Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Conclusion
The online mapping applications created after the
accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant on March 11,
2011 are part of Web-mapping practices based on mashups.
When compared with GIS, these base maps have the
advantage of being easy to handle and publish online, and
they also facilitate adding personal or third-party data. Base
map users can thereby mobilize skills that differ from and
enriches the traditional skill-set of professions who have
traditionally used maps. Similar to the way Charles-Joseph
Minard's maps adapted to the needs of engineers in the 19th
Century, contemporary Web-based maps provide new
grounds in which Web designers and developers can
experiment. Moreover, the case study analyzed here reveals
the potential reflexivity for Web cartographers. These
applications were appropriated by Web users who were not
satisfied with the low quantity, and the impractical formats
of radiation measurements provided by public authorities.
The situation triggered public engagement in order to obtain
the necessary data, to map them and to publish them online.
This was done with the aim of helping Web users to get a
better-informed opinion on the situation, through data
visualizations, and to be able to make decisions in an
emergency situation on that basis.
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