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Abstract
Mapping Imageability: Web-Based GIS Application
Track: Application Development
Author(s): Kheir Al-Kodmany
As the Internet continues to reshape how the public communicates, planners have the opportunity to use Web-based technologies to widen access to decision making in community planning and design. This paper describes an interactive Web-based survey tool that was used to advance a community planning process in the Chicago area. The project involved collaboration between researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and leaders and residents of Pilsen, a nearby community. The team used a process taken from the work of Jack Nasar (The Evaluative Image of the City, 1998) who developed a method of surveying residents to determine which areas they like and dislike in their community, with the goal of creating a single "evaluative image" of the community that could guide future design and development. Researchers employed a Web-based interactive map that was linked through a server to a GIS program, rather than the traditional phone survey used by Nasar. This project builds upon an earlier version of the survey in which the map was limited to only one section of the community. In increasing the complexity and coverage area of the survey, we were able to develop a more comprehensive understanding of community residents' evaluative image of the whole community. The paper ends with a discussion of the obstacles and future implications of using the WWW to further public participation in planning.
Kheir Al-Kodmany
UIUC
412 S. Peoria St.
CUPPA HALL
Chicago, IL 60607
USA
Phone: 312-413-3884
Fax: 312-413-2314
E-mail: kheir@uic.edu