Citizen Mapping and Environmental Justice: Internet Applications for Research and Advocacy

Background: This paper provides a review of the terms and practices associated with the democratization of cartography and illustrates their potential to contribute to the environmental justice movement. The Internet has revolutionized how maps are made and communicated. Citizen mapping involves multiple individuals collaborating on the collection and synthesis of spatial data via web-based software. Google Earth allows users to combine and communicate cartographic information without extensive geospatial training. These developments can engage the public in the collection, analysis, and most important, the comprehension of the power of maps to promote environmental and social justice.

Objectives: We illustrate this potential through a case study in Tallahassee, Florida, where a biomass facility was proposed for a low income minority neighborhood. The site was permitted without consideration of the input of residents and without critical examination of the disconnect between the regional and local scales in which pollutants are monitored versus the actual exposure and impact to community residents mediated by sociodemographics, environmental, and health status the hallmarks of environmental injustice.

Methods: To communicate the fundamental issues in this debate, as well as to illustrate the democratizing turn in geospatial sciences, Google Earth was deployed to integrate GPS data, photographs, video, and sociodemographic data.

Conclusions: Screenshots from this mapping activity are presented as a means to inform scholars of the potential for web-based geospatial tools in environmental justice activism. We close with a discussion of how the use of maps requires critical thought and analysis to avoid their misuse.