Dear Geowanking community,
My name is Lucy Stanbrough and I am a final year student at the University of Hertfordshire, currently undertaking my dissertation into the use of online GIS for natural hazards. To date there have been no studies that that aim to identify and compare content providers' assessment and provision of user needs against actual user needs on a global multi-hazard level, which could provide a valuable piece of research in this burgeoning field. Users and content providers are being surveyed to determine what is currently available from provider's verses what users to like to see made available. The use of online GIS within this field has expanded quite rapidly in recent years with increasing availability of data and software, and a decrease in costs of deploying systems; yet there have been no studies that have looked to explore how useful these systems are to the people they have been designed for and what sites users are frequenting, and what they would like to see made available. This is critical in the effective distribution and use of vast quantities of data that is generated pre, during and post disaster that may not be used to its full potential, and for disseminating general information to the community. I would like to invite you all to become a part of this exciting and important project, and help in this task by taking part in the Online GIS questionnaires located at the following site - there is one for users and one for content providers: www.the-online-gis-survey.co.uk <http://www.the-online-gis-survey.co.uk/> - click on the hyperlink, or cut and paste the entire URL into your browser. Or if you do not feel the study is of interest to you, to forward it on to anyone you think it may as there are few places where users of these important systems have been identified, making them difficult to contact. Thank you in advance for any assistance you are able to offer in this matter, and I look forward most eagerly to your replies. Yours Sincerely, Lucy Stanbrough University of Hertfordshire
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