Public defence, geoinformatics, MSc (Tech) Christian Koski

Title of the thesis: Stakeholder perceptions of digitalization and automation in geospatial planning and data production workflows

Thesis defender: Christian Koski
Opponent: Professor Haosheng Huang, Ghent University, Belgium
Custos: Assistant Professor Henrikki Tenkanen, Aalto University School of Engineering, Department of Built Environment

The increasing digitalisation and automation of geospatial workflows are changing how geospatial information is produced and used. The adoption of new technologies, however, depends not only on their technical capabilities, but also on how users and other stakeholders perceive their usefulness, reliability, and understandability.

This doctoral research examined stakeholder perceptions of two emerging geospatial technologies in different contexts: collaborative geographic information systems used in maritime spatial planning and artificial intelligence (AI) used in the production of topographic data. The research used methods including prototype implementation, workshops, questionnaires, and analysis of AI-generated geospatial data.

The results show that collaborative geographic information systems can support maritime spatial planning, particularly by helping users explore, visualise, and create geospatial information. At the same time, automated spatial analyses can make systems more difficult to understand and use. Stakeholders generally perceived AI-based automation as trustworthy for producing topographic data when its results are manually validated. However, they also raised concerns about transparency, data security, privacy, and the assessment of data quality.

The findings can be applied to the design and implementation of geospatial technologies and to the development of workflows that use automation and AI. They highlight the importance of providing users with flexibility in planning with geospatial data, understandable methods, transparent processes, and appropriate validation of automated results. Overall, the research shows that technological capabilities alone do not ensure successful adoption: technologies must also be perceived as useful, trustworthy, and understandable by the people who use or are affected by them. 

Thesis available for public display 7 days prior to the defence at Aalto University's public display page.