The Great Lakes Circle Tour leads you around the largest freshwater system on the planet – but the main route often takes you far from the water's edge. The Wisconsin Coastal Guide shows you where to pull off the highway for a quiet beach, a hidden lighthouse, or a secluded park. Support for the project was provided by the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program.

R. William Provencher, UW-Madison, (608) 262-9494, rwproven@wisc.edu

Volker Radeloff, UW-Madison, (608) 263-4349, radeloff@wisc.edu

This continuing project is focused on two land development issues. First, it is looking at the effects of coastal (shoreline and nearshore) land use policies and management tools on the spatial dynamics of private subdivision. Second, researchers hope to provide local Great Lakes governments and planning agencies with GIS tools that can be combined with econometric models of the subdivision decisions of private landowners to create a dynamic, spatial forecast of the effect of various landscape policies and management options. R/CC-1

Stephen Ventura, UW–Madison, (608) 262-6416, sventura@facstaff.wisc.edu

The Wisconsin Coastal Atlas (WCA) (wicoastalatlas.net) provides access to maps, data and tools to support decision-making about the Great Lakes. It builds on many years of collaboration between Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility at UW-Madison to leverage sizeable investments made by local governments in land information systems and apply geospatial technologies to the sustainable management of the Great Lakes. This second phase of the WCA will incorporate satellite imagery and open-water observations in order to 1) communicate water quality trends in Green Bay, 2) reduce conflicts between recreational fishermen and trap nets in Lake Michigan, and 3) improve the safety of water sports on the Great Lakes. The project will develop and apply social-science methods to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of spatial decision support tools and establish a webinar series to promote the development of a Great Lakes Coastal Atlas Network. R/SCD-04

Janet Silbernagel, UW-Madison, (608) 265-8093, jmsilber@wisc.edu

Spatial narratives have been framed as conceptual tools for synthesizing multiple forms of bioregional knowledge for community-based decision-making and stewardship. While the spatial narrative has been useful in several research and outreach applications, it has not yet been truly operationalized as a digital “geotool” or evaluated for its utility for citizen engagement and spatial literacy. In this project, researchers are partnering with the Applications Prototype Lab of Esri, a global leader in geographic information systems solutions, to develop a spatial narrative geotool application that allows coastal community groups to form digital spatial narratives for their own estuary-based bioregions and place-based issues. The project will evaluate citizen experiences and engagement in coastal estuaries with the geotool through a social science research design. With new modes of place-based learning, social media and participatory decision-making, spatial narratives could be valuable in advancing spatial literacy and thoughtful dialogue around environmental sustainability in coastal communities. R/SCD-05

Christopher Hartleb, UW-Stevens Point, (715) 346-3228, chartleb@uwsp.edu

Keith Rice, UW-Stevens Point, (715) 346-4454, krice@uwsp.edu

The overall hypothesis for this project is to determine if location characteristics of aquaculture operations are significant for determining success or failure of commercialized operations in Wisconsin. Specific objectives are to: 1) develop a predictive aquaculture farm model using a multi-criteria evaluation procedure in GIS  and 2) synthesize existing data about existing aquaculture farms into the GIS model based on common culture methods to improve the model's efficaciousness and using these data further refine a predictive model for particular species selection. R/SFA-05 

Wisconsin's Water Library has reading lists on many different topics.  Take a look at the maps and mapping reading list and a list that was compiled for the "Making Maps, Making History" exhibit.