Papers by Mairead de Roiste
The provision of public planning information and services on the Internet by Irish Local Authorities : a user centric perspective
THESIS 8253The Internet is increasingly used to disseminate local government information and to p... more THESIS 8253The Internet is increasingly used to disseminate local government information and to provide public services. Although this is still a developing area of research, the needs of users of local government information are often overlooked in the research and the benefit of online provision is seldom rigorously tested. This study evaluated the current provision of planning information on the Internet in Irish local authorities from the users\u27 perspective. The provision was evaluated using methods that acknowledge the user\u27s importance in determining the suitability of online information. In this research, the users of the planning information were identified and their characteristics and needs were assessed via an online questionnaire. Finally, local authorities were selected based on the evaluation of the local authority online provision and interviews w ere conducted regarding their views of users and their provision. The provision of online inform ation varies drastically across the different local authorities
Ecosphere, Oct 1, 2019
Ecosystem services provided by contemporary landscapes are different from those of the past, and ... more Ecosystem services provided by contemporary landscapes are different from those of the past, and this difference is influenced by the legacies of policies that incentivized wetland drainage without considering the impact on ecosystem services. Heterogeneity in ecosystem service legacies is rarely acknowledged or documented. Even less understood is the relative role of historical wetland type (e.g., swamps, fens) and contemporary land cover in shaping these heterogeneous outcomes. Here, we contrasted contemporary ecosystem services with a scenario of no wetland drainage in the Ruamahanga Basin, New Zealand, a region historically rich in wetlands. Using the high-resolution Land Use Capability Indicator model, we mapped nitrogen retention, phosphorous retention, sediment retention, agricultural productivity, and flood mitigation at a 5-m spatial resolution under these two scenarios. Our work supports the broad understanding that agricultural productivity has increased in contemporary landscapes, while flood mitigation and nutrient retention have decreased. Net losses in ecosystem services occurred for the majority of historical wetlands, while net gains were less common. However, spatially heterogeneous and divergent responses of ecosystem services to land cover changes reinforced the need for high-resolution models to untangle the range of factors affecting ecosystem service provisioning. Contemporary land cover explained very little variation in ecosystem services. Initial conditions, however, played an important role in determining ecosystem service outcomes with losses of swamps being particularly problematic for net loss of ecosystem services provisioning. The maps we produced, and the algorithms underlying them, provide tools to envision both local-and broad-scale effects of historical wetland drainage.
A multiscale perspective on how much wetland restoration is needed to achieve targets for ecosystem services
Ecosystem services, Jun 1, 2023
How good is local eGovernment
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Sep 1, 2014
Mairead de Roiste proposes new ways of assessing the usability of local government websites.
Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 2021
We report the findings from two global panel "conversations" that, stimulated by the exceptional ... more We report the findings from two global panel "conversations" that, stimulated by the exceptional coronavirus pandemic of 2020/21, explored the concept of resilience in geographic science teaching and learning. Characteristics of resilient teaching, both in general and with reference to GISc, are listed and shown to be essentially what might in the past have been called good teaching. Similarly, barriers to resilient teaching are explored and strategies for overcoming them listed. Perhaps the most important conclusion is a widespread desire not to "bounce back" to pre-COVID ways, but to use the opportunity to "bounce forward" towards better teaching and learning practices.
Frontiers in Earth Science, Feb 3, 2016
Alpine permafrost occurrence in maritime climates has received little attention, despite suggesti... more Alpine permafrost occurrence in maritime climates has received little attention, despite suggestions that permafrost may occur at lower elevations than in continental climates. To assess the spatial and altitudinal limits of permafrost in the maritime Southern Alps, we developed and tested a catchment-scale distributed permafrost estimate. We used logistic regression to identify the relationship between permafrost presence at 280 active and relict rock glacier sites and the independent variables (a) mean annual air temperature (MAAT) and (b) potential incoming solar radiation in snow free months. The statistical relationships were subsequently employed to calculate the spatially-distributed probability of permafrost occurrence, using a probability of ≥ 0.6 to delineate the potential permafrost extent. Our results suggest that topoclimatic conditions are favorable for permafrost occurrence in debris-mantled slopes above ∼2000 m above sea level (asl) in the central Southern Alps and above ∼2150 m asl in the more northern Kaikoura ranges. Considering the well-recognized latitudinal influence on global permafrost occurrences, these altitudinal limits are lower than the limits observed in other mountain regions. We argue that the Southern Alps' lower distribution limits may exemplify an oceanic influence on global permafrost distribution. Reduced ice-loss due to moderate maritime summer temperature extremes may facilitate the existence of permafrost at lower altitudes than in continental regions at similar latitude. Empirical permafrost distribution models derived in continental climates may consequently be of limited applicability in maritime settings.
Educational technology research and development
Disciplines in Higher Education have their own interpretations of what is essential knowledge tha... more Disciplines in Higher Education have their own interpretations of what is essential knowledge that influences what is taught, how teaching occurs, and the role of digital tools. Disciplinary culture is dynamic and evolving, informed by disciplinary research and technology improvement. During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital solutions enabled ongoing teaching when undergraduate courses could not be taught on campus, in lecture theatres, seminar rooms, laboratories, or in the field. Using digital tools and changes in teaching practices has created a context where Higher Education teachers must consider how future learning and teaching should occur. To explore this, a cross-discipline team used appreciative inquiry framed in complexity theory to examine how teaching in undergraduate programmes is changing in the digital age and implications for Higher Education teachers. The research identifies how digital technologies influence undergraduate programmes in Applied Statistics, Computer Sc...
An Exploration of School Quality, House Prices and Geographical Location in Wellington, New Zealand
ISCR and Victoria University of Wellington undertook a project with Sarah Crilly, a Higher Diplom... more ISCR and Victoria University of Wellington undertook a project with Sarah Crilly, a Higher Diploma of Data Science and Analytics student at the Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland in a project investigating school quality measures and house prices in Wellington, New Zealand. This project was presented at the Central Statistics Office, the Irish equivalent to Statistics New Zealand, at a Data Science seminar on the 31st of April 2014. This project investigates available school measures, their use as measures of school quality and explores whether school quality is associated with house prices in Wellington, New Zealand. Geographical Information Science and Systems (GIS) is used as a descriptive and analytic tool in tandem with multiple linear regression and k-means clustering. It is found that a socioeconomic measure known as school decile, student ethnicity and assessment results are likely school quality measures. The association between school quality measures and house prices i...
Rising fuel prices, costly transport infrastructure, congestion, external environmental impacts a... more Rising fuel prices, costly transport infrastructure, congestion, external environmental impacts and impending peak oil difficulties highlight the importance of understanding the economic decisions behind commuting patterns. Where a person lives and works are important factors in an individual's transport decision and are key determinants for car ownership. However these spatial factors are interlinked and an individuals residential location is also determined by where they work and their transport choices among other factors. Households are also likely to compromise on their commuting, car ownership and residential choices according to the needs of multiple members of the household.
New Zealand Geographer, 2014
Geospatial technologies span governmental, academic and private commercial sectors, and their pot... more Geospatial technologies span governmental, academic and private commercial sectors, and their potential for growth is considerable. The USA and Australia have trouble meeting demand for geospatial skills. This paper reports on a national survey of 157 organisations that identified a similar geospatial shortage in New Zealand. The paper also details dimensions of the shortage and the current frameworks for meeting the shortfall of skilled professionals. Arising from this skills gap, key challenges facing both the geography and geospatial communities are identified and discussed: raising student numbers, gaining experience, up-skilling current professionals and raising awareness of the value of the geospatial skillset.
Opportunities across boundaries: lessons from a collaboratively delivered cross-institution Master's programme
Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 2015
ABSTRACT Advances in technology have created opportunities for collaborative multi-institution pr... more ABSTRACT Advances in technology have created opportunities for collaborative multi-institution programme delivery which are increasingly attractive within a constrained financial environment. This paper details the development of a cross-institution collaboratively delivered masters and postgraduate diploma programme in Geographical Information Science in New Zealand. We explore the benefits of such an approach as well as the lessons learnt from its implementation. The recommendations presented will be of interest to teaching faculty considering specialized collaborative programmes as well as more senior staff who are keen to combine institutional resources to meet new and emerging demands for skills.
Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 2015
This study assesses the influence of development on landslide occurrences in a rapidly developing... more This study assesses the influence of development on landslide occurrences in a rapidly developing area, Kota Kinabalu in Sabah Malaysia, across three assessment years (1978, 1994 and 2010). Two development indicators, land use and road density, were used to measure the influence of development on landslide occurrence. Land use was classified into four categories (barren, forest, developedand other), and road density was classified into low (< 50 m/40 000 m 2), moderate (50-150 m/40 000 m 2) and high (> 150 m/40 000 m 2). Landslide density analysis was used to calculate the concentration
Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference of the New Zealand Chapter of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction - CHINZ '11, 2011
While touch tables have improved support for creative, colocated, collaborative tasks, the very a... more While touch tables have improved support for creative, colocated, collaborative tasks, the very act of studying what groups create on such tables (and how) remains non-trivially difficult. We developed an experimental tool to study what map designs would be created by pairs of users collaborating around a touch table, however to paraphrase the German military strategist Helmuth von Moltke: "no experimental tool survives contact with the table". While running our experiments, we made a series of observations around issues with table interaction, and our initial expectations on how the users would be able to interact with the tool. In this paper, we contribute these observations to assist other researchers considering undertaking a similar course of action.
Geographic information in eLocal government: evaluating online mapping applications in Irish local authorities
Irish Geography, 2009
Abstract This paper evaluates geographic applications provided on Irish local government websites... more Abstract This paper evaluates geographic applications provided on Irish local government websites through the application of a method developed by Campagna and Deplano (2004). This method assesses geographic applications against categories of content and technology with reference to public participation. Results from this and previous studies are used to produce a cross-country comparison between Ireland, Italy and Denmark. Irish geographic applications are generally static and represent traditional offline services, ...
Government Information Quarterly, 2013
During the last decade, various types of eGovernment evaluations have been proposed. These evalua... more During the last decade, various types of eGovernment evaluations have been proposed. These evaluations have primarily focused on international benchmarking using supply side metrics. Demand for eGovernment has been largely ignored. Recently, this oversight has been recognised, but research in this area is still in its infancy. This paper proposes the use of an already established usability literature from computer science. Advantages of applying usability methods to eGovernment include recognising barriers to use, identifying future development priorities and using already existing methods to assess and compare online offerings. Importantly, the inclusion of and focus on real users also fits with the wider government ideals of greater public participation and strengthening democracy. To highlight the potential of such an approach, we present a case study. Usability methods, such as presented here in a user survey, can develop new insights by expressly targeting different user groups and through openended questions. The outcomes of this method are immediately useful for prioritising and undertaking future online development as well as comparing eGovernment provision.
Modeling and Estimating Post-Earthquake Fire Spread
Earthquake Spectra, 2012
This paper describes the development of a GIS-based dynamic fire-spread model, with seven distinc... more This paper describes the development of a GIS-based dynamic fire-spread model, with seven distinct modes of fire spread: direct contact, spontaneous ignition of claddings, piloted ignition of claddings, spontaneous ignition through windows, piloted ignition through broken windows, fire spread via non-fire-rated roofs and branding. All except the first two modes include in-built probabilities, but these can be selected individually and given user-defined values. Fire spread modes can be added to the model or altered to suit available building information. Critical details of buildings are obtained from an existing-buildings database, street surveys, or deduced using conditional probabilities from available data. Results show that comparison with actual fires is reasonable. The model could be extended with further development for use as a real time firefighting tool.
Tool Support for Map Interface Design: Individual versus Collaborative Approach more
Tool Support for Map Interface Design: Individual versus Collaborative Approach Hien Tran, Craig ... more Tool Support for Map Interface Design: Individual versus Collaborative Approach Hien Tran, Craig Anslow, Stuart Marshall, Alex Potanin, Mairad de Riste1 eo School of Engineering and Computer Science School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Victoria University of Wellington PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand, 6140 Email:{Hien. Tran, Craig. Anslow, Stuart. Marshall, Alex. Potanin}@ ecs. vuw. ac. nz Email: Mairead. deRoiste@ vuw. ac. nz 1 Abstract Recent advances in computer hardware have improved ...
Geovisualisation and policy: exploring the links
Abstract: This project investigates the potential for acquiring an enhanced geospatial capability... more Abstract: This project investigates the potential for acquiring an enhanced geospatial capability across the Official Statistics System (OSS), and the possibilities and techniques for geospatial innovation. The aim is to enhance accessibility, demonstrate through examples and explore how geovisualisation can contribute to the understanding of social and economic change in ways that are useful for the development of public policy.
Are Housing Wealth Effects Asymmetric in Booms and Busts?
The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 2020
This paper investigates the effects of household indebtedness and housing wealth on consumption. ... more This paper investigates the effects of household indebtedness and housing wealth on consumption. To identify exogenous movements of housing wealth and leverage, we estimate housing supply elasticities for New Zealand urban centers. We construct synthetic panel series by using household survey data to estimate the marginal propensity to consume out of exogenous changes in housing wealth, while controlling for the household leverage ratio. Our empirical results show that, on average, the marginal propensity to consume out of housing wealth is about 3 cents out of one dollar. But it is larger, about 4 cents, in response to falling house wealth than to increasing housing wealth, about 2 cents. We further investigate the role of household indebtedness in accounting for the asymmetric effect. Our findings suggest that household leverage reinforces the housing wealth effect in a housing bust, but dampens the housing wealth effect in a boom.
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Papers by Mairead de Roiste