The Impact of User Expertise on Geographic Risk Assessment under Uncertain Conditions

This research addresses the impact of expertise on the use of uncertain geographic information, using the case study domain of floodplain mapping. An online survey was developed to gain insight into the possible differences between experts and novices. Fifty-six participants completed the survey in which they were required to assess the risk at an identified location in the landscape relative to three floodplain delineations, each carrying a different degree of certainty, and then report their perceived difficulty in making the assessment and their confidence in the assessment. The responses were examined across three realms of expertise (education/training, work experience, and self-reported) and for two classes of expertise (domain and map-use). The analysis found that user confidence is affected by both domain and map-use expertise, but it is domain expertise that most impacts risk assessment itself and map-use expertise that most impacts the perceived difficulty of the risk assessment.