Supplementary material 1: Online survey conducted to support the study. The online survey was available on Survey Monkey ( from March 16-March 31, 2012.On March 16, 2012, an ad announcing the availability of the survey and soliciting responses from people who had used GIS to map and assess ecosystem services was posted on several professional listservs, including the Ecological Society of America’s ECOLOG-L listserv, the Society for Conservation GIS listserv, the Society for Conservation Biology’s Ecological Economics and Social Science Working Group listservs, and the Resilience Alliance Young Scholars email distribution list.
1.Consent to be a Research Subject in the Study “The Use of Geographic Information Systems to Map and Assess Ecosystem Services”
This research study is being conducted by Kristine Nemec and Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne on behalf of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, U.S.A., to study the strengths and limitations of various geographic information systems (GIS) software programs to map and assess ecosystem services. You are invited to participate in this if you have experience using GIS software to map and assess ecosystem services.
Your participation in this research study is voluntary, and no monetary compensation will be offered for participation. If you decide to participate in this study, you may withdraw at any time. You may also skip any question asked of you in the study but continue to participate in the rest of the study. If you withdraw or choose not to answer certain questions this will not harm your relationship with the researchers or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant please contact the UNL IRB at . This research has been approved as IRB approval #20120312491 EX.
You will be asked to complete an online survey. The survey consists of 20 questions and will take approximately 20-25 minutes. Questions will be about your demographics and your experiences with the strengths and limitations of GIS software for mapping and assessing ecosystem services. Your responses will be confidential and we do not collect identifying information such as your name or IP address.
We will keep your information confidential. All data is stored in a password protected electronic format. To help protect your confidentiality, the surveys will not contain information that will personally identify you. The results of this study will be used for scholarly purposes only. The data you give us will be used for a research article and as the basis for presentations in the future. We won’t use your name or information that would identify you in any publications or presentations.
If you have any questions about the research study, please contact Kristine Nemec at , Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne at , or Dr. Craig Allen at . This research has been reviewed according to University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institutional Review Board procedures for research involving human subjects.
ELECTRONIC CONSENT: Please select your choice below. Clicking on the "agree" button below indicates that: • you have read the above information • you voluntarily agree to participate • you are at least 19 years of age If you do not wish to participate in the research study, please decline participation by clicking on the "disagree" button.
2. What sector do you work in?
- Federal government
- State government
- Local government
- Non-profit organization
- Academic institution
- Self-employed
- For-profit business
3. What is your primary job activity?
- Land management/species conservation
- Research
- Education/outreach
- Policy development or policy implementation
- Other (please specify)
4. For how many years have you used GIS as part of your work and/or education?
- <One year
- One-five years
- Six-ten years
- Ten years or more
5. Have you ever used InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) to map and assess ecosystem services? Yes / No
If No, then the next question that appearedasked if the respondent has ever used ARIES and so on through the list of four software programs we asked about.
If Yes, then the following question appeared:
6. How did you learn to use InVEST (more than one answer is possible)?
- From colleagues
- Took a workshop
- Took online training
- Read the manual or website provided by the software developer
- Other (please specify)
7. How would you describe the time and effort required to use the software compared to other GIS software products you have used, e.g. is there a steep learning curve? Can someone relatively new to GIS learn to use it or is it more appropriate for someone with intermediate or advanced GIS skills?
8. Please provide a 2-4 sentence summary of which ecosystem services you have mapped and assessed, and in what ecosystem(s).
9. What was the purpose of your assessment (e.g., academic research, to provide information to policy officials planning a project, etc.)?Did the model allow you to achieve the goals associated with the purpose of your assessment?
10. What are the strengths of the InVEST program?
11. What are the limitations of the InVEST program?
12. What improvements would you recommend for the InVEST program?
13. Were you able to ground-truth the model results, or do you have any indication of how well the model performed?
14. Who (what sector) would most benefit from using this tool? What sector is this tool not suitable for? Why?
15. (If applicable) Were the results from this model used in decision-making, and did the application of the results to the decision-making process unearth any further issues with the model’s design?
16. Did the spatial component of the model satisfy your particular needs? What were the strengths and weaknesses of the model in relation to modeling ecosystem services across space?
The same questions as 5-16above appeared for ARIES, and then EcoMetrix, and then Natural Assets Information System. After the list of questions for the Natural Assets Information System is, the next question asked if any other GIS platform had been used, and then questions 56-66 repeated questions 6-17, as applied to the GIS platform.
53. Have you ever used another GIS platform to model ecosystem services?Yes/No
54. Please describe what platform you used.
55. How did you quantify the ecosystem services that you analyzed (e.g. what indicators, units, measurement approach (modeled or estimated from data), etc., and at what spatial resolution)?
Responses to demographic questions are provided below. Although 85 people took the survey, respondents were not required to answer each question and n < 85 for many questions.
What sector do you work in?
What is your primary job activity?
For how many years have you used GIS as part of your work and/or education?