American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting 2017
Boston, MA, April 5-9

Organizers: Jerry Shannon, Ian Rossiter, and Dorris Scott, Community Mapping Lab, University of Georgia

Work in Public Participatory GIS (PPGIS) and Participatory GIS (PGIS) has for many years emphasized the need for deep community engagement as an aspect of quantitative spatial analysis. The increasing ubiquity of big data, volunteered geographic information (VGI), open data and software and mobile and web based GIS systems has significantly shaped these efforts, allowing for new forms of collaboration and community based data collection. With increased use of VGI data from social media and similar sources, however, non-academics may also become increasingly marginalized within the research process.
For this call, we envision a session or series of sessions about the future of participatory spatial analysis, one that creatively makes use of new and emerging forms of data collection, analysis, and distribution or finds new uses for traditional methods. Presenters should be engaged in work that substantively engages with groups outside the academy–local/regional governments, non-profits, neighborhood organizations, or other similar actors. We welcome presentations about work at all stages of the research process and from a variety of geographic contexts. 

Possible topics include:
Open source/low cost software for mobile data collection and analysis
Tools for hosting and visualizing open datasets
Processes and software allowing for collaborative planning
Mixed methods research/qualitative GIS
Participatory research using crowdsourced data
Roadblocks and pitfalls of using mobile data collection and VGI in community engagement
Reworking/augmenting/hybridizing “traditional” PPGIS techniques
Best practices for community engagement with mobile data collection

To apply for this session, email a presentation abstract (250 word limit) by October 15, 2016 to Ian Rossiter or Dorris Scott All accepted participants will be required to register for the conference and submit the pin number for your abstract to the organizers by October 27, 2016.