GIS, Public Participation

Abstract

Public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) is an approach to GIS application that emphasizes grassroots participation in spatial data development, analysis, and application; empowerment of traditionally marginalized social groups through self-directed use of spatial data and technologies, and adaptation of existing GIS software and data structures to diversify the forms of spatial knowledge that may be included. PPGIS initiatives are being carried out around the world, in a variety of application contexts, including rural and urban community development, activist movements, and participatory research projects. The characteristics and specific practices of PPGIS initiatives vary widely, but usually include a collaborative approach to research, decision making, and problem solving that uses GIS or digital spatial data; initiation and direction by grassroots, activist, or nongovernmental institutions; and efforts to include in a GIS application the knowledge, needs, and priorities of socially diverse constituencies. PPGIS emerged in response to critiques of GIS that raised questions about its social and political impacts, particularly focused on limitations on including and representing diverse forms of knowledge; inequalities in access to the needed hardware, software, data and expertise; and potential barriers to participation that might emerge in planning and decision-making processes that incorporate GIS.