ENHANCING ONLINE PUBLIC NOTICES USING GIS TO FACILITATE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENTS

Abstract

By-laws of many municipalities and local governments require certain level of public participation in their decision-making processes for municipal planning and development activities. One of the common practices in Canada is to hold public meetings, during which the proposed developments are explained and discussed, and public opinions are collected. The problems associated with existing practices are twofold: insufficient access to information required for public input and lack of effective, innovative communication channels other than public meetings. Having municipal environmental assessment (EA) process as the application context, this paper presents our effort on developing methodology and software tools, using advanced information technology including GIS, that facilitate information access, understanding of EA study, and proactive participation in public meetings and, eventually, in overall municipal class EA process. 1