land use regulations for their preservation. This article uses the study of a a rural landscape centred on the last surviving covered bridge in Ontario to illustrate how focus groups and web-based participation can be used to establish the significance of an area and to build recommendations for its designation and protection.

}, isbn = {0269-7459}, author = {Shipley, Robert and Feick, Robert} } @article {186, title = {Modeling prescribed burns to serve as regional firebreaks to allow wildfire activity in protected areas}, journal = {Forest Ecology and Management}, volume = {256}, year = {2008}, pages = {1815-1824}, publisher = {Elsevier}, abstract = {

Management around wilderness parks ideally requires thorough fire suppression in proximate settled and commercially exploited lands and natural fire within protected areas. To satisfy these requirements, we explored a potential regional firebreak (firewall) based on a series of prescribed burns in Quetico Provincial Park in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Fire managers were recruited each to independently devise a regional firebreak using simulated prescribed burns. The experts{\textquoteright} five designs consisted of between 9 and 25 prescribed burns, set over periods ranging from 3 to 8 years, and covering from 7900 to 26,100 ha. Each wildlife ignition was run after the entire firebreak was created and the vegetation was reclassified to account for post-fire vegetation re-growth. The potential efficacy of each design was tested using worst-case historical weather and 100 random ignitions in the Prometheus fire growth simulation model. Without a firewall, 100 ignitions resulted in 69 fires escaping the park and consuming 483,900 ha of forest beyond the park boundary. The firewall designs were all effective, reducing the area burned outside the park to between 15,400 and 35,400 ha. There was a 77{\textendash}90\% reduction in the number of fires escaping the firewall areas and an average reduction of fire area beyond the park of 92\%. Moreover, one can map the geographic weak points in each design, which encourages iterative firebreak design improvements. For instance, firewalls set nearer the park boundary allowed fewer fires to start between the firewall and the boundary, so increasing firebreak effectiveness. The cost of the above systems can be regarded as taking preventative measures against the risk of future economic loss, and the modeling approach reduces the uncertainties in associated decision making.

}, isbn = {0378-1127}, author = {Suffling, Roger and Grant, Anne and Feick, Rob} } @article {187, title = {Variable resolution spatial interpolation using the simple recursive point Voronoi diagram}, journal = {Geographical Analysis}, volume = {37}, year = {2005}, pages = {225-243}, publisher = {Blackwell Publishing}, abstract = {

This article introduces a procedure for progressively increasing the density of an initial point set that can be used as a basis for interpolating surfaces of variable resolution from sparse samples of data sites. The procedure uses the Simple Recursive Point Voronoi Diagram in which Voronoi concepts are used to tessellate space with respect to a given set of generator points. The construction is repeated every time with a new generator set, which comprises members selected from the previous generator set plus features of the current tessellation. We show how this procedure can be implemented in Arc/Info and present an illustration of its application using three known surfaces and alternative generator point configurations. Initial results suggest that the procedure has considerable potential and we discuss further methods for evaluating and extending it.

}, isbn = {1538-4632}, author = {Feick, Robert and Boots, Barry} } @article {189, title = {Evaluating municipal visioning}, journal = {Planning Practice and Research}, volume = {19}, year = {2004}, pages = {195-210}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, isbn = {0269-7459}, author = {Shipley, Robert and Feick, Robert and Hall, Brent and Earley, Robert} } @article {188, title = {A method for examining the spatial dimension of multi-criteria weight sensitivity}, journal = {International Journal of Geographical Information Science}, volume = {18}, year = {2004}, pages = {815-840}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, abstract = {

There is growing interest in extending GIS to support pluralistic decision-making processes where the perspectives and objectives of different stakeholders must be represented and, if possible, distilled into strategies that satisfy all decision participants. Augmenting GIS capabilities with multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods allows the relative attractiveness of different alternatives (e.g. sites, land-use plans, etc.) to be evaluated in light of subjectively weighted decision criteria. This paper presents a generic methodology for investigating the spatial dimension of multi-criteria weight sensitivity. The methodology is particularly well suited to the spatial domain, as it provides insight into both the robustness of individual stakeholder{\textquoteright}s evaluations as well as the geographic dimension of weight sensitivity. The methodology is illustrated using a study in which a small group of individuals representing different interests evaluated sites for new tourism development on the island of Grand Cayman, BWI. The results demonstrate how the proposed approach can aid users{\textquoteright} understanding of a decision issue and potentially increase confidence in evaluation outputs by providing users with mechanisms to define non-statistical confidence intervals for weights and to visualize weight sensitivity cartographically. The paper concludes by discussing the broader value of this approach in other GIS-MCDM contexts and outlines areas for further research.

}, isbn = {1365-8816}, author = {Feick, Robert and Hall, Brent} } @article {190, title = {Predicting forest age classes from high spatial resolution remotely sensed imagery using Voronoi polygon aggregation}, journal = {GeoInformatica}, volume = {8}, year = {2004}, pages = {143-155}, publisher = {Kluwer Academic Publishers}, abstract = {

Efficient identification of forest age is useful for forest management and ecological applications. Here we propose a user-assisted method for determining forest age using high spatial resolution remotely sensed imagery. This method requires individual trees to be extracted from imagery and represented as points. We use a local maximum filter to generate points that are converted to Voronoi polygons. Properties of the Voronoi polygons are correlated with forest age and used to aggregate points (trees) into areas (stands) based on three forest age classes. Accuracy of the aggregation ranges from approximately 68\% to 78\% and identification of the mature class is more consistent and accurate than the younger classes.

}, isbn = {1384-6175}, author = {Nelson, Trisalyn and Boots, Barry and Wulder, Mike and Feick, Rob} } @inbook {191, title = {Balancing consensus and conflict with a GIS-based multi-participant, multi-criteria decision support tool}, booktitle = {Modelling Geographical Systems}, year = {2003}, pages = {203-233}, publisher = {Springer Netherlands}, organization = {Springer Netherlands}, abstract = {

Many land use decision problems are sufficiently complex, controversial and non-routine in nature that their resolution requires not only knowledge, expertise and data drawn from several distinct domains, but also debate of multiple and often conflicting viewpoints, objectives and solution strategies. Despite the promise of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology for examining a wide variety of land use issues, it has been criticised for its lack of decision support capabilities in this and other application areas (Hendriks and Vriens, 2000; Towers, 1997; Heywood et al., 1994). In particular, the capacity of commercial GIS to facilitate debate and achieve some measure of balance among different viewpoints has been identified as a major weakness. This capability is constrained by several factors in commercial software, foremost of which is an intrinsic single-user perspective that disregards the multi-interest character of the decision making process and the socially constructed nature of data and analytical methods (Pickles, 1999; Flowerdew, 1998; Jones et al., 1997; Goodchild, 1995).

}, isbn = {9048161045}, author = {Feick, Robert D and Hall, G Brent} } @proceedings {193, title = {Investigating recursive point Voronoi diagrams}, journal = {International Conference on Geographic Information Science}, year = {2002}, pages = {1-21}, publisher = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg}, abstract = {

Recursive Voronoi diagrams (RVDs) use Voronoi concepts to tessellate a space with respect to a given set of generators and repeat the construction every time with a new generator set consisting of objects selected from the previous generator set plus features of the current tessellation. In this paper, we investigate the behaviour of three variants of a single recursive Voronoi construction involving point generators. We describe how these structures may be constructed in Arc/Info. Although we suggest that RVDs have a number of potential uses in GIS, we focus on a spatial modelling perspective and examine some of their statistical characteristics. The RVDs examined are found to be fractal in nature.

}, author = {Boots, Barry and Feick, Robert and Shiode, Narushige and Roberts, Steven} } @article {192, title = {Balancing consensus and conflict with a GIS-based multi-participant, multi-criteria decision support tool}, journal = {GeoJournal}, volume = {53}, year = {2001}, pages = {391-406}, publisher = {Springer Netherlands}, author = {Feick, Robert and Hall, Brent} } @article {194, title = {The application of a spatial decision support system to tourism-based land management in small island states}, journal = {Journal of Travel Research}, volume = {39}, year = {2000}, pages = {163-171}, publisher = {Sage Publications}, abstract = {

Tourism planning decisions involve varying degrees of participation from multiple interests, some of which may differ substantially in their objectives, relative authority, and perception of key issues. This article focuses on applying Geographic Information System technology within a customized software design to allow multiple participants from various sectors to designate land parcels appropriate for tourism-related development or for a competing land use. The approach adopted allows the degree of consensus in land designations to be identified and visualized in map form. A small sample of participants with diverse interests in land use and tourism planning issues apply this tool to a sample tourism planning study in West Bay District of Grand Cayman, British West Indies. The findings of the sample application are discussed, with emphasis given to the contributions that this type of information system can offer policy makers concerned with contentious tourism-related planning and management decisions.

}, isbn = {0047-2875}, author = {Feick, Robert D and Hall, G Brent} } @article {195, title = {Consensus-building in a multi-participant spatial decision support system}, journal = {URISA journal}, volume = {11}, year = {1999}, pages = {17-23}, publisher = {Citeseer}, abstract = {

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are widely used in local and regional planning for managing, integrating and visualizing spatial data sets. However, beyond basic levels of decision support, GIS remain largely external artifacts to the decision-making process. This suggests that despite increased analytic sophistication, most GIS software is more suited to providing limited outputs (maps, tables, etc.) than as a tool to support, at anything other than a superficial level, tactical or strategic decision-making processes. To improve the usefulness of GIS as a decision support tool, two needs are apparent. First, decisionmakers require methods that allow them easily to select alternatives most closely aligned with their priorities across a number of relevant criteria. Second, it is necessary to recognize explicitly that most decision-making processes involve multiple participants. Since problem solving is often characterized by multiple and conflicting objectives, methods that contribute toward consensus building are required. This paper describes a prototype Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) that satisfies these needs through a tight-coupling of GIS functionality and Multiple Criteria Analysis (MCA) techniques. The potential benefits of adopting this approach and future extensions to the prototype are discussed in light of a land use-planning example.

}, author = {Feick, Robert D and Hall, G Brent} } @article {196, title = {GIS-based decision support architecture and applications for developing countries}, journal = {South African Journal of Geo-Information}, volume = {17}, year = {1997}, pages = {73-80}, author = {Hall, G Brent and Bowerman, RL and Feick, Robert D} } @article {197, title = {Problems and Prospects for GIS-based Decision Support Applications in Developing Countries}, journal = {Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada}, year = {1997}, author = {Hall, G Brent and Feick, RD and Bowerman, RL} }