The role of Volunteered Geographic Information in participatory planning. Examples from Denmark and Finland

Abstract

Due to developments in pervasive computing and the diffusion of digital media technologies, the amount of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) is rising rapidly. The paper looks at the potential of applying VGI to a participatory planning context and how this type of information might help capture place-based knowledge and experience. The paper furthermore looks at how VGI might qualify actual planning outputs, an aspect often overlooked in communicative planning. This is done by highlighting two case-studies; one which was carried out in a Danish context, employing volunteered GPS-tracking to capture everyday uses of the urban environment. The second case-study was carried out in Finland, employing SoftGIS as a tool to identify and quantify place-values.