The Geoweb for community-based organizations: Tool development, implementation, and sustainability in an era of Google Maps

Abstract

Recent advances in web-based geospatial tools (the Geoweb) show promise as low-cost and easy-to-use methods to support citizen participation. This research presents two case studies of Geoweb implementation set in community-based organizations in rural Quebec, Canada. When comparing the development and sustainability of each Geoweb tool, the implementation time frame plays a key role. Two implementation time frames are defined; a discrete, or ‘one-off’ time frame associated with lower resource requirements, and a continuous, or ongoing time frame, that has a higher total resource cost, but can fulfill a different set of goals than a discrete implementation.