This presentation will demonstrate the development and use of the Bad River Watershed Wikimap, an online participatory mapping application for an area of northern Wisconsin where new mining has been proposed. The issue of mining has drawn a great deal of recent interest and debate statewide. Different sides of the debate emphasize differing sets of landscape values, the symbolic meanings and instrumental uses that people associate with certain places. Online participatory mapping can inform difficult or contentious land use decision-making by using volunteered geographic information, a form of public input, to reveal where different landscape values exist. The Bad River Watershed Wikimap provides a case study designed as part of a master’s thesis project.

1. Wikimapping
Landscape Values in the Bad
River
Watershed
Carl Sack
UW-Madison Geography Department
cmsack@wisc.edu – (608) 712-8335
2013 Wisconsin Land Information Association Conference

2. Problem
How can online maps empower the views of
local people in decisions regarding land use
policy and natural resource development?

3. Online Participatory Mapping
From Beverly et. al. 2008 (Canadian Journal of Forestry Research)

5. Case Study
The Bad River
Watershed:
1,061 Square Miles
Mix of forest,
wetlands, agriculture
Bad River Indian
Reservation (Ojibwe)
2010-2012 Mining
Proposal
Variety of landscape
values

6. Design & Development
User-Centered Design
After Robinson et al. (2005)

7. Design & Development
Stakeholder themes:
Uses for
science, information, na
rrative
Stakeholder support
and engagement
Local outreach vital
Concerns:
moderation, private
information control

8. Design and Development
Web application construction

9. Deployment
Wikimap Demo
Behind the Scenes
Public Workshops

10. Evaluation
Cartographic: How did users make use of the
system?
Anthropological: Did the wikimap have a public
impact on landscape values perception?
True Value by Ann Singsaas
From Robinson, 2008 (Penn State GeoVISTA Center)

11. Acknowledgements
Funding and support:
Cartography Specialty Group
Special thanks to
Dr. Robert E. Roth