Abstract
Recent focus on sustainable urban development and livability has increased the demand for new data sourcing techniques to capture experiences and preferences of urban dwellers. At the same time, developments of geospatial technologies and social media have enabled new types of user-generated geographic information and spatially explicit online communication. As a result, new public participation GIS methods for engaging large groups of individuals have emerged. One such method is geo-questionnaire, an online questionnaire with mapping capabilities, which has been used to elicit geographic data in variety of topics and geographical contexts. This article presents two recent cases, in which geo-questionnaires have been used in Polish cities to obtain public input on quality of life and development preferences in local land use planning. The article evaluates participant recruitment methods focusing on sample representativeness, participant engagement, and data quality. Recruitment via social media was found to increase bias towards younger population. Paper questionnaires used along the online version provided for better representation of target population’s age structure, but did not reduce bias related to educational attainment. We discuss how these issues relate to data usability and generalizability in the context of digital divide, and suggest directions for future research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 551-567 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Cartography and Geographic Information Science |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Nov 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information: The Quality of life case described in this article was conducted as part of a project Spatial analysis of quality of life perceived by urban residents in relation to the distribution of urban green spaces funded by the National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki) in Poland; the funding decision is DEC-2011/03/N/HS4/00368. The Kasprowicz Park case described in this article was conducted as part of a project An Experimental Study of Public Participation in Planning Decision Making Using Web-based Geographic Information System, funded by the National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki) in Poland; the funding decision is DEC-2012/05/B/HS4/03850. Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Cartography and Geographic Information Society.Other keywords
- Urban planning
- data quality
- digital divide
- participant recruitment
- public participation GIS
- spatial representativeness