An augmented reality study for public participation in urban planning

Ongoing urbanisation processes invoke immense construction activities, for which citizens often participate in planning. Yet, imagining planned buildings based on visual representations is a highly demanding task. While traditional methods, such as construction spans, 2D, or 3D visualisation often fail to offer a complete picture, we propose Augmented Reality (AR) as a more adequate tool. We first present an evaluation of the suitability of AR compared to construction spans for a future building and assess which degree of abstraction of AR is most effective, as well as difficulty of interpreting them correctly. In a between-subjects field study we compare construction spans and a prototype AR application including three levels of detail (LOD) of the same building project. Participants solve two estimation tasks using the construction spans and six estimation tasks using the AR application, before answering a questionnaire on the different visualisation methods. We find participants are confident about the potential of AR, but no significant differences between the different LOD groups in subjective assessment. Results suggest that previous knowledge (e.g. in GIS) may have a positive impact on dimension estimation performance. Also, details, such as façade elements or windows, could facilitate estimation tasks because they allow inferences about a building’s size

Faceted Search of Heterogeneous Geographic Information for Dynamic Map Projection

This paper proposes a faceted information exploration model that supports coarse-grained and fine-grained focusing of geographic maps by offering a graphical representation of data attributes within interactive widgets. The proposed approach enables (i) a multi-category projection of long-lasting geographic maps, based on the proposal of efficient facets for data exploration in sparse and noisy datasets, and (ii) an interactive representation of the search context based on widgets that support data visualization, faceted exploration, category-based information hiding and transparency of results at the same time. The integration of our model with a semantic representation of geographical knowledge supports the exploration of information retrieved from heterogeneous data sources, such as Public Open Data and OpenStreetMap. We evaluated our model with users in the OnToMap collaborative Web GIS. The experimental results show that, when working on geographic maps populated with multiple data categories, it outperforms simple category-based map projection and traditional faceted search tools, such as checkboxes, in both user performance and experience

ORIENTAÇÃO PARA RESULTADOS: Foco no Conhecimento e na Participação Popular

A pesquisa ‘Orientação para resultados com foco no conhecimento e na participação popular’ é um estudo de natureza bibliográfica, que faz uso do método quantitativo, e tem como meios de investigação as pesquisas de campo e descritiva. Seu objetivo foi avaliar em que medida os cidadãos compreendem e efetivamente exercem seu direito de cidadania em relação à participação pública, e se conhecem as leis e os dispositivos de Ordenamento Territorial do local onde residem, isto é, o Plano Diretor do Município de São Luís, com fundamento teórico no estado democrático de direito estabelecido na Constituição Federal brasileira e estudos da academia. Assim, utilizou-se a pesquisa desenvolvida por Carreira, Machado e Vasconcelos (2016) em Portugal, como base para elaboração do questionário on-line ‒ composto por perguntas fechadas (“sim” e “não”) e em escala Likert de cinco pontos ‒ distribuído no município de São Luís, aplicado no Google Docs em uma amostra de 200 pessoas. Os dados foram tratados com a aplicação de testes estatísticos, elaborados no software SPSS, com o objetivo de comprovar as hipóteses levantadas. Dentre os testes aplicados estão o alfa Cronbach, Kolmogorov-Sminorv (KS), e Análise Fatorial (AF), estes dois últimos tiveram como objetivo efetuar a análise descritiva e multivariada dos dados da pesquisa, e permitiu evidenciar um resultado diferente daquele encontrado por Carreira et al. (2016), em Portugal. Pelo coeficiente alfa de Cronbach encontrado, de 0,913 e de 0,914, verificou-se que as questões dispostas na escala Likert possuíam alta confiabilidade; o teste de Kolmogorov- Smirnov (KS), responsável pela análise descritiva, detectou que a maioria dos cidadãos que conhece leis e instrumentos de Ordenamento Territorial está na maior faixa etária e tem maior nível educacional; a Análise Fatorial (AF), utilizada para confirmar as hipóteses do estudo, demonstrou que os índices encontrados não foram suficientes para comprovar a correlação das variáveis conhecimento das leis, instrumentos de Ordenamento Territorial de São Luís e a participação pública, pois, mesmo cidadãos com razoável nível de conhecimento sobre essas ferramentas, possuem participação baixa, na ordem de 10,5%, sendo pior ainda naqueles mais jovens e menos instruídos, 0%. O estudo propõe que a gestão pública desenvolva mecanismos capazes de estimular a participação popular, fornecendo informações claras, principalmente, às camadas mais distantes das discussões políticas

Toronto Augmented Reality Map: Enhancing citizen engagement with open government data using contemporary media platforms

This thesis investigates how visualization strategies and media platforms affect citizen engagement with urban public data. There is currently an international movement towards government transparency and accessible information as developed nations become more urbanized and information technology more ubiquitous. Concurrently, new media platforms (e.g., virtual and augmented reality) are evolving rapidly and show promise of mass adoption. These factors together offer design researchers a unique opportunity to develop new forms of citizen-facing media. I therefore developed an interactive augmented reality application that works with a printed map of the city of Toronto to overlay open government data as visualized digital content. An iterative practice-based research approach was used. Usability tests demonstrated that a strength of augmented reality is its facilitation of multi-user engagement. This thesis concludes by discussing how the Toronto augmented reality map can be made into an interactive citizen-facing installation in the public sphere

Vers une plateforme cartographique web 2D/3D - dynamique pour la participation citoyenne

Les globes virtuels Web peuvent faciliter la communication entre les urbanistes et les citoyens. Des études récentes ont montré que les représentations 3D plutôt que 2D peuvent être plus efficaces dans la communication de l'information. Cependant, une telle visualisation présente plusieurs défis, y compris le niveau de détail et de réalisme. La compréhension par les citoyens de l'impact de leurs choix lors d’une consultation pourrait être améliorée en exploitant des simulations spatiotemporelles. Pourtant, la 4D (3D + temps) a rarement été intégrée aux plateformes de participation citoyenne. Ainsi, l'objectif principal de cette recherche était de développer une plateforme de cartographie Web combinant des visualisations multidimensionnelles (2D, 3D, 4D) de manière intuitive, afin que les citoyens puissent mieux évaluer et comprendre les enjeux de la consultation. Pour atteindre cet objectif, des lignes directrices de représentation adaptées à la consultation citoyenne ainsi que des simulations spatiotemporelles ont été conçues. Ces concepts ont ensuite été intégrés au sein d’une plateforme de cartographie Web 4D mettant en vedette le globe virtuel Cesium. Des tests utilisateurs ont été réalisés avec 21 participants expérimentés qui ont utilisé un questionnaire intégré à la plateforme pour valider les concepts. Le questionnaire contenait 5 scénarios réalistes simulés de participation citoyenne, dans lesquels les participants ont évalué l'intuitivité des représentations choisies ainsi que les concepts liés à cette recherche. Les résultats ont montré que les informations spatiales partagées au sein des consultations citoyennes peuvent être intuitivement représentées par une combinaison de dimensions 2D, 3D et 4D. De plus, cette combinaison permet également de mieux comprendre les impacts liés aux choix effectués lors de la consultation. La plateforme proposée dans ce projet est un premier pas vers un outil plus complet dédié à la participation citoyenne. Les futurs travaux viseront à utiliser la plateforme dans un contexte réel de consultation citoyenne.Web virtual globes can facilitate communication between urban planners and citizens. Recent studies have shown that 3D rather than 2D representations can be more effective in communicating information. However, such visualization presents several challenges, including the level of detail, realism and abstraction. Citizens' understanding of the impact of the choices they make during urban planning consultations could be improved by exploiting spatiotemporal simulations. Yet, 4D (3D + time) has rarely been integrated to citizen participation platforms. Therefore, the main objective of this research was to develop a web mapping platform combining multidimensional visualizations (2D, 3D, 4D) in an efficient and intuitive way, so that citizens can better assess and understand the issues of the consultation at stake. To achieve this objective, representation guidelines adapted to citizen consultation as well as spatiotemporal simulations were designed. These concepts were then integrated into a 4D web mapping platform featuring the virtual globe Cesium. User testing was done with 21 experienced participants who used a questionnaire integrated into the platform to validate the concepts. The questionnaire contained 5 simulated realistic case scenarios of citizen participation, in which the participants assessed the intuitiveness of the chosen representations as well as the concepts related to this research. Results showed that spatial information shared within citizen consultations can be intuitively represented through a combination of 2D, 3D and 4D dimensions. Moreover, this combination also offers a better understanding of the impacts related to choices made during the consultation. We consider that the platform proposed in this project is a first step toward a more complete tool dedicated to citizen participation. Future works will aim to use the platform in a real context of citizen consultation

Proceedings of the 9th Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design (ASCAAD) international conference 2021 (ASCAAD 2021): architecture in the age of disruptive technologies: transformation and challenges.

The ASCAAD 2021 conference theme is Architecture in the age of disruptive technologies: transformation and challenges. The theme addresses the gradual shift in computational design from prototypical morphogenetic-centered associations in the architectural discourse. This imminent shift of focus is increasingly stirring a debate in the architectural community and is provoking a much needed critical questioning of the role of computation in architecture as a sole embodiment and enactment of technical dimensions, into one that rather deliberately pursues and embraces the humanities as an ultimate aspiration