PDF(2.7mb) - 國家政策研究基金會

138 Taiwan Development Perspectives 2009
creases the complexity of a conventional browser experience,
and second, GIS is characterized by an inherent
complexity in the amount of content available and
the skills needed to interpret that content. In addition,
Haklay & Tobin (2003) reviewed related literature and
concluded with two reasons to explain the importance
of usability. The first reason is the recent increase in
availability and power of affordable personal computers.
It has broadened the computer user community, which
is no longer restricted to “a technical and mathematical
priesthood,” and secondly, GIS has been developing
since the late 1960s and has reached a state where functionality
such as map production, display and spatial
data analysis is commonly provided. Overall, usability
has become a major concern of GIS design. It is important
to take into consideration how GIS is actually
used and how it can accommodate the needs of such a
diverse user group.
Generally, a research framework on web usability
comprises a similar set of dimensions: ease of use, efficiency
of use, ease of memorizing data, low falsity, and
user satisfaction (Huang and Chao 2001; Nielsen 1993).
Steinmann et al. (2004) have compiled a comprehensive
set of usability dimensions of GIS, including suitability
of the web application for the task, data suitability,
user guidance, understandability, data description,
and degree of personalization of information.
iii. Visualization
Visualization is the form of maps or data, and the
method of interpreting these in visual terms. In other
words, visualization is a tool for making the data/maps
more readable and understandable. If GIS websites
provide visualization tools they would meet user needs
more easily. Additionally, visualization is a powerful
tool that can be used to simulate the real world by using
digital pictures, satellite photographs, and multimedia.
It is not only a method that can make large amounts of
data more easily and rapidly accessible than text-based
data formats, but is also an important factor in interactivity
(O’Looney 1997).
IV. Improving Public Involvement through
PPGIS
There are at least two reasons that PPGIS has been
conceptually recognized as a new approach of involving
public participation in urban planning. The first one
is because of its two-way government-citizen interaction.
According to OECD (2001), there are three types
of public involvement. A two-way interaction is required
to construct the ideal type of public participation.
1 The two–way interface with high interactivity
design could help PPGIS to get the potential which
could improve public involvement in the process of
urban policy making. Because of its high interactivity,
PPGIS reduces the barriers of involving public participation
and improve the possibility of public involvement.
In other words, unlike traditional methods of
public participation that are always held in a fixed place
and a fixed time, PPGIS allows people to input comments
at any time and in any place. Figure 1 shows a
typical example of the two-way spatial communication.
The experimental PPGIS website project in Slaithwaite,
UK, provides community residents with the ability to
comment on the future development of the village. The
website states “....virtual Slaithwaite system is an
online public participatory Geographical Information
System (PPGIS) which allows you to comment on the
future development of the village...”. It helps to involve
1 They are: 1) Information: government disseminates
information on policy-making on its own initiative,
or citizen access information upon their demand. In
both cases, information flow essentially in one direction.
2) Consultation: government asks for and receives
citizens’ feedback on policy-making. Receiving
citizen’s feedback also requires government to
provide information to citizens. Consultation thus
creates a limited two-way relationship. 3) Active
Participation: citizens actively engage in decision-making
and policy-making. For examples, citizens
propose policy options. This is an advanced
two-way relation between government and citizens.