Observation and Reporting of Landscape Dynamics by Citizens

The observation and reporting of animals and plants with the help of citizen scientists has a long tradition (e.g. birdwatching projects). But citizen science projects are also important for the mapping and monitoring of landscape dynamics and geomorphological events. Remote sensing data is suitable for the documentation and characterization of geomorphological events such as landslides and rockfalls. Nevertheless, for the assessment of recent, local changes and for gathering detailed reference information it is inevitable to collect data on-site during field work. This becomes even more relevant, since climate change effects (e.g. shift of precipitation regime, glacier retreat, melting of permafrost) will likely result in more frequent morphological changes that have significant effects on the landscape. The project citizenMorph is closely related to the FWF main project MORPH, which analyzes geomorphological phenomena with the help of novel remote sensing methods. In citizenMorph citizens will collect and contribute information on geomorphological events (spatial data, attribute data, geotagged images, etc.), which then will be used by the scientist in the MORPH project to extent the data pool, to perform new, detailed analysis and to validate the remote sensing results through in-situ data. Nowadays, the collection and the reporting of relevant data are possible by the employment of mobile web mapping applications. However, how should mobile web mapping applications be designed to (1) fulfill the requirements, wishes and the level of knowledge (i.e. knowledge on geomorphology and geomorphological landscape dynamics) and competencies (i.e. digital competences) of the users, (2) enable an ideal user experience and (3) provide substantial high-quality data? A central aspect is to provide the user not only with interactive maps, but also with relevant supplementary materials (for a successful participation in the project), with social networking opportunities (allowing the communication among the users, with the project team) and with components that motivate volunteers to contribute data. As an extension of the MORPH project the citizenMorph projects objective is to develop a prototype mobile web mapping application together with the citizen scientists (citizenMorph app). To realize this, the citizenMorph project team will work closely together with pupils and elderly people. Both groups are very critical and demanding when using mobile apps. Referring to the concept of participatory design pupils and elderly people are part of an intergenerational project team. They are involved in all steps of the application development. They will increase their digital competences, will gain experiences in methods and processes of software and web development and will deal with questions concerning geomorphology and landscape dynamics.

Citizen science, aiming at integrating citizens, their commitment and knowledge into scientific research, is a powerful way to create additional research outputs and scientific knowledge. Citizen science projects have a high potential for the reporting and mapping of landforms, as well as for observing landscape dynamics. While remote sensing has opened up new mapping and monitoring possibilities at high spatial and temporal resolutions, there is still a growing demand for gathering (spatial) data directly in the field (reporting on actual events, landform characteristics, and landscape changes, provision of reference data and photos). This becomes even more relevant since climate change effects will likely result in more significant morphological changes influencing the landscape. In the project citizenMorph (ObservationandReporting of Landscape Dynamics byCitizens; http://citizenmorph.sbg.ac.at) we developed a pilot web-based interactive application that allows and supports citizens to map and contribute field data (spatial data, in-situ information, geotagged photos) on landforms. Such features are, for example, mass movements (e.g. rockfall, landslide), glacial features (e.g. moraine, drumlin), volcanic features (e.g. lava flow, lahar), or coastal features (e.g. cliff, coastal erosion). To design and implement a system that fully matches experts and citizens requirements, that ensures that citizens benefit from participating in citizenMorph, and that provides extensive, high-quality data, citizen representatives (mainly high school students, students, and seniors) actively and directly took part in the development process. In line with the concept of participatory design, citizen representatives were involved in all steps of the development process: specification of requirements, design, implementation, and testing of the system. The generation of a pilot was done using Survey123 for ArcGIS, a survey-tool for mobile devices to collect data in the field, i.e. type/location of the landform, overview image and image-series of the landform. Additionally, a dedicated project website informs, guides and supports the participants. Throughout the survey (https://arcg.is/15WPKv0) and the website, different kinds of information (e.g. project information, guidelines for data collection and reporting, data protection information) are given to the participants. The final citizenMorph system was tested and discussed on several events with citizen representatives in Austria, Germany, and Iceland. Feedback from the tests was gathered using techniques such as observation, focus groups, and interviews/questionnaires. This allowed us to evaluate and improve the system as a whole. The collected data, particularly the image-series, are used for 3D reconstruction of the surface. Moreover, the data helps to enrich and validate remote sensing based mapping results and increasing their detail and information content. Having a comprehensive database, holding field data and remote sensing data together, is of importance for any subsequent analysis and for broadening our knowledge about geomorphological landscape dynamics and the prevalence of landforms.