Transcript No Slide Title

Web-based GIS used to enhance public democratic involvement
Andrew Evans, Richard Kingston, Steve Carver and Ian Turton,
Centre for Computational Geography, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 9JT, Britain.
Email: [email protected]
http://www.ccg.leeds.ac.uk/vdmisp/
Introduction
Increasingly the World Wide Web is being used to
disseminate spatial information. However, few
systems allow the public to manipulate
information and submit ideas on spatial problems
to those in power. Ideally, such systems should be
available for the public to participate in solving realworld spatial problems.
What’s needed...
Such systems should allow users to…
• access bipartisan information, and metainformation, in a way that encourages exploration.
• add multimedia information, discuss the data,
and form interested communities.
• examine datasets and run models of "what if"
scenarios.
• reach an informed decision, submit this to those
in power, see the results, and gain feedback on the
reasons for the final choice.
This poster details three projects aimed at
developing and testing such systems.
The village of Slaithwaite in Yorkshire, Britain.
http://www.ccg.leeds.ac.uk/slaithwaite/
Why the Web?
• Not time limited like normal public consultation
meetings.
• Accessible for those who cannot travel to meetings,
the blind and deaf.
• Wider involvement than meetings, which are often
dominated by small, vocal, groups.
• Easy use, electronic format data; a developing
consensus can be instantly understood.
• User use can be analyzed, and pre-informed and
Aim: To ask people how their village should be developed.
System: Online map with ability to mark and comment on
areas.
Access: Web, and PCs taken to the village fair which was
holding similar off-line meetings. School visits.
Results:
• High use of system by the young, less-able, and middle
income earners.
• Users ‘trusted’ the system more than the other events.
• Access to local beauty-spot increased, local canal re-opening,
drugs action group set up, Plans for 55 more of the suggestions.
informed decisions compared.
Problems
• Lack of standards compliancy in browsers hampers
coding.
• Lack of access availability - this is improving.
• Reluctance of some sections of society to use the
web - improving with reduced access costs.
• Data copyright - this will improve when suppliers
understand that bitmaps of their data are useless for all
but the most trivial purposes outside the applications.
Yorkshire Dales National Park Reforestation
http://www.ccg.leeds.ac.uk/dales/
Aim: To decide where to plant new trees.
System: Tree-structure information system to allow exploration of
increasingly complex data on the factors involved in the decision.
Questionnaire on the subjective factors (e.g., distance from roads).
Answers used to generate a weighted map showing the chosen
areas. Users then had the ability to change the weights used ‘on
the fly’ and see the effect on the locations.
Access: Web, and PCs taken to National Park visitor’s centres.
CDs send to Schools and Libraries.
Results: Recently passed to National Park’s Authority.
Conclusions
Nuclear Waste disposal
http://www.ccg.leeds.ac.uk/atomic/
Aim: To find a location for nuclear waste disposal.
System: Tree-structure information system to allow exploration of
increasingly complex data on the factors involved in the decision.
Questionnaire on the importance of the factors is used to generate
a map of chosen areas. ‘On the fly’ changes to the map weights
allowed after the pre-map decisions are recorded (few people want
nuclear waste as a neighbour!). Discussion, data linking, and
feedback facilities.
Access: Web and CDs.
Results: Still in prototype form.
• Public response was good given the youth of the
medium.
• Democratic apathy can be reduced by the
gratification of putting rapidly developed but well
informed views over to those in power.
• Such schemes aid the development of
communities of well informed, active people.
• Those in positions of power need alerting to the
possibilities and advantages - a well informed public
is better than an ignorant one, and a policy
implemented with the public is better than one that is
implemented behind closed doors and in fear of the
public.