Future Internet 2011, 3, 204-227; doi:10.3390/fi3040204 OPEN ACCESS future internet ISSN 1999-5903 www.mdpi.com/journal/futureinternet Article Tool or Toy? Virtual Globes in Landscape Planning Olaf Schroth 1,*, Ellen Pond 1, Cam Campbell 1, Petr Cizek 1, Stephen Bohus 2 and Stephen R. J. Sheppard 1 1 Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP), Department of Forest Resources Management/Landscape Architecture, University of British Columbia, 2321–2260 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada; E-Mails:
[email protected] (E.P.);
[email protected] (C.C.);
[email protected] (P.C.);
[email protected] (S.R.J.S.) 2 Software Developer, 2555 Mill Hill Road, Victoria, BC, V9B 4X6, Canada; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-604-822-0257; Fax: +1-604-822-9106. Received: 2 September 2011; in revised form: 8 October 2011 / Accepted: 11 October 2011 / Published: 20 October 2011 Abstract: Virtual globes, i.e., geobrowsers that integrate multi-scale and temporal data from various sources and are based on a globe metaphor, have developed into serious tools that practitioners and various stakeholders in landscape and community planning have started using. Although these tools originate from Geographic Information Systems (GIS), they have become a different, potentially interactive and public tool set, with their own specific limitations and new opportunities. Expectations regarding their utility as planning and community engagement tools are high, but are tempered by both technical limitations and ethical issues [1,2]. Two grassroots campaigns and a collaborative visioning process, the Kimberley Climate Adaptation Project case study (British Columbia), illustrate and broaden our understanding of the potential benefits and limitations associated with the use of virtual globes in participatory planning initiatives.