Making cities wiser - Crowdsourcing for 
		better decisions
		Maarit KAHILA and Anna BROBERG, 
		Finland 
		
		   
		  
		Maarit Kahila      Anna Broberg 
		
		     
		     
		 
		 
		
		1) 
		This paper will be presented at the FIG Working Week 2017 in Helsinki, Finland, 29 May – 2 June. 
		The paper presents different innovative case studies from Finland and 
		abroad where Maptionnaire (a leading solution for collecting, analyzing 
		and discussing resident insight on a map) has been used. Based on the 
		findings a new public participation model has been drafted.  
		SUMMARY
		 The need in urban planning to make knowledge-driven decisions has 
		spurred the creation of new solutions to gather and utilize insight from 
		residents. Participatory planning has often been realized through 
		workshops and during face-to-face encounters, but little of the 
		knowledge gathered in these situations is of use in further urban 
		planning and city development. New technological innovations, such as 
		map-based public participation tools, support gathering information that 
		matters and makes cities wiser. Interaction with citizens not only 
		creates information, but supports also learning and innovation building, 
		and creates trusts.  
		 Technological innovations like Maptionnaire help gather information 
		that makes cities wiser. Maptionnaire is a leading solution for 
		collecting, analyzing and discussing resident insight on a map. With the 
		help of Maptionnaire, various cities have been able to change their 
		modus operandi. Through these learning processes actors from different 
		sectors of the city are brought together to create joint understanding 
		of the possibilities of public participation. Cities have started to 
		value and use resident input as an equally important part of its 
		knowledge base for planning. There is a great potential for more 
		efficient use of participatory tools to make processes smoother and to 
		save money. Future development work is needed to further facilitate 
		knowledge transfer from residents to the use of planners and other city 
		officials. 
		 In our presentation we will present different innovative case 
		studies from Finland and abroad where Maptionnaire has been used to 
		support two-way communication in different phases of planning processes. 
		Based on our findings we will draft a new public participation model 
		that assist the effective gathering of experiential knowledge from 
		inhabitants, provide high quality place-based data for various analysis 
		and informs participants about the stage and goals of the planning 
		process more innovatively. 
		 INTRODUCTION
		 Urban planning is constantly seeking a balance between how to 
		develop and change existing living environments while maintaining their 
		valuable, existing character. This challenge has become acute in many 
		growing cities around the world, that share the same concern, how to 
		shape the existing city structure without reducing the very qualities of 
		the living environment people value most.    
		 Cities are simultaneously becoming smarter in the ways they use 
		various sources of digital knowledge that aim to support their growth, 
		sustainability and usability. To plan cities wisely a broad group of 
		actors is needed. A central task of a planner is to construct linkages 
		between the differing actors of civic society and support them by 
		digital tools and processes. As such, the role of the urban planner in 
		the smart network society is turning into that of the facilitator who 
		understands the ongoing complex development patterns. Digitalisation can 
		enhance participation and integrate the differing voices of plural 
		society more efficiently. Traditional face-to-face participation methods 
		can be supplemented by tools utilizing social media and other 
		information and communication technologies (ICT) like web-based 
		geographic information systems (webGIS). The central question is not who 
		organises participation but how the different participation practices – 
		formal and informal - can be linked together and the information 
		produced adapted to the planning process. 
		 The more democratic and efficient participatory planning processes 
		demand that we consider the opportunities for greater public 
		involvement. With the existing participation methods and procedures like 
		public hearings, workshops etc. a truly inclusive and effective public 
		involvement cannot be attained while these methods attract merely 
		participants that are able and used to express their opinions. Urban 
		planning practices should be more open to dissenting opinions expressed 
		by the general public. Though digitalization has brought many new and 
		inspiring tools to support more extensive participation, the utilisation 
		and usefulness of them need to be considered carefully in relation to 
		the specific planning process at hand. 
		 One example of the ongoing digitalisation process emerging in the 
		participatory urban planning context is the set of webGIS tools such as 
		public participation GIS (PPGIS) methods. This article introduces one of 
		these tools, called Maptionnaire, that has been used in the field of 
		urban planning and that was originally developed in Aalto University in 
		Finland. We will introduce the tool, give examples of it’s usage in 
		various stages of the planning process and introduce a heuristic model - 
		participatory planning support system (PPSS) that emphasises the 
		usability and benefits of the PPGIS tools during different phases of the 
		planning process. 
		 1. BACKGROUND OF THE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GIS (PPGIS)
		 Researchers and practitioners from different backgrounds have 
		brought diverse vocabulary to the field of participatory GIS (e.g. Brown 
		& Kyttä 2014). Location based data collected from informal sources can 
		be divided roughly into Volunteer Geographic Information (VGI) and data 
		collected through Public Participation Geographic Information Systems 
		(PPGIS). VGI is data that is not solicited: it is provided by volunteers 
		spontaneously. Notable VGI projects include Wikimapia[1] 
		and OpenStreetMap[2]. In contrast, PPGIS data is 
		solicited from participants by a particular agency, for example during a 
		university research project or through participation in a planning 
		process. 
		 Tulloch (2008) describes PPGIS as a field within geographic 
		information science that focuses on the ways in which the public uses 
		various forms of geospatial technologies to participate in different 
		processes. PPGIS also enables communication to take place on maps and 
		models in an intelligible visual form to those who have no expertise in 
		its technical basis (Carver, Evans, Kingston, & Turton, 2001). 
		 Both PPGIS and VGI are related terms that define a process for 
		gathering and using non-expert spatial information (Brown & Kyttä, 
		2014). While PPGIS tools are often web-based, originating from the hands 
		of researchers, VGI tools are generally developed by lay people to 
		create, assemble, and disseminate voluntarily produced geographic data 
		(Goodchild, 2007; Hall, Chipeniuk, Feick, Leahy, & Deparday, 2010). VGI 
		has led to the ‘crowdsourcing’ of spatial information where the 
		user-generated content is produced by a large group of people through an 
		online community (Sui, Elwood, & Goodchild, 2012). Although joint 
		decision making can be understood as an object of crowdsourcing, many 
		VGI projects have nevertheless targeted rather on geographical 
		information gathering and visualization on certain topic. In both PPGIS 
		and VGI, the dimensions of purpose, geographic context, data quality, 
		sampling approaches, data collection, data ownership and dominant 
		mapping technology vary depending on the project (Brown & Kyttä, 2014). 
		Unlike in PPGIS projects the data validation through sampling has not 
		been in the core of VGI projects. Although both PPGIS and VGI tools can 
		be considered as tools that can promote data collection from a broad 
		group of people, this does not happen automatically. In many PPGIS 
		projects the reach has been quite limited serving only a small subset of 
		public (Schlossberg & Shuford, 2005). 
		
		  
		 
		Figure 1: Some examples of PPGIS studies and planning practice 
		cases.  
		 The SoftGIS methodology developed in Aalto University since 2005 is 
		an advanced example of PPGIS, which has been used already among over 
		30.000 Finns as well as in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Poland, 
		Portugal, Iran, Austria, Germany, Mexico and Brazil. SoftGIS is an 
		Internet-based public participation GIS (PPGIS) tool that allow the 
		locality-based study of human experiences and the transfer of this 
		knowledge into research and urban planning processes (Kahila & Kyttä 
		2009). Research themes studied with this methodology include for example 
		environmental childfriendliness, perceived urban safety and 
		accessibility of ecosystem services (see Figure 1). SoftGIS is grounded 
		in environmental psychology, but zooms closer into where exactly the 
		experiences take place [Kyttä, Broberg, & Kahila 2012].  
		 SoftGIS 
		developed later to a commercialized Maptionnaire service that allow 
		anyone without any coding or GIS skills to create surveys and collect 
		and analyze data. The Maptionnaire tool will be introduced below.  
		 2. INTRODUCING MAPTIONNAIRE – UNIQUE PPGIS TOOL FOR YOUR USE  
		
		 Maptionnaire is a cloud service for creating and analysing map-based 
		questionnaires. Registering a test account and trying out the editor 
		tool is free of charge. Not long ago the creation and analysis of map 
		based questionnaires required considerable technological expertise. 
		However, with a commercial out-of-the-box cloud service Maptionnaire, 
		anyone can do a PPGIS study using no other tool than their web browser. 
		In addition to academic research, city planning departments, 
		consultancies and community engagement projects have been early adopters 
		of map based questionnaires. We believe that this is primarily because 
		there are higher-than-average amount of people with GIS expertise in 
		those fields. Location matters, whether you are studying suburban youth, 
		business travelling, real-estate management, infrastructure projects, 
		hiking in national parks, or shopping experiences. 
		 2.1 Available maps  
		 Maptionnaire includes a variety of maps. What base maps to use in a 
		questionnaire depends on the context. Often a survey needs to contain 
		more than one map allowing the respondent to choose the map layer of 
		choice. The map can represent  
		
			- the future, e.g. when asking opinions or ideas about alternative 
		town plans, 
 
			- the present, e.g. when studying the behaviour of people or their 
		mobility patterns, or 
 
			- the past, e.g. when collecting memories of elderly citizens.
 
		 
		 Furthermore, the maps are not limited to the geography of large 
		areas. Small scale maps of indoor spaces such as schools, malls, or 
		airports make for interesting topics of research tool. Maptionnaire is 
		designed to work with essentially any digital map. This includes global 
		commercial providers like Bing, MapBox, and Google, as well as your own 
		WMS server that allows you to incorporate to Maptionnaire your own 
		map-files. In addition, if your map is a georeferenced image file but 
		you have no server of your own, it can be uploaded to our servers. 
		 2.2.Types of map questions
		 Map questions can be constructed differently. Basically there are 
		two different approaches to asking questions on map:  
		
			- The respondent draws a point, line, or area on the map. 
		After drawing, she’s given a set of follow-up questions. 
 
			- The questionnaire itself includes interactive geometries on 
		the map. After clicking a geometry the respondent is given a set of 
		related questions. 
 
		 
		 Who is drawing on the map makes the fundamental 
		difference: either the creator or respondent of the questionnaire. 
		Maptionnaire supports both.  
		 Let us take a map questionnaire focusing 
		on the housing preferences of urban dwellers and opinions about the 
		future development of a city as a simple running example in how to make 
		use of map in a survey and highlight the difference between the two 
		question types. In Figures 3 and 4 there are illustrations of both types 
		from the respondent’s point of view.   
		
		  
		 
		Figure 3 Placing a marker with 
		follow-up questions, respondent’s view.   
		
		  
		 
		Figure 4 Choosing predefined 
		areas with follow-up questions, respondent’s view.   
		 2.3. Output data 
		and analysis of map data  
		 In comparison to traditional survey data 
		where the data comes in table format in Maptionnaire service the data 
		includes also geocoordinates of the responses. The two main benefits of 
		having answers with coordinates are:  
		
			- Precision and lack of 
		ambiguity. Almost any verbal description of a location, let alone that 
		of a route or area, is open to a lot of interpretation. In contrast, 
		modern web maps and satellite imagery allow zooming so close that a 
		dutiful respondent is able to pinpoint each individual tree in her 
		neighbourhood. 
 
			- Efficiency of analysis 
		and visualization. GIS tools let us spot patterns in large sets of 
		location based data and infer meaningful results. In addition, it is 
		considerably easier to communicate our findings to other people with map 
		visualizations.In Figure 5 there are two screen captures 
		from the analysis tool of Maptionnaire. Above we are looking at an 
		individual point of response data. The colors stand for different 
		questions, e.g. “Where is the happy place, shopping place etc”. Below 
		there’s a heatmap of the same points where we see the concentration of 
		points.
 
		 
		
		  
		 
		Figure 5 Maptionnaire analysis tool. Separate points (above) and 
		heatmap (below).  
		 Often it is convenient to share the responses with the public, such 
		that the respondents don’t feel their effort is vanishing into archives 
		never to opened again. The map responses can be published in two ways: 
		Directly within the questionnaire such that while answering, the 
		respondent is able to see what others have already said. It is also 
		possible to comment other people’s answers. The analysis tool can be 
		made public, in which case anyone can have access to the filtering, 
		search, browsing, and visualization functions of Maptionnaire. 
		 2.4 Integration with conventional questionnaire forms
		 Even though well-suited for 
		participatory projects, Maptionnaire has its roots in scientific 
		research. As a consequence, it comes with a full-blown questionnaire 
		tool set. Semantic differentials, likert questions, and multiple choice 
		questions are included and integrated with the location based data. They 
		allow for powerful quantitative analysis and classification.  
		 Suppose, 
		for example, that a questionnaire  
		
			- asks the respondent’s age, 
 
			- has a drawbutton “Where do you go to relax?”, 
 
			- and the 
		drawbutton has a follow-up question “What do you find there?” with 
		options “Friends”, “Time alone”, “Sports”, and “Art”. 
 
		 
		 The analysis 
		tool can then filter the response data according to all these variables, 
		and for example visualize places where 50-59-year-old respondents go to 
		do sports with friends.  Please feel free to explore the Maptionnaire 
		editor in http://maptionnaire.com/. 
		  
		 3. THE USE OF PPGIS THROUGH DIFFERENT PHASES OF THE PLANNING 
		PROCESS
		 The participatory planning support system (PPSS) is a conceptual 
		approach that can be used to support planning practices with a set of 
		participation tools and actions (Kahila-Tani 2016). It emphasizes 
		participation as a solid and continuous part of the planning and 
		decision making system. The focus is on different forms of knowledge, on 
		the adaptation of new tools and on clarifying the ways in which PPGIS 
		tools can be more profoundly embedded in the planning process. PPSS 
		system leans on the knowledge-informed planning approach. This means (1) 
		openness to different forms of knowledge; (2) acceptance of the 
		conflicting perspectives of actors; (3) integration of different 
		participatory tools and practices more profoundly into the planning 
		process; and (4) sensitivity to local practices and context. 
		 The following sections explore in detail the different phases of the 
		planning process and clarify the role of participation in each phase. We 
		will especially look at the ways how PPGIS tools can support the 
		knowledge creation during the different phases and give examples how 
		Maptionnaire has been used. As identified earlier, the challenge is to 
		embed the concepts, ideas and tools in everyday practices. As such, the 
		aim is to narrow this gap by indicating the locus of webGIS innovations 
		throughout the planning process. 
		 3.1. Early initiation
		 In the early initiation phase of a planning process, the selection 
		of current problems and issues should be better supported by the 
		participation process. Currently this seldom happens in urban planning. 
		The initiation phase should acknowledge the role of informal knowledge 
		creation through public discussions supported by digital tools but also 
		the role of the more formal knowledge that different studies can evoke. 
		As such, this phase can often blur into the evaluation phase (see 
		below). Currently, the role of participants is often minimal in the 
		early initiation phase. Both decision makers, planning authorities and 
		interest groups such as resident unions and even individual residents 
		could have a say and eventually affect the process of problem 
		recognition leading to the initiation of a new planning process. 
		Unfortunately, this kind of more extensive form of participation 
		highlighting the plural nature of values held across society, rarely 
		occurs. 
		 Our observations have revealed that PPGIS tools can prove useful 
		during this phase. They can be used for systematic and broad data 
		collection that provide a basis for identifying problems that could be 
		addressed in a planning project or positive qualities that should be 
		protected. So far, there is limited evidence to show that the collected 
		data would have significantly impacted the agenda setting phase or led 
		to the initiation of other projects. Various VGI tools that aim to 
		crowdsource knowledge voluntarily or argumentation maps that support 
		capacity building and trust suit also to the initiation phase. Here, the 
		target is rather to collect ideas and initiatives than high quality 
		evidence. Again, it is easier to collect ideas than to find new ways to 
		link these individual or collective ideas into a more formal process 
		that could, eventually, lead to initiation. This demands more 
		transparency and intense communication between planners, decision makers 
		and residents. 
		 Case 
		example - Designing a campus for cycling and walking   
		 The real estate 
		company Aalto University Properties wanted to know how people move 
		around the Otaniemi campus — and where transit could be improved. The 
		aim is to create a user-friendly campus, where cycling and walking would 
		be as smooth as possible. With a map questionnaire respondents marked 
		their daily routes and most important places of students and employees 
		of the campus. Additional pop up questions were asked about how these 
		places are reached, and where new amenities are needed. The respondents 
		gave numerous suggestions. The comprehensive survey data will be used in 
		the long term development of the campus area and its services.   
		 3.2 Initiation
		 In initiation phase the project has been formalized. The empirical 
		findings from our studies support the involvement of the participants 
		during the initiation phase. Residents can act as information producers 
		as well as react to suggestions from other respondents. This way the 
		versatile experiential landscape can be laid out that emphasises even 
		the controversial views. The data gathering and analysis via PPGIS and 
		VGA can be supported with face-to-face collaboration and communication 
		to validate and supplement the data gathering. This multi-stream model 
		of different methods confirms the initiation and demands a more thorough 
		participatory approach.  
		 Though our cases prove that PPGIS tools are capable of supporting 
		the early stages of the planning process well there is also evidence to 
		suggest that even though planners value data collection the actual use 
		of the data after this phase has not been as effective as it could be. A 
		number of reasons for this have been identified: (1) planners still lack 
		the necessary skills to analyse the data, (2) planners are more 
		interested in legitimating the participatory process by arranging 
		possibilities for participation than in ensuring that the actual data 
		collected is used effectively and (3) those charged with the data 
		gathering task are usually not responsible for the actual plan making 
		and thus are not that interested in precisely how the data is utilised. 
		 Case Example – 
		Thousands envisioned the Helsinki of the future   
		 The city of Helsinki is drawing a new City plan, which will guide 
		the development of Finland’s capital until 2050. During the early phases 
		of the process city of Helsinki wanted to hear residents’ views with a 
		map-based questionnaire (Figure 6). Survey attracted almost 4000 
		respondents who made over 33 000 entries in the interactive city map. 
		The residents gave many suggestions for new building areas. They also 
		located urban nature spots they considered unique and worth protection. 
		 “We got an excellent number of respondents and entries. The survey was a 
		success. Also, it was important for us to receive the analysis report 
		directly after the end of the survey, and the analysis tool for our 
		staff. I believe that the survey’s results will be used as a background 
		material for a wide range of future projects.” — Heikki Mäntymäki, 
		Communications Manager, City Planning Department 
		 
		  
		 
		Figure 6 The Maptionnaire survey used in the 
		participatory process of Helsinki city plan 2050. 
		 3.3 Formulation of alternatives
		 During the formulation of alternatives interaction between the 
		administrative level and the wider society often exists. Still, this 
		interaction is often organised through stable channels such as policy 
		networks. The formulation of the first drafts of the plan proposals is 
		normally, at least in Finland, held strictly among experts while lay 
		people are generally only able to comment on the proposals. Ideally, the 
		participants should be able to study and compare different alternatives 
		made by experts, affect the formulation of the alternatives and even 
		produce their own alternatives with the support of planners. Because 
		this planning phase concretizes the notions of a ‘good environment’ into 
		shaped plans that will then be negotiated and decided, inclusive 
		participation is essential to support the element of democracy. 
		 In some of the completed PPGIS projects residents have been 
		allowed to evaluate different plan alternatives while the PPGIS allows 
		for a more dynamic visualisation of the plan proposals and enables 
		respondents to mark comments and opinions on a map. This phase could 
		become even more efficient if the alternatives outlined could support 
		transparency by highlighting how data collected previously have affected 
		plan proposals. This aim is, nevertheless, not simple to implement as it 
		is difficult to prove how such data has impacted the proposals.  
		 Case 
		Example – Improving a national park with local insight   
		 Finnish forestry organization Metsähallitus allowed the park users 
		to mark their favourite places (Figure 7). The majority thought that the 
		park needed both wild and recreational areas. The results influenced the 
		new maintenance and usage plan of the park, which separates the wild and 
		recreational areas. In addition, a PPGIS feedback service was designed 
		for alternative plans. The residents’ ideas and opinions were thus 
		included in the planning process on several stages. 
		 “Maptionnaire is a 
		significant new service to complement the traditional hearing meetings. 
		It enables collecting opinions and wishes from wide stakeholder groups 
		and presenting them in graphic form. The data material is received in 
		GIS environment, which is a remarkable help. Therefore, it is ready to 
		use in map presentations and information systems.” — Senior Planning 
		Officer Arja Halinen, Metsähallitus   
		
		  
		 
		Figure 7 The survey used for 
		marking the favourite places and routes of park users (left) and the map 
		that summarizes the findings (right).  
		 3.4 Decision making
		 The 
		final decision making phase remains in the realm of the responsible 
		institution where the decision is always preceded by a more or less 
		informal process of negotiated policy formation. This highlights the 
		importance of early stage participation in the planning process. Those 
		networks that shape the discussion are often long-established policy 
		networks with various interest groups. Whether existing policy networks 
		are really representative of a broad enough range of residents’ views 
		remains questionable.  
		 Our observation indicate that only in a few of the projects 
		planners have been willing to use PPGIS tools during this phase. In 
		Finland, during this step all officially expressed opinions should 
		include personal data because planners are required to provide feedback 
		to every opinion. This procedure often delays the process as planners 
		can receive a significant number of opinions, each of which have to be 
		carefully studied. Understandably, planners are not eager to push the 
		use of the PPGIS tools during this phase as it would undoubtedly 
		increase still further the number of complaints. Experts are afraid of 
		information overflow where more information could lead to “further 
		confusion; obscuring, rather than clarifying the policy choices which 
		could otherwise be made more easily under conditions of relative 
		ignorance” (Young, Ashby, Boaz, & Grayson, 2002, 218). 
		 3.5 Implementation
		 The implementation phase means the execution of the project through 
		the construction of the buildings, installing the infrastructure, or the 
		putting in place of some training or social programmes (Horelli, 2002). 
		The adoption of a programme does not guarantee that the action on the 
		ground will strictly follow policy makers’ aims and objectives. 
		Therefore participants should also be present during this phase, at 
		least through information. Empirical evidence does not, however, 
		currently support the use of PPGIS during this phase. Still, PPGIS would 
		be applicable to support the information process or perhaps to collect 
		feedback about the arrangements in the construction site. 
		 3.6 Evaluation
		 The evaluation phase consists of 
		the assessment of the monitored data gathered throughout the project and 
		the evaluation of the changes in the physical and social structure. 
		Horelli (2002) emphasises an ongoing evaluation throughout the entire 
		planning cycle to better understand how participation has actually taken 
		place during the process. Thus, evaluation is not restricted only to a 
		particular stage in the policy cycle, but applied to the whole 
		policy-making process from different perspectives and different timing 
		(ex-ante, ex-post etc).   
		 The research cases completed with the SoftGIS-tools support well the 
		ex-post evaluation which should play a more embedded practice in the 
		planning process. Evaluation could validate the effectiveness of public 
		participation by testing the generated quality of the process and the 
		quality of the received output and outcome. In reality, the actual 
		effectiveness of public participation remains hard to pinpoint as most 
		of the criteria discussed in literature are procedural rather than 
		substantive in that they relate to what makes for an effective process, 
		rather than how to measure effective outcomes ADDIN RW.CITE{{127 
		Rowe,Gene 2004}}(Rowe & Frewer, 2004). PPGIS tools offer a valuable way 
		to accomplish ex-ante or ex-post evaluation ADDIN RW.CITE{{63 Kyttä,M. 
		2012}}(Kyttä, 2012). The research cases concerning for example the 
		perceived quality of the living environment, environmental 
		childfriendliness or perceived safety can be viewed as ex-post/ex-ante 
		evaluation surveys. Here, the use of standardised queries would be 
		helpful to better enable comparison between data sets in different 
		places and cities. 
		 Case example - 
		Academic research on recreational water use   
		 The researchers of Aalto University wanted to examine the 
		recreational use and experimental value of the water areas of the 
		Helsinki metropolitan area. A map survey asked the respondents to locate 
		activity spots and landscape values near bodies of water. The survey 
		reached over 2000 respondents. The results proved that the citizens 
		enjoy spending time near water. The city shores are an important escape 
		from everyday life.   
		  “Mapping out the versatile nature of the best loved 
		shores is a great opportunity — we can combine the big picture with 
		detailed local knowledge, and qualitative information with location 
		analysis, which leads to new interpretations.” – Researcher, Jenni 
		Kuoppa, Aalto University  
		
		  
		 
		Figure 8 The activity spots by the water 
		identified by the respondents (left) and a map to show how many 
		important water areas are accessible by walking in different parts of 
		Helsinki metropolitan area. 
		 3.7 Maintenance
		 The maintenance 
		phase means the transference of results and their nurturing into a 
		long-term perspective (Horelli, 2002). The residents’ role here can be 
		more passive turning them into commentators on the current state of the 
		environment. Regularly given feedback, such as e.g. Fix my street 
		-service, could have an important role in raising awareness of the 
		notifications made of the state of the living environment. Eventually 
		this or the former phase can feed into the understanding that connects 
		the process back to the problem definition stage completing the planning 
		process loop. The maintenance phase differs from the evaluation phase in 
		the way in which data is collected. In the evaluation phase it is 
		important to use random samples to validate the data while in the 
		maintenance phase data collection can occur on a more voluntary basis. 
		 
		 4. CONCLUSION
		 The aim of this paper was to introduce and go through the extensive 
		set of PPGIS practices studied in Finland and abroad by the SoftGIS team 
		in Aalto University. Long development work (2005-2015) of SoftGIS tools 
		and a commercialized service Maptionnaire have provided us insight how 
		research and urban planning practice can benefit of the use of these 
		tools. PPGIS tools are potential methods when a person needs to ask the 
		question “where”. It is powerful to allow local people to produce their 
		own maps expressing their personal experiences of their living 
		environment. Whereas in research this kind of data opens new 
		opportunities to study the person-environment fit in a novel way, in 
		urban planning the benefits are twofold. On one hand, planners embrace 
		this new information to support their knowledge-informed planning 
		practices. On the other, they can take the advantage of the tools as new 
		participatory mechanisms that consolidate the existing set of varying 
		participatory tools. 
		 The Maptionnaire software and its multiple applications have 
		stimulated positive social change in the diverse fields of urban and 
		regional planning, environmental psychology, and natural resource 
		management, among others. How? The software was the first to 
		provide a user-friendly internet software platform allowing people to 
		identify and map their activities, experiences, values, preferences, and 
		other social attributes spatially, thus providing place-based data to 
		inform important social decisions about current and future land use. The 
		software also provides a platform for basic social research to better 
		understand how diverse populations, including children, interpret and 
		function in their physical environment. Historically, the “softGIS” 
		software contributed to what has been termed the “geospatial revolution” 
		over the last decade wherein the number of internet mapping software 
		applications has increased exponentially. 
		 The empirical findings suggest that various PPGIS tools are 
		required to support different phases of the planning process and to 
		offer new ways to grasp residents’ views, experiences and opinions etc. 
		Further knowledge is, however, required from planning processes where 
		PPGIS tools are consistently used through different phases of the 
		project. It would also be interesting to study the data transformation 
		from raw data to planning proposals through the interpretation that 
		shapes the collective understanding. 
		 To anchor the PPGIS tools and 
		location based user knowledge into the everyday routines of both the 
		residents and experts, not so many new tools and innovative concepts are 
		required. Rather, that challenge is to develop the existing planning 
		culture to become more open to versatile knowledge and to embed new 
		methods and ideas more profoundly into current practices. Our findings 
		highlight the important role played by the ‘super planners’ who are 
		willing to transform existing practices. As such, in order to overcome 
		these institutional barriers in the future we cannot continue to rest 
		alone on the shoulders of individual ‘super’ experts. 
		 REFERENCES
		 Brown, G., & Kyttä, M. (2014). Key issues and 
		research priorities for public participation GIS (PPGIS): A synthesis 
		based on empirical research. Applied Geography, 46, 126-136.  
		 Carver, S., 
		Evans, A., Kingston, R., & Turton, I. (2001). Public participation, GIS, 
		and cyberdemocracy: Evaluating on-line spatial decision support systems. 
		Environment and Planning B, 28(6), 907-922.  
		 Goodchild, M. F. (2007). 
		Citizens as sensors: The world of volunteered geography. GeoJournal, 
		69(4), 211-221. 
		 Hall, G. B., Chipeniuk, R., Feick, R. D., Leahy, M. G., 
		& Deparday, V. (2010). Community-based production of geographic 
		information using open source software and web 2.0. International 
		Journal of Geographical Information Science, 24(5), 761-781. 
		doi:10.1080/13658810903213288  
		 Horelli, L. (2002). A methodology of 
		participatory planning. Handbook of Environmental Psychology, 607-628. 
		Kyttä, M. (2012). SoftGIS methods in planning evaluation. Evaluation for 
		Sustainability and Participation in Planning (pp. 334-353), Routledge. 
		Kyttä, M. Broberg, A. &  
		 Kahila, M. (2012) Urban Structure Factors 
		Motivating Active Lifestyle among Children and Youth: A Case Study in 
		the City of Turku, Finland. American Journal of Health Promotion, Vol. 
		26, Number 5, e137 –e148.  
		 Kahila, M. & Kyttä, M. (2009) SoftGIS as a 
		bridge builder in collaborative urban planning. In Geertman, S. &  
		Stillwell, J. (2009) eds. Planning Support Systems: Best Practices and 
		New Methods. Springer, pp. 389 – 411. 
		 Kahila-Tani, M. (2016) Reshaping 
		the planning process using local experiences: Utilising PPGIS in 
		participatory urban planning. Aalto University publication series 
		DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 223/2015  
		 Rowe, G., & Frewer, L. J. (2004). 
		Evaluating public-participation exercises: A research agenda. Science, 
		Technology & Human Values, 29(4), 512-556. Schlossberg, M., & Shuford, 
		E. (2005). Delineating " public" and" participation" in PPGIS. URISA 
		Journal, 16(2), 15.  
		 Sui, D., Elwood, S., & Goodchild, M. (2012). 
		Crowdsourcing geographic knowledge: Volunteered geographic information 
		(VGI) in theory and practice. Springer Science & Business Media. 
		Tulloch, D. L. (2008). Is VGI participation? From vernal pools to video 
		games. GeoJournal, 72(3-4), 161-171.  
		 Young, K., Ashby, D., Boaz, A., & Grayson, L. (2002). Social science 
		and the evidence-based policy movement. Social Policy and Society, 
		1(03), 215-224. 
		 CONTACTS
		 Maarit Kahila  
		Development director 
		Mapita Oy Kanavaranta 7 D 00160 
		Helsinki Finland  
		Tel. +358405626951  
		Email: maarit.kahila@mapita.fi
		 
		Web 
		site: https://maptionnaire.com/ 
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