Tell me, I forget.
Show me, I remember.
Involve me, I understand.
(Chinese proverb)
Mission Statement The Sun Centre of Excellence (CoE) for map-based online public participation is a joint cooperation between Sun Microsystems, Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft, and Z_GIS, University of Salzburg. The main goal of the Center of Excellence is to conduct research in map-based online public participation and to design and implement concepts and technology prototypes that demonstrate how citizens’ participation in public decision processes and decision finding can be improved.
Research Goals Public Participatory Geographic information Systems (PP GIS) is a field of research that concentrates on the use of GIS by the general public. It aims at involving people in a decision-making process because decisions related to their local area and environments affect them directly and can improve or reduce their quality of life considerably. In recent years, applications supporting PP GIS increasingly use the web as a platform for communication and dissemination of information. They range from Internet-based spatial multimedia systems to conventional field-based participatory development methods with a modest GIS component. PP GIS allow for novel approaches, for example to organize an online forum where citizens have the possibility to express their opinions or the usage of new image generation systems or augmented reality systems so that the users can be immerged in a “planned city”.
The main hypothesis of our research is that GIS together with web-based technology can enable better visualization, interactivity, and information accessibility of the planned activities in the environment and can therefore improve communication between citizens and decision makers. PP GIS applications and research aim at enhancing citizens’ contributions to decision-making via public participation in planning as well as in environmental and local policy measures.
Study Cases The architecture of the system and the application for online based public participation in planning will be studied and implemented on current cases of interest to the population of the region of Salzburg. Potential application cases are: the city tunnel Salzburg, the revision of the community planning master plan, the revision of local building code, location of shopping centres, locations of stops for public transport, etc. The main idea is to enable citizens to better assess discrete alternatives by providing ease-to-use web-based applications that make use of the geographic metaphor. With a simple mouse-click citizens can choose from predefined alternative locations and express and justify their preferences, click on where they live and provide textual comments on the relevant issue, suggest a new bus stop, identify a specific place or an object on a development plan and enter their comments or suggestions for changes and improvements.
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