Public Participation GIS Home Page

National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA)

NCGIA Workshop
Orono, Maine
July 10-13, 1996

Public Participation GIS

This workshop will provide an opportunity to give careful attention to issues which accompany the promotion of effective public participation in GIS and other instruments and methods of spatial analysis. Topics will include examination of the obstacles which accompany present technologies, cognitive aspects, and current public problem-solving and conflict resolution processes. The workshop's goal is to produce specific suggestions and strategies to aid in making these methods and technologies useful to a wider general public.

A draft agenda has been prepared. Comments on the agenda may be directed to any member of the workshop planning group named at the bottom of this page.

Related Discussions and Documents

These issues have been discussed in other recent settings, including the specialists' meetings of NCGIA Initiatives I-17 (Collaborative Spatial Decision-Making) and I-19 (GIS and Society). The topic is also related to I-21 (Formal Models of Common Sense Geographic Worlds). Brief overviews of some of the concepts which underlie this discussion are presented in:

Public Participation GIS Workshop: Concept Overview
Workshop Preliminary Proposal (May 7, 1996)
Confirmed Workshop Participants
Criteria for the Design of a GIS/2 (summary of comments at I-19)
Public Forum GIS (UCGIS research agenda nomination)

This Web Site

Other documents related to this discussion will be linked at this Web site as they become available. Citations and links to readings and resources will be listed as suggestions about related materials are provided by workshop participants and others interested in this topic. An online conference PPGIS Forum has been established to promote discussion of related topics among all who are interested. Documents distributed to workshop participants are also linked here.

Open Question Situations

A set of open question situations has been written. These are intended to bring related issues to light from several perspectives. Situations offered for comment include:

Comments and suggestions on topics and links will also be welcomed by the workshop planning group:

Kate Beard | Max Egenhofer | Xavier Lopez | Harlan Onsrud | Paul Schroeder

National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Orono, Maine