Grassroots organizations and GIS: Assessing the role of geographical information and GIS in grassroots watershed organizations in West Virginia

A growing number of organizations, especially “grassroots” organizations are seeking to make use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and geographical information. In most cases, however, the use and potential use or benefits of GIS for “grassroots” organizations have been far from realized. The overall goal of this project is to explore grassroots awareness of understanding of use of, and proposed use of GIS for assessing watershed issues and to do this in the context of the issue raised by the GIS and society debate. The use of four West Virginia watershed case studies served to identify some of the major themes that are relevant to watershed groups as uses of GIS. The main role of GIS in these instances reflects one of the primary goals of all the organizations themselves: education of the public. Although the case studies' use of GIS vary in degrees of sophistication and they have had to overcome many frustration, they are all convinced of the crucial role GIS is providing in fulfilling their missions.