ABSTRACT
Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) have been conceived as an integrative and inclusive process-based set of methods and technologies amenable to public participation, multiple viewpoints, and diverse forms of information (for a review, see Obermeyer 1998). Public Participation Visualization (PPVis) is an important component of PPGIS. Geographic visualization (GVis) is conceptualized as a predominantly private type of map use involving high human-map interaction wedded to exploratory analyses (MacEachren 1994). Such visual analysis is linked to the analytical component of GIS: maps and other visual representations are not merely the output of GIS analysis, but are part of the analysis itself. GVis Research has focused on highly skilled scientists engaged in scientific research using advanced computing technologies. However, rapid advances in technology are allowing a much broader array of non-scientific users to engage in visualizationtype map use. Developments in WWW-based programming languages are making advanced, highly interactive GVis and GIS applications available to anyone with an internet connection. Users can not only access existing geographic information, but also can interactively explore ‘what if’ scenarios and amend and add information to WWW-based GIS databases. Users can ‘make’ and ‘un-make’ information and thus shape and reshape the way they understand their neighbourhood, region, county, and the world. This is an active process of ‘sense-making’ (Dervin 1999) by diverse people, using geographic information from a variety of sources, represented in maps, images, text, and sound.
