Multifunctional urban green infrastructure (UGI) can regulate stormwater, mitigate heat islands, conserve biodiversity and biocultural diversity, and produce food, among other functions. Equitable governance of UGI requires new tools for sharing pertinent information. Our goal was to develop a public-access geographic information system (GIS) that can be used for comprehensive UGI planning in Washington, DC (the District) and to create an e-tool for UGI in the form of Tableau dashboards. The dashboards allow stakeholders to identify (1) existing UGI and (2) potential areas for new UGI including urban agriculture (UA). They also allow users to manipulate the data and identify priority locations for equitable UGI development by applying population vulnerability indices and other filters. We demonstrate use of the dashboards through scenarios focusing on UA in the District, which currently has 150 ha of existing UGI in the form of documented projects and an additional 3012 ha potentially suitable for UGI development. A total of 2792 ha is potentially suitable for UA, with 58% of that area in Wards 5, 7, and 8, which are largely food deserts and whose residents are primarily Black and experience the greatest inequities. Our work can serve as a model for similar digital tools in other locales using Tableau and other platforms.
Precision agriculture is highly dependent on the collection of high quality ground truth data to validate the algorithms used in prescription maps. However, the process of collecting ground truth data is labor-intensive and costly. One solution to increasing the collection of ground truth data is by recruiting citizen scientists through a crowdsourcing platform. In this study, a crowdsourcing platform application was built using a human-centered design process. The primary goals were to gauge users’ perceptions of the platform, evaluate how well the system satisfies their needs, and observe whether the classification rate of lambsquarters by the users would match that of an expert. Previous work demonstrated a need for ground truth data on lambsquarters in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia (DMV) area. Previous social interviews revealed users who would want a citizen science platform to expand their skills and give them access to educational resources. Using a human-centered design protocol, design iterations of a mobile application were created in Kinvey Studio. The application, Mission LQ, taught people how to classify certain characteristics of lambsquarters in the DMV and allowed them to submit ground truth data. The final design of Mission LQ received a median system usability scale (SUS) score of 80.13, which indicates a good design. The classification rate of lambsquarters was 72%, which is comparable to expert classification. This demonstrates that a crowdsourcing mobile application can be used to collect high quality ground truth data for use in precision agriculture.
As big data has become increasingly necessary in modern farming techniques, the dependence on high quality and quantity of ground truth data has risen. Collecting ground truth data is one of the most labor-intensive aspects of the research process. A crowdsourcing platform application to aid lay people in completing ground truth data can improve the quality and quantity of data for growers and agricultural researchers. In this study, a user-centered design process was used to develop a prototype of a mobile application which will teach people how to classify certain characteristics of lambsquarters in the District of Columbia. Focus group results demonstrated that the greatest motivation for the participants was having opportunities to develop their skills and access to educational resources. From the focus groups, design personas were created and wireframe prototypes were produced. The prototypes were evaluated by users using the System Usability Scale and qualitative feedback. The design received an average score of 75.95, which indicates an acceptable design. From the feedback of the users, improvements to the design were made in the mobile application development of the system.
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