Public Participation GIS
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Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) was born, as a term, in 1996 at the meetings of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) (Sieber 2006). PPGIS is meant to bring the academic practices of GIS and mapping to the local level in order to promote knowledge production. The idea behind PPGIS is empowerment and inclusion of marginalized populations, who have little voice in the public arena, through geographic technology education and participation. PPGIS uses and produces digital maps, satellite imagery, sketch maps, and many other spatial and visual tools, to change geographic involvement and awareness on a local level. Attendees to the Mapping for Change International Conference on Participatory Spatial Information Management and Communication conferred to at least three potential implications of PPGIS:
-it can enhance capacity in generating, managing, and communicating spatial information
-it can stimulate innovation; and ultimately,
-it can encourage positive social change (Corbett, et al. 2006).
[edit] Applications
The range of applications for PPGIS is great. The potential outcomes of PPGIS uses can be applied from neighborhood and community planning and development to environmental and natural resource management. Marginalized groups, be they grassroots organizations to indigenous populations could benefit from GIS technology. Governments, non-government organizations and non-profit groups are a big force behind many programs. The current extent of PPGIS programs in the US has been evaluated by Sawicki and Peterman (Craig et al). They catalog over 60 PPGIS programs who aid in “public participation in community decision making by providing local-area data to community groups,” in the United States (Craig et al, pp24). The organizations providing these programs are mostly universities, local chambers of commerce, non-profit foundations.
[edit] Approaches
There are two approaches to PPGIS use and application. According to Sieber (2006), PPGIS was first envisioned as a means of mapping individuals by many social and economic demographic factors in order to analyze the spatial differences in access to social services. She refers to this kind of PPGIS as top-down, being that it is less hands on for the public, but theoretically serves the public by making adjustments for the deficiencies, and improvements in public management (Sieber 2006). A current trend with academic involvement in PPGIS, is researching existing programs, and or starting programs in order to collect data on the effectiveness of PPGIS. Elwood (2006) in The Professional Geographer, talks in depth about the “everyday inclusions, exclusions, and contradictions of Participatory GIS research.” The research is being conducted in order to evaluate if PPGIS is involving the public equally. In reference to the said top-down PPGIS, this is a counter method of PPGIS, rightly referred to as bottom-up PPGIS. Its purpose is to work with the public to let them learn the technologies, then producing their own GIS. The two attitudes are the currently debated schism in PPGIS.
[edit] References
Corbett, et al. 2006. Overview: Mapping for Change-the emergence of a new practice. Participatory Learning and Action, 54, pp13-19.
Craig, et al. 2002. Community Participation and Geographic Information Systems. London: Taylor and Francis
Elwood, S. 2006. Negotiating Knowledge Production: The Everyday Inclusions,Exclusions, and Contradictions of Participatory GIS Research. The Professional Geographer, vol. 58,2, pp197.
Sieber, R. 2006. Public Participation and Geographic Information Systems: a Literature Review and Framework. Annuls of the American Association of Geographers, 96, 3,p 491-507
