Spatial Data Analysis and Evaluation by Urban Planners of a PPGIS Experiment Performed in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Abstract

We analyze spatial data on the public perception collected in a Public Participation Geographic Information System (PPGIS) experiment performed in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Aiming to verify PPGIS capability to access inhabitants local knowledge and facilitate its incorporation into urban planning, using an exploratory analysis in the form of heat maps, we describe the spatial distribution of our variables and identify patterns. In addition, PPGIS was evaluated by urban planners in order to assess expert’s openness to the method. The results indicate that by collecting public perceptions in an automated, geo-referenced manner, PPGIS enables these data to be analyzed together with other information layers necessary for urban planning. Moreover, local knowledge collected with PPSIG can help improve the content quality of urban plans and/or projects in the opinion of the urban planner’s consulted. However, it is necessary to expand technical knowledge so that the data collected can be analyzed and incorporated in urban planning in a consistent way.