Participatory research methods are increasingly used to better understand complex social-environmental problems and design solutions through diverse and inclusive stakeholder engagement. But, participatory research rarely engages stakeholders in co-development and interpretation of computational models that describe system dynamics essential for conceptualizing complex processes and envisioning scenarios of alternate action. Even fewer participatory projects have engaged people using geospatial simulations that represent dynamic landscape processes and spatially-explicit management scenarios. Geospatial participatory modeling (GPM) can confer multiple benefits for participatory research processes, by (a) personalizing connections to problems and their solutions, (b) resolving abstract notions of connectivity, and (c) clarifying the scales of drivers, data, and decision-making authority. Using Johns Island, South Carolina, as a case study of a region facing loss of natural and cultural resources due to urbanization and sea level rise, this presentation illustrates how GPM is bringing stakeholders together to devise solutions in new ways.