Developing an Online Ppgis Prototype Based on Geovpms – a Framework for Gis-based Virtual Public Meeting Space

This paper presents the prototype development of an integrated online GIS-enabled virtual public meeting space (GeoVPMS) system using open source technologies that are still in development and early stage of testing. The prototype system is based on a GeoVPMS conceptual framework (Li et al. 2007) and features the integration of various types of open source based solutions and open map services to provide web-based tools to support public participation in municipal planning processes. Although the broader project objectives are to develop a GeoVPMS that supports both asynchronous and synchronous participations, this paper focuses more on tools that support asynchronous participation, meaning that the public can participate in any time from any locations at their own comfort. The software implementation of the prototype focused on four important aspects of public participation, namely notification, information access, participation and feedback. The prototype demonstrates these functions.