Check out the projects section on the GISCorps website (www.giscorps.org) for a comprehensive look at past projects, current projects, and future project needs. ® GIS Professionals Volunteering for a Better World Since 2003 "GISCorps volunteers were instrumental in establishing the Australian Red Cross with a spatial mapping capability to be used during emergencies. The value the GISCorps volunteers brought to the project was proven in the success of the mapping products developed during the 2011 QLD Floods and cyclones." - Emergency Services Coordinator, Australian Red Cross Volume 28 Journal of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association CONTENTS 7 Mediating Open Data: Providers, Portals, and Platforms Edited by Victoria Fast and Claus Rinner 9 Who Are Government OpenData Infomediaries? A Preliminary Scan and Classification of Open Data Users and Products Peter A. Johnson and Sarah Greene 19 Exploring Open Data Perspectives from Government Providers in Western Canada Mark Gill, Jon Corbett, and Renée Sieber 31 Open Data Community Maturity: Libraries as Civic Infomediaries Pamela Robinson and Lisa Ward Mather 39 The Geospatial Contents of Municipal and Regional Open Data Catalogs in Canada Edgar Baculi, Victoria Fast, and Claus Rinner 49 The Civic Open Data and Crowdsourcing App Ecosystem: Actors, Materials, and Interventions Suthee Sangiambut and Renée Sieber Journal Publisher: Urban and Regional Information Systems Association Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Jochen Albrecht Journal Coordinator: Wendy Nelson Electronic Journal: http://www.urisa.org/resources/urisa-journal/ EDITORIAL OFFICE: Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, 701 Lee Street, Suite 680, Des Plaines, Illinois 60016; Voice (847) 824-6300; Fax (847) 824-6363; E-mail [email protected]. SUBMISSIONS: This publication accepts from authors an exclusive right of first publication to their article plus an accompanying grant of non- exclusive full rights. The publisher requires that full credit for first publication in theURISA Journal is provided in any subsequent electronic or print publications. For more information, the “Manuscript Submission Guidelines for Refereed Articles” is available on our website, www.urisa. org, or by calling (847) 824-6300. SUBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISING: All correspondence about advertising, subscriptions, and URISA memberships should be directed to: Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, 701 Lee Street, Suite 680, Des Plaines, Illinois 60016; Voice (847) 824-6300; Fax (847) 824-6363; E-mail [email protected]. URISA Journal is published two times a year by the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association. © 2017 by the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by permission of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association. Educational programs planned and presented by URISA provide attendees with relevant and rewarding continuing education experience. However, neither the content (whether written or oral) of any course, seminar, or other presentation, nor the use of a specific product in conjunction there- with, nor the exhibition of any materials by any party coincident with the educational event, should be construed as indicating endorsement or approval of the views presented, the products used, or the materials exhibited by URISA, or by its committees, Special Interest Groups, Chapters, or other commissions. SUBSCRIPTION RATE: One year: $295 business, libraries, government agencies, and public institutions. Individuals interested in subscriptions should contact URISA for membership information. US ISSN 1045-8077 2 URISA Journal • Vol. 28 EDITORIAL BOARD Bin Jiang, University of Gävle, Sweden URISA Journal Editor Editorial Board Richard Klosterman, Department of Geography Editor-in-Chief and Planning, University of Akron Jochen Albrecht, PhD, Associate Professor for Peggy Agouris, Center for Earth Observing Jeremy Mennis, Department of Geography and Computational and Theoretical Geography. Hunter and Space Research, George Mason University, Urban Studies, Temple University College, New York, NY Virginia Nancy von Meyer, GISP, Fairview Industries David Arctur, Open Geospatial Consortium Harvey J. Miller, Department of Geography, Michael Batty, Centre for Advanced Spatial University of Utah Thematic Editors: Analysis, University College London (United Kingdom) Zorica Nedovic-Budic, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy, University Sustainability Analysis and Decision Kate Beard, Department of Spatial Information College, Dublin (Ireland) Support Systems: Science and Engineering, University of Maine Timothy Nyerges, University of Washington Timothy Nyerges, University of Washington, Yvan Bédard, Centre for Research in Geomatics, Department of Geography, Seattle Participatory GIS and Related Applications: Laval University (Canada) Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Hunter College Harlan Onsrud, Spatial Information Science Itzhak Benenson, Department of Geography, and Engineering, University of Maine Social, Economic, Governance and Political Tel Aviv University (Israel) Sciences: Zhong-Ren Peng, Department of Urban and Francis Harvey, University of Minnesota Al Butler, GISP, Milepost Zero Regional Planning, University of Florida GIScience: Barbara P. Buttenfield, Department of Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Hunter College, Harvey Miller, University of Utah Geography, University of Colorado Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, Urban and Regional Systems and Modeling: Keith C. Clarke, Department of Geography, New York City Itzhak Benenson, Tel Aviv University University of California-Santa Barbara Carl Reed, Open Geospatial Consortium David Coleman, Department of Geodesy and Claus Rinner, Department of Geography, Geomatics Engineering, University of New Ryerson University (Canada) Brunswick (Canada) Monika Sester, Institute of Cartography and Paul Cote, Graduate School of Design, Harvard Geoinformatics, Leibniz Universität Hannover, University Germany David J. Cowen, Department of Geography, David Tulloch, Department of Landscape University of South Carolina Architecture, Rutgers University William J. Craig, GISP, Center for Urban and Stephen J. Ventura, Department of Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota Environmental Studies and Soil Science, Robert G. Cromley, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison University of Connecticut Barry Wellar, Department of Geography, Michael Gould, Environmental Systems University of Ottawa (Canada) Research Institute Lyna Wiggins, Department of Planning, Klaus Greve, Department of Geography, Rutgers University University of Bonn (Germany) F. Benjamin Zhan, Department of Geography, Daniel A. Griffith, Geographic Information Texas State University-San Marcos Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas Francis J. Harvey, Department of Geography, University of Minnesota URISA Journal • Vol. 28 3 THANK YOU The first issue of the URISA Journal was published in 1989, and printed by the University of Wisconsin Press. The Edi- tors were Kenneth Dueker, D. David Moyer, and Bernard Niemann, Jr. That first issue was about 140 pages in length and included refereed and Horwood Critique Prize papers, feature articles, a featured map, book and soft- ware reviews: The URISA Community owes a huge debt of gratitude to the editors, guest editors, members of the editorial review board, and authors for their amazing commitment to the publication over the years. Editors 1989-1998: Kenneth Dueker, D.David Moyer, Bernard Niemann, Jr. Editor 1999-2003: Harlan Onsrud Editor 2003-2006: Steven Ventura Editor 2006-2011: Jochen Albrecht Editor 2011-2015: Piyushimita (Vonu) Thakuriah Editor 2015-2017: Jochen Albrecht Take some time to look through the archives and see just how far we have come: http://www.urisa.org/resources/urisa-journal/ 4 URISA Journal • Vol. 28 Final Letter from the Editor As you read these lines, I regret to inform you that this will be the last volume and issue of the URISA Journal. For many of us, it feels as if the Journal has been around forever (or at least as long as URISA itself). In part, this is because URISA was quite academic in character when the organization was founded—the profession, and certainly the notion of a GIS professional, did not exist in the early days. Since URISA’s inception, numerous academics, including Bob Aangeenbrug, Will Craig, Ken Duecker, Britt Harris, Edgar Horwood, Bill Huxhold, Joe Ferreira, Barry Wellar, and Lyna Wiggins, served as presidents of our organization, providing the leadership and momentum to create the profession that we now are. Journal editors such as Ben Nieman, Harlan Onsrud, Steve Ventura, board members such as Nancy Obermeyer, and successive generations of the Journal’s editorial board provided invaluable service in shaping the quality and reach of the Journal. The academic intellectual roots that resulted in the creation of our Journal along with its peer-review process provided an academic seal of approval to authors, readers, and URISA members and celebrated high-quality GIS research and practice. URISA originally was modeled after the Regional Science Organization; URISA conferences and later the papers published in the early years of the Journal were products of serious and rigorous scholarship—often practice-oriented, no doubt, but really contributing to what in later years was to be dubbed geographic information science. Even now, the majority of our mission statement’s