Welcome to the Hvaler webpage of Greenmapper Friends. On this page we briefly introduce the joint scientific experiment of the University of Groningen, Visit Fredrikstad & Hvaler, and Østfold University College!
What is Greenmapper Friends?
GreenMapper Friends is a scientific experiment. Greenmapper is an online scientific web-platform that is geographical in focus. It provides insights on how people cherish nature and what is the best for nature. In the case of Hvaler and Fredrikstad, we invite people as “citizen scientists” to explore how to improve the off-season experience and develop more sustainable tourism strategies in Ytre Hvaler National Park.
How does Greenmapper Friends work?
Mapping favorite nature spots: GreenMapper uses new online technology that allows people to map which places with nature they like and why. This knowledge is important for the local, regional, and national stakeholders to understand why people love certain nature spots.
Online friend of your nature places through communities: We invite the nature and landscape organisations to create communities of where they govern in GreenMapper Friends. Once your mapped area overlaps with their domain, you will be a “landscape friend” in contact with the landscape organizations.
Participation in the experiment of the Hvaler community: As an online landscape friend of Hvaler, you can participate in ongoing research, giving your opinion in various ways and you can participate in funding projects. With all these things you can influence the decision-making, management and protection of the area you love.
What do you think of off-season experience in Ytre Hvaler National Park? This experiment revolves around sustainable tourism strategies in Ytre Hvaler National Park, with a focus on how to improve off-season tourist experience. We then use innovative software called Pol.is to hear opinions from as many people as possible. In Pol.is, you indicate whether you agree with certain statements, and you can also contribute statements yourself that others will then vote for.
How can I participate?
Step 1: Map four favorite nature spots on the map via Greenmapper
Firstly, you mark where you live. For privacy, you don’t mark your exact address, but approximately where you live.Then draw four favorite nature spots on the map that are attractive, valuable or important to you. A place near where you live, a place in the region, a place somewhere in the country and finally a place somewhere in the world.
Step 2: Participate in discussions and respond to statements via Pol.is
When you are done putting the places on the map, you will enter the GreenMapper Hvaler community. There you will find the discussion through theses about recreation pressure and nature (Pol.is).
Are you in? There are statements. For each statement you can vote ‘Agree’, ‘Disagree’ and ‘Uncertain’. Maybe you think very differently. Give your opinion and submit it so that others can vote for your idea.
At the end, we visualize what everyone agrees and what they don’t and whether there are different groups. You can also see the first results later. And we will keep you informed of the further results.
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Step 3: Maybe you can also participate in an online round table meeting
Once our community reaches 500 friends, we will randomly select 10-20 participants for an online roundtable meeting with nature management organizations and other experts.
Disclaimer!
Greenmapper Friends is an experimental scientific software but we invite the public to be our tester and “citizen scientists”! If you compare it with a simple written survey Greenmapper stands out as visually attractive and interactive tool. If you compare to big tech applications you may still find it far less fluent and user-friendly. Bear with us!