Public Participation Gis

Participatory gis

The first approach, often labeled participatory GIS (PGIS), involves explicitly working to empower groups that are marginalized rather than facilitating greater involvement among the public at large. Such efforts are often rooted in the theory and methodology of participatory action research, in that the GIS scholars and practitioners work with community members to both examine a social problem and work to create social change. For example, Trevor Harris and Daniel Weiner use the term community-integrated GIS to describe their work with local communities in South Africa to examine and transform postapartheid land reform policies. The authors acknowledge that GIS remains an “expert system” and cannot be under the control of community members, who do not have the capacity to direct the research themselves. Nonetheless, their community-based research methods explicitly focus on democratizing participation, broadening access to spatial data, incorporating local knowledge, and surfacing (rather than suppressing) the conflict inherent in spatial decision-making practice. In other words, to the extent possible, GIS is not used to impose a particular spatial framework that structures how reality can be represented. Rather, it is used as a way to juxtapose multiple and potentially conflicting realities that reflect the socially differentiated perspectives of participants.

Scholars and practitioners have developed several specific methods that can be used to facilitate PGIS research. These include participatory 3D (three-dimensional) modeling, photo mapping, sketch mapping, and resource mapping. In general, these methods are designed to enable low-cost and inclusive participation for community members who may not have computer literacy or access. Such methods also allow for the flexibility to incorporate unconventional forms of local spatial knowledge and storytelling. However, one criticism of these methods, and of participatory GIS more generally, is that they tend to rely on conventional GIS software and have done little to advance the technology in ways that address fundamental limitations in data structure and system design.

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