Coastal managers need to incorporate socio-economic, cultural, and environmental factors, and their interactions, in a scientifically sound and timely manner (Burbridge, 1998; Westmacott, 2001)

Coastal managers need to incorporate socio-economic, cultural, and environmental factors, and their interactions, in a scientifically sound and timely manner (Burbridge, 1998; Westmacott, 2001). Resource managers and planners have increasingly used volunteer-based monitoring to augment data collection for a myriad of marine topics such as sediment transport and seasonal beach response (Bokuniewicz, 1981), seabird surveys (Harris et al., 2006), water quality assessment (e.g., Jackson, 2009), and assessing marine habitat diversity (Edgar and Stuart-Smith, 2009). Besides gathering valuable information for managers, participation in volunteer monitoring efforts is often intended to also increase public awareness of environmental conditions and processes (Bokuniewicz, 1981; Gouveia et al., 2004; Jackson, 2009). However, volunteer collected data is often dispersed and unstructured (Gouveia et al., 2004), as well as containing little spatial context, thereby limiting its utility. Information and communication technologies including GIS may be used to improve access and use of such data sets, while also facilitating data collection and analysis, as well as communication between stakeholders, thereby increasing public involvement and awareness (Gouveia et al., 2004).