GeoCommunity Galápagos Creating a Community-based SDI for the Galápagos Islands
Workshop “GIS for managing vulnerable environments” February 9-22, 2014 Galápagos Islands
FINAL REPORT June 2015
Final Report 1. Introduction Over the last decades, the Galápagos Islands have faced a considerable rise in human activities (tourism, population growth and migration, exploitation of natural resources like fishing and agriculture) which has resulted in increased pressure on both, the marine and terrestrial ecological system of the islands. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a management system that allows controlling of human interaction with the islands’ environment and adjusting human activities to its limited capacities. GIS has been identified as a proper tool, providing a fundament of such integrated information-management system that allows local authorities and communities to take better action on all decisive assets of their living environment and get prepared to handle at best the challenges of a vulnerable and unique island ecosystem in the 21st century. In cooperation with local authorities and community representatives, a selected group of GIS-experts from academia, GIS-practitioners, and initiatives is aiming at designing a conceptual framework for the proposed integrated GIS-based information-management system – a community-based SDI for Galápagos. This scheme should provide an all-encompassing base for efficient, effective and appropriate resource management of the islands. For further and up-to-date information of previous and ongoing project activities please visit the blog http://geogalapagos.blogspot.com.
2. Creating a Community-based SDI for the Galápagos Islands According to Campbell and Masser (1995), Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI’s) evolved from the information and technology domain. When integrating, maintaining and using geospatial resources in SDI’s practitioners are confronted with various challenges especially with regard to the different SDI domain needs, restrictions, barriers and societal issues in terms of data sharing geospatial resources as well as financial constraints. The Community-based SDI for Galápagos addresses these challenges in terms of elaborating a joint practical approach for enhancing collaboration between public administration, environmental organizations and NGO’s, private parties and citizens by fostering and strengthening their collaboration in terms of geospatial data and information sharing.
2.1.
Spatial Data Infrastructures
According to the definition of the White House in 2002 we can refer to spatial data infrastructures as data infrastructures, implementing a framework of geographic data, metadata, users and tools that are interactively connected in order to use spatial data in an efficient and flexible way. Therefore such SDI’s of technology, policies, standards, human resources and related activities are necessary to acquire, process, distribute, use, maintain, and preserve spatial data (OMB, Office of Management and Budget, 2002) The goal of such infrastructure therefore is to reduce duplication of effort among agencies, improve quality and reduce costs related to geographic information. In
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Final Report specific, SDI’s shall foster the accessibility of geographic data to a broad geospatial expert community and where applicable, to the public to increase the benefits of using the available location enabled data and information sources. The main objective of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is to facilitate the sharing of geographical information amongst public administration, private sector, NGOs, academia, other organizations and citizens, which is accomplished by establishing organizational partnerships between these parties. The definition of SDI’s states these partnerships have to be based on common efforts establishing harmonized strategies in terms of policies and laws, the use of defined technological standards for information exchange as well as the application of harmonized semantics for geospatial data and information content. In the European context, for example, a specific SDI Policy for the development of a European SDI the INSPIRE directive - and in close relationship the Public Sector Information (PSI) directive - have been established to regulate the overall legal aspects of SDI’s in Europe. On an organizational level monitoring groups have been established on a European and national level to guide the development and maintenance of SDI’s. Technical guidelines have been developed for the standardized integration and sharing via standardized technical service interfaces. Additionally spatial data interest groups and legally mandated organization groups have been established for another important task: semantically harmonizing the content being provided and/or created for the INSPIRE SDI. A well-functioning SDI at regional or organizational level with efficient data sharing mechanisms has many benefits such as:
Better planning of investments (access to information about spatial constraints and restrictions, knowledge about conflict areas; all in all leads to better decision making on investments with a territorial aspect to account for, e.g. for activities of farming, tourism and any kind of use of natural resources) Better management of facilities (having access to the location of cables and pipes of other utility companies leads to reduced number of accidents such as cutting pipes and cables) Better emergency management (in case of accidents, information from different authorities is needed rapidly. For instance in case of flooding, information about industries with dangerous material and about hospitals and elderly care centers in case of evacuation is required) Supporting cooperation from public administration, private companies, NGO’s, academia and private parties (by starting sharing data, other types of cooperation often emerges) Avoiding duplicate work within the public sector (data acquired at one agency can be reused by another agency instead of having to recollect data)
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National SDI Ecuador
Based on the presidential decret Registro Oficial No. 466 - Decreto 2250 (el 22 de Noviembre del 2004): "Créase con sede en la ciudad de Quito, el Consejo Nacional de Geoinformática (CONAGE)” in November 2004, in 2008 the National Ecuadorian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (IEDG) has been launched. One of the main components of this nationwide SDI is the Ecuadorian Geoportal accessible via http://geoportal.inigemm.gob.ec/tag/iedg/.
Figure 1: Geoportal Galapagos http://geoportal.inigemm.gob.ec/tag/iedg/ (Online: 15.05.2015)
According to Molina (2003), scientific research for establishing an Ecuadorian SDI has been guided by staff members of the Military Institute of Ecuador (IGM).This included research on the strategic framework of a NSDI, followed by guidelines for a service oriented strategy for implementation, the establishment of business processes validated for the design of a cadastral data infrastructure (Salazar 2001) and the conceptual design of an Ecuadorian Geospatial Clearinghouse (Molina, 2003). The up-to-date geoportal provided by IGM for discovering geospatial resources is accessible via http://www.geoportaligm.gob.ec (Figure 1). IGM and some other Ecuadorian organizations are also part of the GeoSUR program which has been established in 2010. The program is led by CAF - the Latin American Development Bank and PAIGH - the Pan American Institute of Geography and History. The Portal of GeoSUR (http://www.geosur.info/geosur/index.php/en/search) provides an entry point to spatial data published by Latin American and Caribbean agencies, including geospatial data of Ecuador. Alvarez et. al (2012) in their description of the setup of the University driven Latin SDI initiative state that although the proposal for NSDI has been set up, still issues remain with regard to effectiveness, as the system is designed following a centralized approach.
2.3. Setting the Foundations for a regional, communitybased SDI for Galápagos Within the last years a number of regional activities have been undertaken in Galapagos to enhance the collaboration between public and private parties, covering very specific areas as well as the entire Galápagos Islands. To support
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Final Report these activities in an appropriate manner, according to Rajabifard & Williamson (2002), these activities shall be based upon the access to and usage of regional spatial data and their characteristics for the involved organizations to support informed decision making. As preparation for the workshop a survey on the usage of spatial data at Galápagos was conducted. The questionnaire presented in Annex A was handed over to 17 representatives of the local Galápagos GI-community. It focused on performing an analysis about the current status, future application and demands identified regarding geographic information at Galápagos. The questionnaire was structured to start out with general questions about the use of spatial data both at work and leisure time, and finally to obtain more detailed information on professional applications. The next set of questions considered the availability of spatial data, their relevance and the reasons for eventual unavailability. The importance of a suitable and accessible SDI for an expert community is reflected by the following questions of the survey: “Do you think that a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) would support the decision making in Galápagos”, all questioned geospatial experts confirmed that a regional SDI would foster the decision making processes It is well recognized that the benefits will not be possible to achieve without joint efforts and cooperation. Additionally more than 95% also confirmed the question that the “… participation of citizens in planning and conservation matters of the Galápagos Islands is an important added value”. One of the first questions was about their usual approach when looking for data in a project by asking: “Assuming you would need some spatial data for a new project, where you would first search or ask for it?”
Figure 2: Expert Where to search/ask for data?
Figure 2 points out that though the Ecuadorian NSDI has been established in 2014, that there is still a wide variety on discovery sources these experts use primarily for acquiring geospatial data. This fact indicates that GI-experts in Galápagos need additional resources as provided them in the Ecuadorian SDI
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Final Report platform which might comprise of manifold circumstances, like accessibility, suitability, openness etc. Figure 3 that is based on the survey question “Do situations arise regularly where you would need spatial information but can’t get it in a timely or even not suitable manner?” fine grains the reasons why information is not available for the geospatial experts. It shows ‘typical’ patterns of constraints regarding the accessibility of geospatial information, such as costs, restricted access, missing contact details, poor (meta-) data documentation and data quality.
Figure 3: Expert Interview result: Is spatial information available in a timely manner?
According to Rajabifard & Williamson (2002) current evaluation research in establishing effective and comprehensive SDI’s shows that SDI’s remain innovative concepts when lacking support from its members. Therefore, one of the key factors for a well-functioning SDI to support decision making is the willingness for sharing data and information. Based on the survey results it is recommend to examine the detail of the constraining factors which force the restriction on accessing desired resources in order to guarantee the best usage for Galápagos. A base foundation of increasing the level of SDI usage therefore is to understand the partnerships to support and enhance the culture of sharing geospatial information. With regard to Galápagos, spatial data is collected and disseminated by a range of mandated administrative, NGO and private organizations based on a wide variety of leveraged standards for spatial data and metadata. E.g. the results of the expert survey question “Do documents containing information about spatial datasets (‘metadata’) exist in your organization? Do they follow any standards (e.g. ISO 19115, FGDC,…) ...” show the different strategies in documenting regional Galápagos geospatial resources.
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Figure 4: Expert Interview result: Metadata documentation strategies?
Due to the lack of local coordination, different data specifications, documentation structures and standards are used by the different parties working with geospatial data at Galápagos. Therefore, one possible approach to overcome discovery and data specification issues for regional geospatial data and information is the establishment of regional SDI’s, which are tailored to the distinct needs of the involved groups by focusing on the requested demand of these initiatives. In order to reduce resulting collaboration issues it is proposed to join forces for harmonizing data exchange and documentation by establishing a loosely coupled regional SDI in alignment with the National Ecuadorian SDI. A possible approach to achieve this goal is described hereafter in chapter four. An important step towards a successful SDI is capacity building taking into consideration technology, finances and not to forget – human resources of the involved parties to be able to perform their defined task in an appropriate manner.
3. Workshop “GIS for managing vulnerable environments” February 9-22, 2014 (Galápagos Islands) As a starting event of the GeoCommunity Galápagos Initiative, a group of international and national GIS-experts from academia and GIS-practitioners, as well as representatives of local authorities and initiatives gathered in February 2014 in order to design of the conceptual framework of the community-based SDI Galápagos. In a first step of a long-term collaboration process, this workshop focused on identifying the most pressing issues and needs of managing Galápagos’ fragile natural and human environments where GIS is considered as a key technology: marine sanctuary and oceanographic GIS, environmental impact analysis focusing on activities in tourism, agriculture, fishing, public services - housing, water and energy management –, infrastructure projects, land zoning and activities of the real estate sector.
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Representatives of the local GI-community (managers and GI-technicians from the regional government and municipalities, Galápagos National Park, NGOs and GI-user groups / consultants) contributed to the evaluation and qualitative analysis of the current state-of-the art of the GI-sector at Galápagos, using the questionnaire included in Annex A. From the managers’ perception, a SDI would support the decision making process, while the citizens’ participation and the community integration become important when it comes to face the challenges of planning and conservation at Galápagos. The GI-technicians on the other hand, indicated satellite and aerial images, demographic, transport, sensor (e.g. weather) data and cadastral information as the additional required (spatial) data that would be important of an efficient application of GI at Galápagos. In addition, they specified the limitations for using the necessary for their work spatial data: restricted access to the data, often unknown contact persons, incomplete/low quality of the metadata documentation and high cost of data purchase. Accounting for some already known technical limitations (e.g. weak internet connection), they all identified an urgent need for inter- and transinstitutional cooperation in providing and sharing/backup of information/data, and recognized the importance of public participation in the spatial planning context. According to the feedback provided in the questionnaire, sharing and publishing of spatial information generated at Galápagos could be efficiently facilitated by means of easy-to-use tools and mechanisms such as Smartphone apps integrated to social medial, or web-portals where public institutions publish planning related information and share existing studies and project documentation. There is a request/demand for development of proposals by the local stakeholders with the contribution of external institutions and initiates. A summary of the submitted answers of questionnaire is presented in Annex B. Based on these results, representatives of the local GI-community presented their own professional work with GIS during a 6-day kick-off workshop at the Galápagos Science Center extension of USFQ (Universidad San Francisco de Quito) at San Cristóbal Island (February 16-21, 2014), and collaborated with the international expert group on developing pilot applications as part of the proposed SDI Galápagos in the following topics:
Spatial Data Catalogue Galápagos Project GalapaApp - Interactive biodiversity map Application design: modelling of environmental indicators Orthophoto-based Applications for planning, land use management and species monitoring
A summary of the topics discussed and proposals developed by each work group is presented in the next paragraphs.
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Final Report 3.1. Spatial Data Catalogue Galápagos (Construcción de catálogo de objetos especiales para Galápagos) As one part of the workshop a discussion evolved on establishing a dedicated information infrastructure for sharing geospatial information amongst the stakeholders in Galápagos. Based on the expert survey conducted prior to the workshop the following section describes the work performed by the participants of the workshop. Additionally the chapter 5 on Community-based SDI Galápagos – Design and Implementation Strategies provides a summary of the outcomes of this workshops with regard to the actions that have been identified to foster to establish a consensus driven, user needs tailored foundation for geospatial data sharing @Galápagos Islands. The participating work group members from public organizations, the National Park and NGOs defined a common Spatial Data Catalogue as a key element for stimulating the interrelationship concerning the exchange of environmental and demographic spatial information resources at Galápagos. Thus, this work group focused on the evaluation and specification of the local needs @Galápagos Islands for a shared common spatial data catalogue created and maintained by the participating institutions. The major discussion points were how to set up a proper metadata management, to design strategies of sharing data and necessary data policies between the different organizations, also with respect to a wider public access. In addition, available datasets managed by the participating institutions were listed and hardly accessible but required supplementary geospatial resources were identified (support from external actors was expected to be helpful concerning data acquisition, monitoring and maintenance). As illustrated in Table 1, the most important institutions @Galápagos Islands dealing with spatial data were identified and categorized as data provider, data user or both. Contact persons in each institution were named.
Table 1: Potential data provider & user organizations @Galápagos Islands and suggested contact persons Data catalogues / integration (Construcción de catálogo de datos especiales para Galápagos) – Participants: Dany Sánchez &, Mónica Soria (Consejo de Gobierno de Galápagos), Manfred Mittlboeck (University of Salzburg), Victoria Achatz (Federal Government of Salzburg), Anton Eitzinger (UNIGIS/Ciat), Richard Resl (USFQ)
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Final Report The most important data categories were identified which were of interest but hardly available to the participants: Natural risks / evacuation zones for tsunamis (based on INOCAR) Elevation model (~30m) Lidar-data of Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal (based on Sauvel) Satellite-imagery (1 : 30 000) Ortho-imagery (1:25000) Watershed data Demographic data (population, immigration etc.) It was mentioned that on a national level there is already an existing catalogue of base data and maps accessible but does not include all required thematic data. The local government (Consejo de Gobierno de Galápagos) is working on consolidating metadata for the existing locally managed spatial datasets. As one major outcome of the work group, the representatives of the local institutions agreed upon the urgent necessity of a harmonized metadata profile for documentation that would serve in a better way the special needs of the unique Galápagos heritage. Additional environmental, social and socio-economic parameters, as well as mobility and energy were the topics the participants specified for further data acquisition initiatives. They requested an in-depth-discussion of the discussed topics and enunciated that the establishment of a Common Galápagos Geoportal (Figure 5) that shall be part of the proposed community-based SDI for Galápagos.
(A)
(B)
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(C)
Figure 5: Structure of suggested Common Galápagos Geoportal – (A): Postgress/Postgis (geodatabase), (B): Q-GIS (open source software) and (C): GeoServer (open source server for sharing geospatial data) Data catalogues / integration (Construcción de catálogo de datos especiales para Galápagos) – Participants: Dany Sánchez &, Mónica Soria (Consejo de Gobierno de Galápagos), Manfred Mittlboeck (University of Salzburg), Victoria Achatz (Federal Government of Salzburg), Anton Eitzinger (UNIGIS/Ciat), Richard Resl (USFQ)
3.2. Project GalapaApp - Interactive biodiversity map (Proyecto GalapaApp - Mapa de biodiversidad interactivo) In this work group, thanks to the outstanding lead of the participating local experts in the group, a specification for a mobile application for reporting biodiversity - termed “GalapApp” - was developed. The application was specified in a detailed and clear way during the workshop, so that is ready for implementation, as shown below in Figure 6. GalapApp is designed as a crowdsourcing data platform for pupils as the primary target group, meanwhile an extension to the local population, tourists, and park ranges is envisaged. The application is based on an interactive map, an interface for data input and visualization tools. Access to already existing data from the e.g. the National Park, or the Darwin Station is not mandatory, but would greatly improve the application – above all in terms of location-intelligent data input. This means that only species are suggested for data input that are present in the vegetation zone of the GalapApp-mapper. The primary devices for mapping are smartphones or tablets with a built-in GPS. Main challenges that the group identified for the implementation phase were threefold: First, the application should be embedded in a master plan for data sharing between all related institutions. Second, a solid database design should take care of a (shared) data management. Third, the application should account for weak internet connections and work offline and synchronize automatically when online.
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Figure 6: GalapApp – Proposed User Interface Project GalapaApp - Interactive biodiversity map (Proyecto GalapaApp - Mapa de biodiversidad interactivo): Participants: Pool Segarra (Geographer), Sandra García (MAGAP), Fritz Baier (University of Education, Salzburg), Sandra García (MAGAP).
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Final Report 3.3.
Application design: modeling of environmental indicators (Modelamiento de indicadores ambientales)
The idea for this GIS application came from the colleagues from the Galápagos National Park (GNP) participating in this work group. They reported about the following situation at GNP: over the years there have been many campaigns of different kinds and for different purposes during which various data have been collected. These meanwhile large data collections have hardly been processed, analyzed and evaluated, let alone used to support their work. An environmental indicators model is thus identified as a means to efficiently and effectively use these data collections. The task of this group was to come up with a suitable and possible conceptual model. The group identified purposes to use the existing data in environmental models. As example a species distribution model was chosen, which was visualized as UML diagram including the potential content for such a model (Figure 7). For the colleagues from the GNP this was the first exercise of a kind; they recognized the potential of such a GIS application and added value of the many existing datasets at an operational and even more so a strategic level.
Figure 7: Environmental indicators model – UML diagram Application design: modelling of environmental indicators (Modelamiento de indicadores ambientales) – Participants: Wilson Cabrera & Gonzalo Sevilla (Galápagos National Park), Alejandra Valdés (Caduceus-WWF), Max Martin (WWF), Barbara Riedler & Adrijana Car & Stefan Kienberger (University of Salzburg)
Thus, this application was selected as one of the priority applications to be designed and implemented within the GeoCommunity Galápagos initiative. The GNP colleagues expressed their interest in actively participating and/or taking the lead should the design of this application be pursued.
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Final Report 3.4.
Orthophoto-based Applications for planning, management and species monitoring (Aplicaciones basadas en sensores remotos)
land
use
The discussion of a remote sensing-based orthophoto application was a concept that people from local agencies participating in the fourth and final work group brought forth as a valuable aid in planning, land use management and species monitoring. Up-to-date orthophotos would be a huge assistance in understanding urban growth, both municipality guided growth and private activities. This connects to permitting activities and ensuring that proper infrastructure is available for planned activities. The group also discussed problems in updating orthophotos and assuring the IT infrastructure was available to support data transfers among agencies. The work group developed ideas for two different applications based on orthophotos and additional field data: a. Invasive Species App b. Urban planning and cadaster management App a. Invasive Species App1 This App combines remote sensing imagery from different sources and institutions in order to identify invasive species threatening the environment of the GalĂĄpagos Islands.
(A)
1
Individual simulation models of Guava invasion were developed by a group of students at University of Salzburg during a Master-level course on Geosimulation supervised by Gudrun Wallentin. The results were presented in a poster during the GI_Forum 2014. A short description of this project is presented in Annex D: Simulate to learn – a Galåpagos case study of Guava invasion.
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(B)
(C)
Figure 8: Invasive Species App – (A): User Interface, (B): Expected results and (C): Implementation phases Orthophoto-based Applications for planning, land use management and species monitoring (Aplicaciones basadas en sensores remotos) - Participants: Johny Cabrera (GADMSC), David Luzón (WWF- GADM Isabela), Carolina Sampedro (USFQ), Francis Harvey (Universtiy of Minnesota)
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Final Report b. Urban planning and cadaster management App This tool should assist the municipality to control construction permit and related cadaster issues. Remotely sense data used for the detection of new buildings improving the capacity of the municipality in land use planning.
4. Presentation of the initiative at the Municipality of San Cristóbal Preliminary results of the workshop were presented by all workshop participants to the community and representatives of different ministries at the Municipality of San Cristóbal on Saturday, February 22, 2014. After the presentations, the subsequent discussion confirmed the demand and urgent need for sharing and accessing spatial data amongst the institutions and initiatives at Galápagos based on common standards with the aim of rapidly providing easy-to-use and updated data, information and applications to policy-makers, institutions and communities. The suggested applications were positively accepted and the citizens’ participation is considered to be an integral part for the development of the Galápagos GeoCommunity. A strong wish was expressed by several stakeholders to leave the development, implementation and future management of the applications, the underlying spatial data and the SDI Galápagos itself in local hands of the Galapagenos, with external collaborators in an advisory, consultant, supporter or interlocutor role and upon request. A summary of the discussion is documented in Annex C.
5. Community-based SDI Galápagos – Design and Implementation Strategies As major result of the workshop, representatives of the most important institutions applying GIS and spatial data in their daily work routines agreed on the importance of designing a community-based SDI Galápagos in a common and locally-based effort – the GeoCommunity Galápagos Initiative. In the following chapter, the most important aspects and cornerstones of this initiative are outlined: 5.1.
Design of the Community-based SDI Galápagos
5.1.1.
Conceptual framework
As a solid base of a sustainable and effective community-based SDI Galápagos a conceptual framework should take into consideration organizational and administrative concepts of inter- and trans-institutional cooperation and the provision, sharing and publication of spatial data according to standard procedures and norms. This framework serves as integrated feedback- proposaland monitoring system for the SDI Galápagos fostering networking activities between experts, planners and citizens. For developing and applying this framework it can be resorted to the GeoCitizen-platform (http://galapagos.geociudadano.org) that was launched by the project team in
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Final Report beginning of 2014. The GeoCitizen-platform enables citizens and citizeninitiatives to actively participate in the design and management of their living environments by reporting observations on an online-map, start discussing their observations and possible solutions, vote upon solutions and monitor their implementation. It integrates crowd-sourced data and therefore provides insights to pressing issues in the living environments of the citizens of Galápagos as and additional information layer to the proposed SDI Galápagos. 5.1.2.
Implementation
One of the major activities during the workshop was the identification of specific steps envisioned for implementing the SDI Galápagos. As a result of in-depthdiscussions during the workshop the following actions are suggested as first steps towards a community-based SDI Galápagos:
Launch of a collective public relation initiative presenting the advantages of sharing the information on geospatial resources (e.g. by creating a general leaflet) Enhance communication with regards to a shared spatial data infrastructure from governmental organizations towards identified customers/user groups The establishment of a Common catalogue should be well coordinated and efficient links to the NSDI shall be created. Therefore we propose the establishment of a “Catalogue Commission” – Establish coordination commission Create a harmonized metadata documentation strategy in alignment with national/South American and international standards Develop a guidance for regulating access to and use of spatial data sets and services (licensing) for Galápagos Organizations shall describe their data in a clear, uniform and user-friendly way according to the metadata strategy defined A common catalogue system shall be established and maintained by a public organization All interested parties (public & NGOS and private) shall contribute their data descriptions to the Common Data Catalogue – encourage partners to contribute A web based geoportal solution shall be established for discovering and maintaining metadata on geospatial resources of the Galápagos Islands. Creation of a roadmap for sharing fundamental geographic resources like image information (orthoimagery, satellite, etc...), digital elevation models, digital terrain models and a basemap
As a final result of our discussions we agreed that these actions shall be carried out by stakeholders of municipalities, the National Park and interested NGOs, associations and private companies. Regular meetings of persons working on the ‘Data Catalogue’ in their respective fields of work shall conduct this approach. 5.2.
Flagship projects
In order to foster acceptance of the need for a community based SDI Galápagos amongst the participating institution (at a higher level of administration) and the public in general, through ready-to-use and tangible results, it was agreed with
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Final Report local stakeholders upon designing and developing flagship projects that use spatial data that is shared between institutions or provided by citizens (VGI) (e.g. a smartphone app for monitoring invasive species that allows amending institutional data with crowd-sourced data). This is planned in order to foster institutional cooperation (sharing of data, testing of standards) and provide quick and easy-to-use applications that are based on a common SDI to authorities and citizens. The first flagship project – a prototype for a species mapping app that might be extended to the proposed GalapApp (described in chapter 3.2) in collaboration with the local project partners, was identified and sketched by a group of students at University of Salzburg, under the supervision of Gudrun Wallentin. This pilot project will be presented to Galápagos community as a starting point for adaptation and implementation in 2015.
5.3.
Capacity Building, community outreach, documentation
In addition to the design and development of an SDI Galápagos and subsequent flagship projects, the GeoCommunity Galápagos Initiative we suggest to also introduce accompanying capacity building initiatives (in-house GIS-classes for GI-practitioners as well as scholarships for the postgraduate distance learning program UNIGIS), starting 2015. Community outreach initiatives with the GeoCitizen platform (http://galapagos.geociudadano.org) should provide a direct approach to collecting crowd-sourced information and enabling structured discussions about pressing issues regarding environments and livelihoods on Galápagos in order to back spatial planning initiatives with participatory instruments In addition to the blog of the initiative (http://geogalapagos.blogspot.com), a communication platform in spanish should be design enabling constant communication within the project participants and also a broader (professional) public.
6. Envisioned Follow-Up Initiatives: Following actions will be carried out during 2015 by the members of the GeoGalapagos initiative as next concrete steps of project implementation:
Prototyping of easy-to-use ArcGIS Server/OpenSource Applications as pilot projects of the proposed community-based SDI Galápagos Developing a manual how to construct a spatial data catalogue Hand-on GI-workshops as part of the capacity building initiatives: o Data catalogue and metadata for SDI o GIS-application, territorial management and environmental modeling (open source software – e.g. Q-GIS) o Dissemination of a prototype spatial database from different institutions on a (ArcGIS)Server Environment hosted at USFQ. Connecting Schools and Citizen Initiatives at Galápagos with similar partners in Ecuador and Austria: try to establish contact with the secondary school in San Cristóbal and other Citizen Initiatives (young people’s environmental movements) via our contact at USFQ, David Lansdale. We will
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aim at establishing personal connections between pupils and teachers of the ‘Akademisches Gymnasium’ high school, Salzburg and the secondary school at San Cristóbal. Set up a support network for specific GI-tasks that partners at Galápagos might access Set up a virtual and physical space for communication and material/data sharing amongst the workshop participants Flagship projects (cp. Chapter 5.2)
Progress reports on ongoing follow-up initiatives will be published on the GeoCommunity Galapagos Blog (http://geogalapagos.blogspot.com).
Literature: Alvarez, M., V. Morocho, A.Morales, Z. B. Rosanigo, G. Jones and L. López Álvarez (2012): Contributions to the SDI from Latin American Universities -Some Undertaken Initiatives. In: Proceedings of GSDI-13. Quebec. Online (8.05.2015): http://www.google.at/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCg QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmemberservices.gsdi.org%2Ffiles%2F%3Fartifact_id%3D177&ei=jeJ ZVd2IMWWsAG5wYHgCg&usg=AFQjCNGj94VVgFYnEMSAScewgx1MNjhBKg&sig2=EkOW2jAF_OLQ9hwva EZ32Q&bvm=bv.93564037,d.bGg.
Campbell, H. and Masser, I. (1995): GIS and Organizations, London, UK; Bristol, PA, Taylor & Francis. Molina, X.M., (2003): Conceptual Design of the Ecuadorian Geospatial data Clearinghouse. MSc. Thesis, ITC, Enschede, 77 pp. Rajabifard, A. and Williamson, I. P. (2002): Key Factors Influencing Regional SDI Development and Relevance to Global and other Levels, in Proceedings, The 6th Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Conference (GSDI6), Budapest, Hungary. Salazar, R, (2001): Business process to design a Cadastral Infrastructure as part of land Administration System in Ecuador. MSc. Thesis, ITC, Enschede, 85 pp. OMB, Office of Management and Budget (2002): Circular A-16 revised. 19 August 2002. Online 18.05.2015: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a016_rev/
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Annex ANNEX A: Questonnaire
GIS for managing vulnerable environments: the GeoCommunity-SDI Galápagos This user and expert targeted questionnaire focuses on performing a quantitative state-of-play analysis towards an assessment of the current and future usage and exploitation needs of geographic information resources in Galápagos. One of the questions arising is the information demand on geospatial resources – which kind of information is necessary to effectively leverage available geospatial resources in in Galapagos Islands. For this reason we would like to invite you to help us based on your work/research experience. Many thanks in advance for your contribution to the initiative and best regards! Richard Resl (rresl@usfq.edu.ec) GeoCentro - USFQ Important Note: if you already have a practical experience in GIS management, please answer all the questions. If not, please answer only the questions from 1 to 11 and from 19 to 35. Thank you! 1. Optional general information (really helps us categorizing): it would be highly appreciated if you could fill in this section. Organization
Role/Position
Organization Type (Research, Government, Private,..)
Date survey completed
Department
Websites like Bing Maps, applications like Google Earth, GPS-enabled cell phones and the navigation systems in our cars: geospatial location-enabled information found its way into our lives over the last years. The first section of this questionnaire deals with your experiences when using popular spatial applications. 2.
Which popular spatial applications do you use in your everyday life/work?
Google Maps
Navigation systems (Car)
work everyday life
Other Maps (Bing, Yahoo, OpenStreetMap etc)
work everyday life
Web routing (Google, Viamichelin, Mapquest,,...)
work everyday life
Google Earth
work everyday life
Social media apps (Facebook Places, Twitter,Waze, etc.)
work everyday life
Other:
work everyday life
Other:
work everyday life
3.
4.
For which activities do you use spatially enabled applications in your everyday life? Car navigation, routing
Orientation
Sports (hiking, running, cycling, skiing…)
Holiday planning
Other:
Other:
For which tasks do you use popular spatial applications at work/research? Geo-enabled analysis
Information Discovery
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Annex Report generation
Result Visualization
Orientation / Business trip planning
Other:
The second section of this questionnaire is about your estimations on the importance and use of spatial data for the work in your domain. 5. How useful is spatial information for your work? very useful
quite useful
not very useful
not at all useful
6. How often do you deliberately use spatial information within your work? daily
weekly
monthly
very rarely
never
If you are using spatial information, what are your requirements concerning the timeliness of spatial data? updated real time
updated daily
updated weekly
updated monthly
doesn’t matter
updated yearly
If you are using spatial information, are you always aware of the accuracy of your data? yes, totally
for most of it
partially
doesn’t matter
no, not at all
If you are using spatial information, which professional software do you use?
7. What kind of maps do you use for your work? analog maps
desktop maps
WebGIS maps
miscellaneous web maps
maps inside reports
I don’t use maps
8. What kind of spatial data do you use for your work? Is this data hosted in your department or externally? Imagery (satellite, aerial,...) Environmental information Water / Ocean
Other:
Other:
don’t use
intern extern
Transportation data (land & water)
don’t use
intern extern
Demographic data
don’t use
intern extern
Sensor data (flows, weather...)
intern
extern
Other:
intern
extern
don’t use
intern extern
don’t use
intern extern
don’t use
intern extern
intern
extern
We don’t use spatial data
I don’t know
9. What categories of spatial information might additionally be interesting for your work? Imagery (satellite, aerial,...)
Addresses
Asset or facility locations
Demographic data
Transportation data (Land & water) Sensor data (weather, pipeline flow,...) I don’t know
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Annex Other (please specify)
10. When using spatial information for your work, can you please specify the categories and sources. e.g. demographic data, orthoimagery, protected sites etc.
11. Besides you, are you aware of other people in your work environment dealing with some kind of spatial information? Please specify so I can contact them or feel free to pass them a copy of this questionnaire.
This section of the questionnaire deals with your experiences with discovery, accessibility and exchange of spatial data. 12.
Assuming you would need some spatial data for a new project, where would you first search or ask for it? Online platform
Internet search engine
External company / consultant I don’t know
Ask somebody 13.
If you search for spatial information in geo-portals (catalogs), how do you usually perform your search? Search using keywords Search by browsing available lists Search geographical areas/places with map
Search using subjects Search geographical places by entering the name (e.g. city, place) Search by date or time (e.g. season, year)
Other:
14.
In which context and/or for which tasks could you think of spatial information or spatial information integration as an asset for your work? An example would be the use of registry information like cadaster, demography statistics, satellite imagery sensor measurements etc.
15.
Do situations arise regularly where you would need spatial information but can’t get it in a timely or even not suitable manner? Yes
No
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Annex 16.
If yes, what are the reasons? Too expensive
Access to the resource restricted
No contact details available
Information poorly documented
Quality level too low
Other:
This section of the questionnaire deals with the relevance and availability of information about spatial datasets and services - metadata: 17.
How relevant do you consider the following information about geospatial resources (datasets, services, documents etc.? Is it already documented in any form in your organization? Relevance
Information on / about Contact information Information about access / usage restrictions Textual description of the resource (abstract) Format / Data type of information Reference System Scale / Distance Temporal information (e.g. from – to) 18.
Very important
Important
Less important
Unimportant
Already documented?
Do documents containing information about spatial datasets (‘metadata’) exist in your organization? Do they follow any standards (e.g. ISO 19115, FGDC,…); Please tick the checkbox if the metadata format exists within your organization.
Format Textual format (.txt, .asc,…) Document format Tabular format (e.g. Excel-sheet .xls) Database XML-file No metadata documents exist
Available?
Standard Name (e.g. ISO 19115)
The following section of the questionnaire is dedicated to the support of geographic information in order to face the planning and conservation challenges in Galápagos. 19. Which are the biggest challenges that the Galápagos Islands are facing currently?
20. Which of these challenges must be dealt with spatially, i.e. considering the characteristics of location and spatial dimension of the islands? How should these challenges be addressed?
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21. Which type of information do you consider indispensable or just very important for the planning of resources, services, works and living spaces in Galรกpagos? In case it might not be accessible for you, who do you think possesses this type of information?
22. To face the challenges in planning and conservation in Galรกpagos, how do you assess the importance of the following topics? Please put the following items in order in terms of their importance, using the single values from 1 (the most important) to 6 (the less important). Importance (1 to 6) Management of the maritime resource with its ecosystem Management of rural land spaces Management of urban land spaces Management of tourism spaces and services Governance and Organization Social inclusion, civil participation and communal self-management
The penultimate section of the questionnaire deals with the contribution of geographic information to the participation in the planning and conservation of Galรกpagos. 23. Do you think that a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) would support the decision making in Galรกpagos? Yes
No
24. In case you answered yes, whom would it support? My institution My community Whom else? Please define::
25. Do you think that the participation of citizens in planning and conservation matters of the Galรกpagos Islands is an important added value?
Yes
No
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Annex 26. In case you answered yes, what is the added value from the citizen participation for the work in your institution/for the governmental work? In which form will it be desirable? Considering the pairs, please choose the most suitable answer between both, according to your opinion. continuous
sometimes
anonymous
personalized
spontaneous
structured
with geographic location
without geographic location
27. Please specify the way in which the citizens should participate in the planning of their living space and their resources in Galápagos. Mention the topics and situations where you think it is valuable. How should this participative processes be designed?
28. What are the limits of Galápagos citizens´ participation in the planning of their living space and resources?
29. When is the participation process difficult, and when is it easy?
30. Which instruments and mechanisms do you suggest in order to facilitate the citizen participation in the planning and conservation in Galápagos?
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Annex
ANNEX B: Questionnaire – Summary Results The questionnaire presented in Annex A was given to 17 representatives of the local GI-community. The answers were evaluated and a summary of them is presented here, in Annex B. The two tables below illustrate the number of these representatives according to the organization they belong to and the position they hold: a. Organization Galápagos National Park (Dirección del Parque Nacional Galápagos) Regional Government (Consejo de Gobierno) WWF Municipality Santa Cruz (Gobierno Municipal de Santa Cruz) Intercultural Outreach Initiative Galápagos USFQ Independent Total number of participants b. Position Management level GI-technicians Total number of participants
6 4 3 1 1 1 1 17
5 12 17
2.Which popular spatial applications do you use in your everyday life/work? Technicians Managers Total Work Everyday Total Work Everyday live live Google Maps 12 4 Other Maps (Bing, Yahoo, 4 3 0 OpenStreetMap etc) Google Earth 12 8 4 (Car) Navigation systems 6 2 1 Web Routing (Google, Viamichelin, 3 1 0 Mapquest,,...) Social media apps (Facebook Places, Twitter,Waze, etc.)
6
Other
3
7
0 3 2 1
2
3
3
5
3. For which activities do you use spatially enabled applications in your everyday life? Total - Technicians Total - Managers Car navigation, routing 2 3 Sports (hiking, running, cycling, skiing…) 3 3
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Annex Orientation Holiday planning Others
6 3 8
3 2 1
4. For which tasks do you use popular spatial applications at work/research? Total - Technicians Total - Managers Geo- enabled analysis 3 1 Information Discovery 8 2 Report generation 10 4 Result Visualization 9 3 Orientation / Business trip planning 9 2 Other 0 1 5. How useful is spatial information for your work? Total - Technicians Total - Managers Very useful 12 Quite useful 1 Not very useful 0 Not at all useful 0
1 0 0 1
6. How often do you deliberately use spatial information within your work? Total - Technicians Total - Managers Daily 5 0 Weekly 5 1 Monthly 2 0 Very rarely 0 1 Never 0 0 6a. If you are using spatial information, what are your requirements concerning the timeliness of spatial data? Total - Technicians Total - Managers Updated real time 3 1 Updated daily 4 0 Updated weekly 3 0 Updated monthly 3 0 Updated yearly 3 0 Doesn’t matter 1 1
6b. If you are using spatial information, are you always aware of the accuracy of your data? Total - Technicians Total - Managers yes, totally 3 0 for most of it 6 1 partially 1 0 no, not at all 1 0
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Annex doesn’t matter
0
1
6c. If you are using spatial information, which professional software do you use? Following tools were mentioned: QGIS, ArcGIS, ArcView, Google Earth, GVSIG, SIGCA, MIRAMĂ“N, TNT, MIPS 7. What kind of maps do you use for your work? Total - Technicians Total - Managers Analog maps 4 Desktop maps 4 WebGIS maps 2 Miscellaneous web maps 8 Maps inside reports 4 I don't use maps 0
0 0 0 0 2 0
8. What kind of spatial data do you use for your work? Is this data hosted in your department or externally? Technicians Managers Intern Extern Don't use Intern Extern Don't use Imagery (satellite, aerial,...) 8 3 1 2 0 0 Transportation data (land & water) 6 3 2 0 0 1 Environmental information 7 6 0 1 0 1 Demographic data 5 4 2 2 0 0 Water / Ocean 6 4 2 1 0 0 Sensor data (flows, weather...) 2 1 5 0 0 1 Other 4 1 0 1 0 0 We don't use spatial data 0 0 0 0 0 0 I don't know 0 0 0 1 0 0
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9. What categories of spatial information might additionally be interesting for your work? Technicians Managers Imagery (satellite, aerial,...) 11 1 Addresses 3 0 Transportation data (Land & water) 7 1 Asset or facility locations 4 0 Demographic data 8 2 Sensor data (weather, pipeline flow,...) 5 0 Others 2 0 I don't know 1 0
10. When using spatial information for your work, can you please specify the categories and sources. E.g. demographic data, orthoimagery, protected sites etc. Following categories/sources were mentioned: Basic data of protected zones, urban zones, agricultural areas, cadaster, public services, google earth data, volcanic and seismic activities, orthofotos/satellite imagery, marine environments, INOCAR, SIGTIERRAS, IGM, The Nature Conservancy (2006), Pronareg-Orstom (1984) 11. Besides you, are you aware of other people in your work environment dealing with some kind of spatial information? No precise information was provided 12. Assuming you would need some spatial data for a new project, where would you first search or ask for it? Technicians Managers Online platform 5 1 Internet search engine 7 0 External company / consultant 3 0 Ask somebody 7 0 I don't know 0 0 13. If you search for spatial information in geo-portals (catalogs), how do you usually perform your search? Technicians Managers Search using keywords 8 1 Search using subjects 2 0 Search by browsing available lists 0 1 Search geographical places by entering the 6 0 name (e.g. city, place) Search geographical areas/places with map 6 0 Search by date or time (e.g. season, year) 2 0 Other 3 0
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14. In which context and/or for which tasks could you think of spatial information or spatial information integration as an asset for your work? An example would be the use of registry information like cadaster, demography statistics, satellite imagery sensor measurements etc. Following information was provided: zonification of the PNG, Cadaster, Hydrologic Inventories, ecologic and societal topics, volcanic and seismic monitoring, meteorology, tourist statistics, decision making in land use planning and land zoning 15. Do situations arise regularly where you would need spatial information but can’t get it in a timely or even not suitable manner? Technicians Managers Yes 10 1 No 1 0 16. If yes, what are the reasons? Technicians Managers Too expensive 6 Access to the resource restricted 9 No contact details available 7 Information poorly documented 6 Quality level too low 3 Other 3
1 0 0 0 1 0
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1 0 0 1 1 1 0
Already documented?
1 0 0 1 2 0 1
Unimportant
3 1 1 1 0 1 0
Less important
Temporal information (e.g. from – to)
2 6 6 6 4 3 4
Important
Scale / Distance
4 2 2 2 4 6 3
Very important
Reference System
Already documented?
Format / Data type of information
Unimportant
Textual description of the resource (abstract)
Less important
Information about access / usage restrictions
Important
Contact information
Very important
17. How relevant do you consider the following information about geospatial resources (datasets, services, documents etc.? Is it already documented in any form in your organization? Relevance Technicians Managers
1
0 1 1 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 1 1 0
18. Do documents containing information about spatial datasets (‘metadata’) exist in your organization? Do they follow any standards (e.g. ISO 19115, FGDC,…); Please tick the checkbox if the metadata format exists within your organization. Format Available? Technicians Lieders/Managers Textual format (.txt, .asc,…) 1 1 Document format 2 0 Tabular format (e.g. Excel-sheet 1 0 .xls) Database 2 1 XML-file 2 0 No metadata documents exist 0 0
19. What are the biggest challenges that Galápagos face at the moment?
The lack of consciousness amongst the permanent residents in Galápagos towards nature and the value of the National Park (they should understand that 100% and not 97% of Galapagos forms the National Park) Lack of basic infrastructure (drinking water, waste water treatment) Public Institutions do not comply with laws and regulations Pressure of tourism and its consequences (more boats, cars) Land Use Planning and Management Linking productive sector and natural resource management Invasive Species Natural hazards (tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) Climate change affecting ecosystem Public Health Lack of inter-institutional cooperation and share/backup of information/data Technical limitations (internet connection)
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Annex 20. Which of these challenges have to be addressed in a spatial context?
All of them Movement patterns of Tourists Analyzing drinking water quality / pollution Waste water management Land use management and territorial planning Public participation Control of invasive species Demography Management of natural hazards Public Health
21. Which type of information do you consider indispensable or just very important for the planning of resources, services, works and living spaces in Galápagos? In case it might not be accessible for you, who do you think possesses this type of information? Following answers were given: information about tourist movement patterns, oceanographic and climate data, historic-cultural information, data about communities, offer and quality of public services, data on contamination and pollution, thematic maps of water resources, vegetation cover, populations, infrastructure, well-structured data, metadatos, satellite/aeral images, information on waste dump sites, information on seismic and volcanic activities, species distribution 22. What are the most important fields of action in order to face the challenges of planning and conservation at Galápagos (rank based on the average values in brackets)? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Management of Urban Areas (2,2) Governance (2,5) Management of Marine Ecosystems (3) Tourism (3,2) Management of Rural Areas (3,8) Participation and Community Integration (4,5)
23. Do you think that an SDI would support decision making processes in Galápagos? 17 yes / 0 no 24. In case you answered yes, whom would it support? Technicians Managers My institution 9 My community 9 Whom else? Please define: 4
3 2 2
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Annex 25. Do you think that the participation of citizens in planning and conservation at Galápagos is an important added value? 16 yes / 1 no
26. In case you answered yes, what is the added value from the citizen participation for the work in your institution/for the governmental work? In which form will it be desirable? Considering the pairs, please choose the most suitable answer between both, according to your opinion. Technicians Managers Continuous 9 4 Anonymous 1 1 Spontaneous 0 0 With geographic location 7 1 Sometimes 0 0 Personalized 2 1 Structured 4 2 Without geographic location 0 0 27. Please specify the way in which the citizens should participate in the planning of their living space and their resources in Galápagos. Mention the topics and situations where you think it is valuable. How should these participative processes be designed? Following answers were given: Participatory construction of a citizen participation system, self-assessments (‘diagnósticos’), making use of local knowledge (e.g. evacuation processes during natural disasters, necessary institutional mandate for any planned action, citizen should participate in the distribution of housing and community organization, protection and use of natural resources, define participatory mechanism for community engagement, control of public services (e.g. waste management), informing about incidents (dead animals, contamination), public funds for community initiatives, integrate citizens as ‘objects of actions’ not as ‘objects of research’, all research activities should have a direct added value for the affected communities
28. What are the limits of Galápagos citizens´ participation in the planning of their living space and resources? Following answers were given: lacking capacity building, lacking implementation of existing tools and methodologies, dis-interest within the population due to failed participatory projects, lacking basic formation and confidence (‘nunca pasa nada’), lacking communication, missing inter-institutional cooperation, political reasons, missing direct incentives for participation, internet access/connection, personal motivation, distrust in political institutions, too much external consultancies and pure research projects, vertical and not horizontal working approaches, missing environmental education and awareness within local population, data quality 29. When do you consider participation as easy?
When locals develop their proposals with the help of experts When tools and mechanisms are easy-to-understand (use) When there is a common goal defined
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When do you consider participation as difficult?
When ideas are imposed from outside When people do not see the personal (individual) benefit When personal interests are too strong within the group When participation suffers political instrumentalization When there is no political support for participation initiatives When there is no vision of common goals
30. Which tools and mechanisms do you suggest to facilitate participation of citizens in planning and conservation at Galápagos?
Smartphone app connected to social media Webportal where public institutions publish planning-related information and share existing studies and project documentation Assemblies, community meetings Share information that is generated in Galápagos first with locals and then with externals Legal foundation for participation (laws, etc.)
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Annex ANNEX C: Summary of the discussion followed the presentation of the initiative at the Municipality of San Cristóbal (February 22, 2014) Carlos Cañizares (MAGAP): the GalapApp is useful as it can be applied immediately especially for and by school children. Andrian Vasquez (Consejo de Gobierno): Participation of the community is essential. The applications shouldn’t be developed first and then be socialized. The ideas should be constructed together with community. Carlos Mena (Radio Encantada): o Systems and tools have to take into consideration national data policy. Tax paid data should be accessible for all potential users of GI, not only for governmental institutions. o The science policy generated by SENESCYT should be integrated in every initiative Luíz Fernando Solozano (head of Telecom Galápagos): there are APPs for nearly everything all over the world why are there still no apps in Galápagos? Especially school children are so much ahead. David Lansdale (USFQ) o has developed an app for community interaction in order to register and promote small enterprises aiming at establishing ecoentrepreneurship center at USFQ until end of the year: full company database for San Cristóbal. The gap between academy & practice should be closed. Wilson Cabrera (Dirección Parque Nacional Galápagos): I am here to help and contribute to the initiative. We should not look right now for anyone to blame for the current situation. Andrian Vasquez (Consejo dee Gobierno): these types of meetings are quite common the last 15 years and so far mainly the intentions and less actions can be reported: o So to what point external initiatives really help? o Experts should not come and say how things should work. Externals shouldn’t impose their ideas, but construct them together with the citizens o Science and conservation have been separated from population o Initiative has to be borne by people and then realized with the help of science o Regular changes of the governments is a problem Fritz Baier (University of Education, Salzburg): YOUTHMAP project@Salzburgo made by young people for young people. They draw completely different things on maps as expected. Carlos Mena (Radio Encantada): Science should be the new development model for Galápagos!! Galápagos lives on science BUT this is done by others and so separated. Make science local! Jorge Sotomayor (Club Ecociencia Mar y Tierra): I engage myself in social environmental work (e.g. cleaning beaches) and working with young people. I came because I wanted to see how Apps and GIS can help us to do a better job. Richard Resl (USFQ): The aim of the initiative is mainly to help different institutions and different individuals to collaborate. Our main intention and role is to support by development and activities when it is asked.
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Annex ANNEX D: Simulate to learn – a Galápagos case study of Guava invasion (poster presented at GI_Forum 2014) Background - Simulation models can be thought of as virtual laboratories that help to gain a better understanding of real-world processes. When teaching simulation modelling it is relatively easy to assess how well students learned to develop simulation models. However, it is more difficult to assess what students actually learn through their models on a higher level. Hypothesis - Simulation modelling enables students to think of problems in an abstract system-level view and thus reach high-level learning objectives such as abstraction, evaluation and critical reflection. Case study - As final projects in a Master-level course on Geosimulation the twelve enrolled students were asked to develop their own individual based models on the invasion process of Guava fruit trees in Galapagos. The Galapagos archipelago is especially well suited to be studied through geosimulation rather than local fieldwork, not least for its limited capacity to human presence. The explicitly given purpose of the model was to provide a framework for scenarios to gain a deeper understanding on how animals drive Guava expansion through seed dispersal. Project reports were scanned, whether and how students achieved to meet this higher level learning objective. First results - Less than half of students successfully achieved to abstract and reflect on their results. Some students critically reflected on the model’s validity, e.g. The model can show the basic principle of a seed-spread pattern, but not verify or falsify the hypothesis whether bats or birds to have the main portion of the guava-spread (Student A). Whereas, other students focussed on abstracted conclusions from the model outcomes and their general implications for conservation management, e.g. The spread of guava is difficult to stop. Only a low initial number of birds and a high rate of vermin can lead to a strong decrease of the distribution (Student B). Finally, one student contrasted model outcomes to his own prior expectations: The cover in guava is highly depending on the value for seed fertility. The influence of dispersal is not as high as expected before (Student C). Conclusions - Despite an explicit reference to the model’s intended purpose of ‘gaining a deeper understanding’ in the assignment, not all students used their simulation models as tools to draw abstract conclusions or to critically reflect on the achieved results. We thus conclude that the work with simulation models per se does not suffice that average students reach higher learning objectives. In case this is a core intended learning outcome, a more explicit guidance needs to be given. The poster can be downloaded at http://agitposter2014.blogspot.co.at/2014/06/49organizational-approach-to-common.html
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