Learning Objectives:
- Critique the assertion that public participation GIS promotes democracy
- Explain how community organizations’ use of geospatial technologies can alter existing community power relations
- Explain how geospatial technologies can assist community organizations at each rung of the ladder of public participation
- Explain the challenge of representing within current GIS software local knowledge that is neither easily mapped nor verified
- Discuss advantages and disadvantages of six models of GIS availability, including communitybased GIS, university-community partnerships, GIS facilities in universities and public libraries, “Map rooms,” Internet map servers, and neighborhood GIS centers.
- Explain why some community organizations may encounter more difficulty than others in acquiring geospatial data from public and private organizations