1. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Faculty of Construction and Environment
Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics
LSGI4321 Geo-information for Urban and Regional Studies
Individual Paper
09134610d
Tang Shuk Ling
Topic
The idea behind Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) is the
empowerment and inclusion of marginalized populations, who have little voice in the
public arena, through GIT and public engagement. Critically examine the
applicability of PPGIS in Hong Kong.
Introduction
In recent years, with the development of public participation spirit and modern
information technologies, Geographic Information Sciences has developed Public
Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) to encourage public
participation in public policy making processes. With the use of Geographic
Information System (GIS) as interface between stakeholders, PPGIS incorporates
local knowledge from the grass-root with spatial information. All in all, since the
value of PPGIS is the dialogue between “humanities and technology”, PPGIS should
integrate GIS technology and humanities and social science.
2. PPGIS
The term Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) was first
appeared at the meetings of the National Center for Geographic Information and
Analysis (NCGIA) in 1996. It is easy to understand that PPGIS can be divided into
two parts: public participation and GIS.
To begin with, Geographic Information System (GIS) is defined as a
hardware/software system for the storage, management, and selective retrieval
capabilities of geo-referenced data. (David, 1992) There are five components of GIS:
hardware, software, data, people and method. Hardware is the computer system which
would run the GIS software while GIS software would perform the functions of
storing, analyzing and displaying the spatial information. ArcGIS is one of the
common use GIS software. Data including spatial and non-spatial information may be
the key component of GIS. The digital map is the fundamental data for GIS and the
GIS would integrate the spatial with non-spatial information for future analysis.
People refer to those GIS users including professionals and those people use GIS for
analysis and other purposes.
However, PPGIS is not just only about GIS, but also adopts participation spirit. Public
participation in decision making process is very important. The inclusive participation
and the devolution of decision making power are the main characteristics of public
participation. Different from the traditional expert-top-down approach of GIS, local-
bottom-up approach is employed with public participation. Indeed, PPGIS is a
bottom-up approach through local citizens’ concerns and knowledge can be presented
by utilizing GIS as a tool.(Harris et al., 1995) Not only professionals are responsible
3. to make decision, but also the general public or more specific group, i.e. the
stakeholders. A stakeholder is defined as “an individual or group influenced by – and
with an ability to significantly impact (either directly or indirectly) – the topic area of
interest” (Engi and Glicken, 1995). Stakeholders should have the right to contribute
their ideas and express their opinion on the authority's plan since they will be directly
affected by the plan. PPGIS allows participants to share their ideas using GIS
including acquiring the spatial data and perform spatial analysis such as buffering,
networking, overlaying and so on. PPGIS can be used by the general public especially
the stakeholders, which is very different from the traditional expert-driven GIS
methodology. Increasing the power of the lower-power group (i.e. grassroots
community and marginalized group) is the core idea of PPGIS: empowerment.
Furthermore, one of the differences between GIS and PPGIS is that PPGIS focus
much more on the “process”. In the decision making process, all stakeholders try to
coordinate, cooperate and collaborate with each other through learning,
communication and compromise. Finally, consensus can be achieved.
Key Elements of PPGIS
There are four key elements for PPGIS: participation, usability, visualization and
interactivity. Doubtless, participation is one of the most important elements that affect
the implementation of PPGIS. However, the technical parts of system design are also
crucial to the implementation of PPGIS. Steinmann et al. (2004) argue that
interactivity, usability, and visualization are the three most important sets of criteria
on the basis of which PPGIS evaluations should be undertaken.
Interactivity implies a response to the messages or behaviors between GIS users and
the computer server (Steinmann et al. 2004). Compared with the traditional GIS
4. methodology, PPGIS provides participants the opportunities to express their views.
The system should be able to facilitate communication and information exchange
between the public and the authority instantaneously.
The term ‘usability’ means the ability of a user to utilize GIS and is usually measured
from the user’s point of view (O’Looney, 1997). The usability of PPGIS will affect
the participation since the more usable system ensures that different people can
participate in the decision making process easily. Therefore, a user-friendly PPGIS
interface is one of the basic requirements for the system design. Moreover, the system
design should be case-dependence and user-centered. In other words, the system
should be designed based on the applied issues. It aims at allowing feasibility use for
participants in order to achieve the goal of improving participation.
Visualization refers to the method of interpreting the maps and data in visual terms.
Good visualization makes the data and maps more readable and understandable.
Visualization of 3D urban areas has been increasingly used in recent years. 3D urban
visualization provides a virtual environment that a user can interact with an urban
space. Therefore, visualization of 3D urban areas can be used as a communication tool
in public meetings to facilitate public participation in planning and design
development review. In turn, the public can provide better feedback that leads to
better decision making.
Doubtless, participation is a very important component of PPGIS. The idea behind
PPGIS is the empowerment and inclusion of marginalized populations who have little
voice on the public arena. Arnstein (1969) defines citizen participation as “the
redistribution of power that enables the have-not citizens, presently excluded from the
political and economic processes, to be deliberately included in the future.” In
5. addition, Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation (Arnstein, 1969) frames the
participation in terms of citizen power. The devolution of decision making power
allows the grass root have the power to make decision which is good to them. It is
much more different from the traditional top-down approach.
PPGIS Application
PPGIS has been widely used in different area including environment impact
assessment, land appraisal, land reform, urban planning, and natural resource
management and so on. One of the PPGIS application examples is nuclear waste
disposal site selection in Britain. Steve Carver, Andy Evans and Richard Kingston
(2002) from the School of Geography in University of Leeds used PPGIS to involve
community members to locate a nuclear waste disposal site in Britain. It is a web-
based approach, using the internet to inform the participant of the situation and the
role they play in the decision making process. The users can experience in the use of
GIS and digital map data to address a substantive application area. The system
integrates communication between stakeholders and methodological (data handling
and analytical) capabilities of GIS.
PPGIS in Hong Kong
Four types of institutional location for PPGIS delivery are identified: nonprofit
organizations, universities, government agencies, and private companies. (Weiner et
al., 2002) However, most of the PPGIS applications are implemented by government
in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, Public Participation Geographic Information Systems are mainly used
in land use planning studies. The Planning Department (2010) has implemented
PPGIS in the Feasibility Study on the Enhancement of the Lau Fau Shan Rural
6. Township and Surrounding Areas.
Different from the conventional consultation channels, an e-engagement platform is
developed to encourage public participation. The system mainly provides an
interactive digital environment of satellite images/maps of Google Map overlaid with
the planning concepts and proposals so that the general public could effectively and
conveniently visualize the planned future of the study area. The public can easily
understand the planning concepts and proposals. Thus, they can give more useful
views to the proposals.
This PPGIS application shows some of the key elements of PPGIS. First of all, it
shows a good visualization since it visualized the proposed plan with the use of
Google Map. The general public can have a better understanding of the planning and
design proposals without any professional GIS skills. Furthermore, the system design
is also user-friendly and the system interface is clearly classified. However, for
interactivity and participation parts, there still can be some improvement for the
PPGIS implementation. The system cannot facilitate a sufficient communication
between the authority and the public since traditional consultation methods such as
public forums and exhibitions were the main parts of the community engagement
activities. Although there was an e-engagement channel, the authority and the public
could not exchange information and ideas and make responses instantaneously. Thus,
the participation is limited.
Applicability of PPGIS in Hong Kong
To examine the applicability of PPGIS in Hong Kong, several considerations should
be taken account.
The first thing that has to be considered is the GIS technology level and
7. acknowledgement in Hong Kong. Kingston (2002) asserted that in designing and
implementing a PPGIS, the issues of GIS and IT understandability need to be
carefully considered and addressed. As mentioned before, GIS is the main component
of PPGIS. The GIS technology level in Hong Kong is adequate to implement PPGIS.
However, not much many Hong Kong people really understand GIS. They may think
GIS is something about maps. Actually, GIS is not only about maps but also about
spatial information. This misunderstanding of GIS may hinder the development of
PPGIS.
Another thing should be considered is the stakeholders’ awareness of the issue. Since
participation is crucial to PPGIS, stakeholders’ awareness affects the participation
level. The greater the stakeholders’ awareness, the greater opportunity they participate
and give feedbacks. Therefore, raising Hong Kong people’s awareness to social issues
is one of the key to successful PPGIS.
The stakeholders’ ability of reading map is also our consideration when implementing
PPGIS. The public should have a basic map reading skill so they can utilize GIS.
Generally, Hong Kong people’s ability of reading map is adequate for PPGIS
implementation. They usually can recognize the location and understand the map so
they can give information or comment with spatial data. However, the older
generation may not be able to read map so they cannot utilize the component GIS in
PPGIS.
One of the main considerations is the communication between all stakeholders. One
of the components of PPGIS is empowerment which means the devolution of decision
of decision making process. Different people with different thinking and values have
the equal rights to express their view on different issues. To achieve consensus,
communication, discussion and debates are necessary. There should be enough
8. communication and debates for all stakeholders for PPGIS. The communication and
debate should be sensible and peaceful. Otherwise, conflict among the public may be
aroused even though reaching consensus on the discussed issue.
Finally, the time available should be considered when implemented PPGIS. There can
be a timely treatment of public input. At the beginning, there may be larger
differences between different people’s cognitive and thus affect the progress. Much
more time is needed for communication and debate in order to seek the contest.
Afterwards, stakeholders gradually understand the stand, ideas, professional and local
knowledge of each other. PPGIS may not be suitable for every land use planning
issues in Hong Kong.
Conclusion
To conclude, with the advantages of public participation, the obstacle from the
opposition can be avoided once consensus is achieved and the support from the public
is increased through Public Participation Geographic Information Systems. With the
use of GIS technology, even the public can more easily understand the spatial analysis
and visualize the effect of the discussed issue. Therefore, it is worth for PPGIS taken
place in different planning issues in Hong Kong. More academic studies and non-
government organization can apply PPGIS in order to increase public participation.
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