Page 24 - GIS for Science: Technology Showcase

DRONES AND CITIZEN SCIENCE THE ADVANTAGE OF COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH
Charmel Menzel and Lain Graham, Esri; and Timothy L. Hawthorne, PhD, University of Central Florida
Do you need to capture high-quality, time-sensitive data? Every researcher we know would say, "Of course!" To meet the data and analysis needs required for research, scientists are harnessing the power of drone technology and everyday citizen scientists. In this case, researchers and citizen scientists collected drone imagery using ArcGIS Drone2Map®, to convert drone data into images while in the field, together with Site Scan, 3DR’s unmanned aerial systems flight planning and processing software. Collaborative geospatial technologies allow people who don’t own drones to participate in the project, share their time and local knowledge, and support the research.
A team from Citizen Science GIS, an international research organization at University of Central Florida, has worked with citizens in Belize to support data collection and use in various communities. The team uses spatial thinking, interdisciplinary and community-based approaches, Esri products, and drone technologies2 to 1) make science more accessible and 2) ensure that society not only informs science and also benefits from scientific discoveries.
Drone imagery collection
The use of drones has made remote sensing available as a personal technology. Esri technology allows users to collect, process, analyze, and share drone imagery. Drone imagery provides current, high-resolution basemaps and can support change detection, feature identification, classification, and analysis. Since 2016, the Citizen Science GIS team and community partners have captured drone imagery of Hopkins Village annually, extending the flight plans each year to collect data in areas of local interest.
As more people undertake training and get certified as drone pilots, the quality of the data is increasingly reliable. In-field processing tools within ArcGIS Drone2Map ensure quality data capture, including verification that the area coverage and desired accuracy have been achieved. The last thing a project leader wants is to return to the office from the field hundreds or thousands of miles away and learn that the data is not adequate. In this case, while in Belize, a 2D orthomosaic was created from the drone images and shared with citizens. Community members provided valuable feedback during the review process, suggesting that the drone imagery collection add additional areas outside the original flight plan, which are important for context and the village’s ecosystem. After reviewing the high-resolution drone imagery, participants recommended additional analysis that previously had not been considered.
Citizen scientist participation
Now that drone imagery has been captured, how does the community use the data? Hopkins Village answered this question easily now that it had the data: address flooding concerns. Hopkins Village residents answered this question easily using accurate digital data to supplement community perception data in addressing known flooding concerns. Storm surge, sea-level rise, and development contribute to the flood risk that threatens Hopkins Village, which is located between the Caribbean Sea on the east and a lagoon on the west. So the community needed to better understand its flooding risk and vulnerability with additional data based on the drone-imagery. Prior to drone-imagery data collection, the village did not have a current and reliable GIS dataset of the coastal area, community structures, and road networks. The drone imagery provided a base to create feature datasets. Citizen scientists and students received training to capture data about each structure digitized from the accurate drone imagery, including building material, roof type, use of structure, number of floors, and elevation. They used structure data to calculate vulnerability for each building as described in the journal article, “Integrating sketch mapping and hot spots analysis to enhance capacity for community-level flood and disaster risk management” and depicted here.
The involvement of community members helped them better understand the data and use the information to support decision making. In the spirit of open science, the public, community leaders, and researchers can access the open data portal, which includes drone imagery and basic data about culverts and drainage, flooding, and street networks hosted on ArcGIS Online. These datasets differ from most of the larger proprietary or government-controlled datasets in that the local community helped create them. The annual collection of drone imagery resulted in more efficient citizen-led projects such as coastal debris cleanup. Additional research projects include analyzing coastal change over time. The primary advantage of community-based research is that citizen scientists have an invested interest in the future viability of their communities. Once they analyze the collected data and the public sees the results, volunteers are more likely to continue providing useful location-based temporal data, working together to improve the success of scientific and community-based endeavors.
Funded by National Science Foundation Grant #1560015.
References: Brandt, K., Graham, L., Hawthorne, T., Jeanty, J., Burkholder, B., Munisteri, C., & Visaggi, C. “Integrating sketch mapping and hot spot analysis to enhance capacity for community‐level flood and disaster risk management.” The Geographical Journal, 10, 2019.
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