An empirical evaluation of workshop versus survey PPGIS methods

The collection of spatial information through public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) is most frequently implemented using either point or polygon spatial features but the research trade-offs between the two methods are not well-understood. In a quasi-experimental PPGIS design, we collected four attributes (aesthetic, recreation, economic, and biological values) as both point and polygon spatial features in the same PPGIS study. We then used Monte Carlo simulation methods to describe the relationship between the quantity of data collected and the degree of spatial convergence in the two methods for each of the four PPGIS attributes. The results demonstrate that the same PPGIS attributes identified by points and polygons will converge on a collective spatial ‘truth’ within the study area provided there are enough observations, however, the degree of spatial convergence varies by PPGIS attribute type and the quantity of data collected. The use of points for mapping PPGIS attributes and aggregating areas through density mapping constitutes a conservative approach to spatial inference about place significance, but the data demands for point collection are considerably higher than for polygon features. Based on our results, we provide heuristic guidelines for future PPGIS research when using point or polygon spatial attributes. We argue that other variables such as the cognitive complexity of the PPGIS mapping process and stronger claims of external validity favor the use of point features, but these advantages must be weighed against the significantly higher sampling effort required.

This paper analyses public use in the Ebro Delta Natural Park using PPGIS (public participation geographic information system) methodology. An online survey was designed using Google Maps API, HTML, and JAVASCRIPT. Respondents were asked to place and rate thirteen items on an interactive map to characterize and georeference public use with regard to accessibility, facilities and services, signposting, safety and security, and leisure activities. In total we collected 209 valid surveys and mapped 2617 georeferenced opinions. Facilities and services were rated highly by users (72.46% were “very satisfied”). These were followed by accessibility (61%, “very satisfied”) and signposting (60.2%, “satisfied” or “quite satisfied”). Safety and security items were hardly rated perhaps because users do not feel insecure in the area. Respondents’ mapping of opinions and experiences, which are heterogeneous and were well rated, enabled us to visualize areas that might be understood as social hotspots. Our results show that PPGIS is an effective procedure for measuring public use in protected areas and may be a valuable tool for park managers and planners.

The relationship between social values for ecosystem services and global land cover: An empirical analysis

An empirical evaluation of spatial value transfer methods for identifying cultural ecosystem services

Over the past century, severe wildfire events have been recorded globally due to climate change. Changes in climatic conditions may change forest landscape by modifying rates of vegetation formation, shifts in temperature and tree species shift. There was a near-complete loss of native tree species in some affected areas and loss of these species were most strongly linked to burn frequency. Many questions remain regarding how these changes will occur across landscapes and how disturbances such as wildfires may interact with changes to climate and vegetation. Forest management is used to proactively modify forest structure and composition to improve fire resilience. Yet, research is needed to assess how to best utilize the resources to reduce damages due to forest fires. Human communities also exist within these landscapes, and decision regarding how to manage forests must carefully consider how management will affect such communities. The scientific literature recognizes the importance of incorporating stakeholders' knowledge and the active role of local communities to enhance and strengthen adaptive capacities to fire risk management. However, the research in this area seems to be still at the initial stage, and this gap needs to be addressed through actions that value the knowledge and voices of stakeholders and local communities. This research aims to contribute to this gap by sharing the process with the application of participatory mapping GIS involving forest stakeholders in a forest fire risk area in Liguria, Italy. To investigate local community preferences for forest management, public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) mapping exercise is a good tool for local residents to express their views on fire reduction treatments (for example, commercial harvest, non-commercial harvest and prescribed fire). Emergent themes from the mapping exercise can be used to inform alternative management scenarios to explore the usefulness of using PPGIS to generate modelling inputs. Scenarios will be ranged from restoration-only treatments to short-rotation commercial harvest. The use of PPGIS is useful for outlining the range of forest management preferences within the local community, for identifying areas of agreement among residents who have otherwise polarized views, and for generating modelling inputs that reflect views that may not be obtained through existing official channels for public participation. Involving forest stakeholders in the decision-making process may increase public acceptance of the forest fire treatments needed to modify wildfire trajectories under future climate conditions and to improve forest resilience.

BackgroundContext-free outcome measures, such as overall leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), are habitually applied to study the neighborhood built environment correlates of physical activity. This cross sectional study identifies and empirically tests potential methodological limitations related to the use of context-free measures and discusses how these may help in the interpretation of inconsistent associations between participation in moderate-to-vigorous LTPA and objectively measured neighborhood-level built environment attributes.MethodsWe employ a public participation geographic information system (PPGIS), an advanced participatory mapping method, to study the spatial distribution of moderate-to-vigorous LTPA among adult urban Finnish residents (n 1322). Secondary sources of GIS land-use and sport facility data were used to disaggregate respondent-mapped LTPA by the behavioral context, such as indoor and outdoor sport facilities, green spaces, and other public open spaces. Associations between the use of the identified LTPA settings and a range of objectively measured neighborhood built environment attributes were studied with multilevel logistic regression models.ResultsDisaggregated by behavioral context, we observed varied and partly opposite built environment correlates for LTPA. The use of indoor and outdoor sport facilities showed no significant associations with their neighborhood availability, but were significantly associated with personal-level attributes. By contrast, participation in LTPA in green and built public open space shared significant associations with access to and availability of neighborhood green space that persisted after controlling for personal-level covariates. Moreover, neighborhood distances up to 1600 m poorly captured participation in moderate-to-vigorous LTPA, as, on average, 40% of visits were located further from home. However, we found the immediate home environment to be an important LTPA setting for the least active participants.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that LTPA can be a highly heterogeneous measure regarding both the spatial distribution and the environmental correlates of behavioral contexts. The results show that context-free LTPA outcome measures yield inconsistent associations with built environment exposure variables, challenging the applicability of such measures in designing neighborhood-level built environment interventions.

A national scale web mapping platform for mainstreaming ecosystem services in Greece

Lessons for PPGIS from the application of a decision-support tool in the Nova Forest Alliance of Nova Scotia, Canada

This study discusses how to apply public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) to advance citizen participation in community affairs. It aims to improve the interaction and communication between citizens and decision-makers. A website was designed to display community resources and became a platform for citizens to discuss community issues. Using Web2.0 combined with GIS tools, community members were able to discuss issues and accesses resources to find creative solutions for community problems. This study assesses the impact PPGIS had in empowering citizens to find unique solutions for local matters.

Examining the effects of residential location and stated residential preferences on activity space size and centricity

This chapter addresses PPGIS (Public Participation Geographic Information Systems), a participatory method through which the public can produce maps and spatial data that represent their perceptions of the urban space in question. Specifically, it analyzes the data collected from an experiment in Jaguarão, Brazil. The data represents the perceptions of a small group of inhabitants about the problems and potential of the city's urban area. The procedures include an exploratory analysis and data visualization in the form of maps that allow describing a variable's distribution and identifying patterns. Moreover, for some issues, the authors cross the perception collected data with infrastructure data, socioeconomic data, and cadastral data to study possible associations among these different types of information layers. The results show that public perception, collected through PPGIS, forms an additional information layer that could be analyzed together with other information layers commonly used in urban planning, and thus to be taken into account for designing better cities.

Participatory planning of a community-based payments for ecosystem services initiative in Madagascar's mangroves

Methods and participatory approaches for identifying social-ecological hotspots

The World Wide Web, as a collection of Web sites, Web services, and Web-enabled technologies, is a space of expression and contestation—a social construction of sorts. Additionally, the Web, as a locus of investigation, is gaining attention from scholars in the social sciences, feminist and critical theorists, as well as more recent poststructural reconceptualizations across many disciplines. One unifying interest is precisely the topic of this article: How might we recognize what is considered political and personal in a virtual space? To what sense can we distinguish political and personal expression online? This article frames the diverse perspectives for interrogating political and personal expression on the Web, while offering considerations for why these sorts of projects are at all necessary or useful. The determinacy of virtual, Web-based locations as political and/or personal is a complex endeavor. Does a prochoice posting to an anti-abortion online discussion group constitute a political act? What is potentially meant by “political”? Several discussion forums or news groups contain categories like “politics” or “government and politics” (see Yahoo! Groups for example); and yet, such groups may or may not be perceived as “political”. This perception of “being political” is dependent on certain philosophical tensions about what can be considered political in certain spaces and times. Other Web sites seek to build politics through the Web, via such movements as e-democracy, online deliberation, or public participation geographic information systems (Davies & Novack, forthcoming; Dragicevic & Balram, 2006). However, while building politics is certainly political, surficial analysis of such online-coalition building endeavors may resist or gloss the multiple political implications for constructing a politics. Therefore this entry contains a discussion of politics and “the political”; each as a perspective has certain methodological and empirical contingencies. Namely, how do we study online interactions? What sorts of data might we collect? Furthermore, how are we, as researchers, already implicated in our studies of online interactions? This entry proposes a diversity of approaches in studying interactions within the Web as informed by both the information sciences and the humanities and is organized into four sections: first, a background section which contemplates more traditional debate in political theory made relevant to studies of the Web; a second section which proposes (post)modernist and poststructuralist framings for researching personal and political expression; third, a section offering future research questions in this research area; and finally, conclusions that reflect upon research on the Web.

This study reports the variation in safety perceptions of university students (N = 196 university students) on university campuses in South China, focusing on the risk of crime and traffic incidents. Using a public participation geographic information system, we explore potential links between students’ perceptions and campus characteristics. We conclude that environmental cues associated with the risk of crime victimisation (e.g. lack of natural surveillance) are more often linked to poorer safety perceptions than those linked to the risk of traffic conditions. Although half of the students declare feeling safe on campus, their perception varies by individual characteristics, frequency of use, and daily experiences. Inspections of campuses environments using a door-to-door perspective are advised when safety becomes an integral part of sustainability planning of universities worldwide.