TOWARDS AN ONLINE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GIS ENVIRONMENT, USING VGI AND 3D GEO-INFORMATION Researching the added value of an Internet-based PPGIS environment by the use of VGI and 3D Geo-Information in spatial planning - A case study for the City of Rotterdam Form: GIMA Master Thesis Date: June, 2016 Supervisors: drs. Fred Toppen (UU) Rob Poll-van Dasselaar (Municipality of Rotterdam) Professor: prof. dr. Stan Geertman (UU) Student: Hester Bijen Student numbers: s6020437 (UTwente) s5567343 (UU) E-mail addresses:
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Word count: 30,097 1 ABSTRACT Public participation is of importance in local government, particularly in the decision-making process of spatial planning projects. In recent decades, Planning Support Systems, such as Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) have been introduced to help increase public participation in de planning process. However, these participation tools have mostly been used by municipalities to inform citizens rather than to gain knowledge and ideas from each other. Moreover, public participation and its tools have not always been evaluated positively. To increase levels and quality of citizen participation, the added value of participation tools should be identified and lower thresholds should be realized to enable citizens to communicate and participate more directly and more meaningfully. Tools such as Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI) and 3D geo-information are therefore of interest to be used in an online Public Participation GIS environment. In this online environment, ways are provided to enable citizens to easily give ideas or opinions on plans. Furthermore, neighborhoods are visualized in 3D to create better understanding of the proposed plans, improving communication and participation.