Mapping Spatial Attributes in Survey Research for Natural Resource Management: Methods and Applications

Traditional survey research measures attributes such as opinions, attitudes, beliefs, values, norms, and preferences. Few public surveys have attempted to map perceived spatial attributes of places and landscapes, a subject of increasing importance to environmental and natural resource management. For the past 5 years, this researcher has included spatial measures of landscape values and attributes in five separate surveys of the general public in Alaska (1998–2003). This article reviews the spatial data collection rationale behind these studies, design concepts, methods, and implementation issues when administering a general public survey that includes a spatial mapping component. A research framework for using landscape values and spatial measures in GIS planning applications is presented, including suitability analysis, gap analysis, and hot-spot identification. Spatial measure ambiguity and survey response rates will require future research attention. The mapping of psychometric attributes of place through survey research remains a field open to active inquiry and experimentation.