GIS for Participation:
The UK context – successes and challenges…
Steve Cinderby

What is GIS-P?
• Used for creating dialogue between local
stakeholder, planners, modellers and policy makers
– to improve decision outcomes
High
Level of public involvement in spatial analysis
Powderhorn Park
Neighbourhood
Association
(Casey & Pederson, 2002)
Participatory
GIS
South PPGIS
of Market
Foundation
(Parker & Pascavl, 2002)
Internet GIS
Virtual
Slaithwaite
(Kingston, 2002)
GIS-P
Air Quality
GIS-P
(Yearley, 2002)
Low
Low High
Level of local knowledge incorporated in database
steve.cinderby@sei.se

Salford Case Study
steve.cinderby@sei.se

What do the
communities know…?
• Residents fear of crime in
secluded areas
• Fear of crime does not match
reported crime pattern
steve.cinderby@sei.se

GIS for Participation
• Conventional focus group – with
participatory mapping activities
• Good for creating discussion and
dialogue
• Use of GIS facilitated by researchers
• GIS functionality employed to store,
analyse and visualise community spatial
knowledge
• Outputs comparable with results from
environmental models
steve.cinderby@sei.se

Rapid Appraisal Participatory GIS
• Development of GIS-P
• In-situ, multi-temporal GIS-P
• Good for accessing ‘hard-to-reach’ groups
• Allows rapid scoping of local knowledge,
concerns and possible solutions
• Less control and discussion than GIS-P
steve.cinderby@sei.se

Same space differing views…
steve.cinderby@sei.se

Same space differing views…
II
steve.cinderby@sei.se

Generating options for the future…
steve.cinderby@sei.se

What do people want to see happen?
Business-as-usual
Pedestrian priority
• GIS and
visualisation used
to aid participation
• Help the community
communicate their
viewpoint
steve.cinderby@sei.se

Challenges: Participation or consultation?
Whose analysis and use?
•How to get real participation on UK
planning and environment issues –
not just consultation?
•Participation overload – one
community map – many
applications…
steve.cinderby@sei.se

Challenges for UK Environmental GIS-P
• Does a common viewpoint
acquired through living in the same
space really make a community?
•How should we deal with different
communities understanding of the
same issues for decision making and
policy setting? (local residents, special
interest groups, scientific experts)
steve.cinderby@sei.se

Thank You – Any Questions…?
“Mapmaking and maps are a
means and not an end”
Rambaldi, Chambers, Fox
and McCall (2006)
• Thanks to co-authors and collaborators:
John Forrester, Steve Yearley, Laura Potts, Steve Shaw, Peter Schofield, Peter Bailey,
Erik Willis, Paul Rosen, Anne Owen, Carolyn Snell, Xiaojun Wang, Phil Bradley, Harry
May, Menna Jones, Annemarieke de Bruin
• Thanks to the research funders: Sida, ESRC, EPSRC
• Thanks to the participating communities
steve.cinderby@sei.se