GIS (PPGIS) for Environmental Management: Reflections on a decade of Empirical Research

Greg Brown Associate Professor of Environmental Planning University of Queensland [email protected]

The term “public participation geographic information systems” (PPGIS) was conceived in 1996 at the meeting of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) in the U.S. to describe how GIS technology could support public participation for a variety of applications with the goal of inclusion and empowerment of marginalised populations. Since the 1990s, the range of PPGIS applications has been extensive, ranging from community and neighborhood planning to environmental and natural resource management to mapping traditional ecological knowledge of indigenous people (see Sieber, 2006; Brown, 2005; and Sawicki and Peterman, 2002 for a review of PPGIS applications and methods). The formal definition of the PPGIS remains nebulous (Tulloch, 2007) with use of the term “PPGIS” emerging in the United States and developed-country contexts while the term participatory GIS or “PGIS” emerging from participatory planning approaches in rural areas of developing countries, the result of a spontaneous merger of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) methods with geographic information technologies (Rambaldi, et al., 2006). Although PPGIS activity often involves community mapping and database development outside of formal government processes, the focus of this paper is on the genre of PPGIS research that seeks to expand and enhance public participation and community collaboration in governmental processes for environmental planning and management. In this sense, PPGIS can be viewed as a methodological bridge between the synoptic, rational planning in government institutions that is focused on expert, analytical, and science-based solutions with the radical planning tradition that emphasises participation, discourse, and a synthesis of subjective realities. PPGIS research can be grouped into four general knowledge domains: 1) the development, operationalisation, and measurement of spatial attributes for data collection, including landscape values, special places, development preferences, activities, experiences, perceived environmental impacts, and ecosystem services, 2) data collection and participatory methods including mail-based GIS surveys, facilitated workshops, internet applications, and mixed modes of collection, 3) data analysis and interpretation including general spatial analysis methods and the development of new social landscape metrics, and 4) data integration and use in institutional decision-support systems. While access to spatial information has exploded over the last decade with the advent of internet mapping technologies such as wikis, Google Maps and Earth, and OpenStreetMap, government adoption of PPGIS for inclusion in environmental decision-support has lagged. The reasons for the slow adoption are not technological per se and may be described as follows: 1) the lack of familiarity with PPGIS as a new research and consultation methodology (per adoption/diffusion theory), 2) concerns with the accuracy and validity of lay knowledge in environmental decision processes (lay/expert knowledge divide), 3) lack of government commitment to public participation and consultation in general (governance/authority question), 4) lack of standardised methods and models for integrating PPGIS data into decision processes which are also non-standardised (knowledge integration problem). This researcher has designed and implemented over 15 studies using PPGIS research methods involving mail-based surveys, workshops, and internet applications in the U.S., Canada, Alaska, Australia, and New Zealand. The studies were designed for various purposes: forest planning, marine and coastal conservation, parks and protected areas planning, tourism development planning, river conservation, urban parks and open space planning, scenic byway planning, wilderness suitability analysis, and measuring ecosystem services. These PPGIS studies were guided by several principles and assumptions: 1) the public has significant place-based knowledge and values that are essential to an inclusive and effective planning process, 2) the values of the general public that comprise “the silent majority” are seldom explicit in a public planning process and if present, are often deferential to direct stakeholders and special interests, and 3) methods can be developed to measure the place-based information from the general public in a systematic and unbiased way. This paper will provide a synthesis of the knowledge gained in a decade of PPGIS research ranging from pragmatic sampling and research design issues, to questions about public knowledge and perceptions of place, to institutional considerations for decision support adoption. Of particular importance is a focus on the measurement and analysis of landscape values in PPGIS that are essential for identifying coupled social-ecological systems (SES), for providing place-specific guidance for conservation and development, and in general, for providing a rational foundation for managing public lands for the greatest social benefit. Workshop participants are encouraged to visit the Landscape Values and PPGIS Institute website http://www.landscapevalues.org to see specific examples of PPGIS methods and applications.

Literature Cited

Brown, G. 2005. Mapping spatial attributes in survey research for natural resource management: Methods and applications. Society & Natural Resources. 18(1):1-23.

Rambaldi G., Kwaku Kyem A. P.; Mbile P.; McCall M. and Weiner D. (2006). "Participatory Spatial Information Management and Communication in Developing Countries". EJISDC 25, 1, 1-9. ejisdc.org http://www.ejisdc.org/ojs/include/getdoc.php?id=246&article=263&mode=pdf

Sawicki, D.S., and D. R. Peterman. 2002. Surveying the extent of PPGIS practice in the United States. P. 17-36 in Community Participation and Geographic Information Systems, Craig, W.J., T.M. Harris, and D.M. Weiner (eds.). Taylor & Francis, London, UK.

Sieber, R. 2006. Public Participation Geographic Information Systems: A literature review and framework. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 96(3):491-507.

Tulloch, David. "Public Participation GIS (PPGIS)." Encyclopedia of Geographic Information Science. 2007. SAGE Publications. 5 Dec. 2010. http://www.sage- ereference.com/geoinfoscience/Article_n165.html