G. Deplano

Evaluating Geographic Information Provision within Public Administration Websites

The authors are concerned with the provision of public sector geographic information (GI) and the use of GI technologies (GITs) within public administration websites, with particular reference to planning. Results of a survey carried out by the authors on an Italian case study are evaluated with respect to the GI content and technology adopted. A rapid evaluation method is proposed to analyse and compare GI/GIT-diffusion frameworks within public administration at the national level.

PSS design: a general framework perspective

The paper presents a tentative framework for Planning Support System (PSS) design. The aim is to aid planners to fully exploit the potential offered by the introduction of Spatial Information Technology into planning practice. The framework proposed is based on a taxonomy of PSSs, which offers different conceptual models useful to adapt a general PSS model to different planning processes. The taxonomy is intended to set the application domain on which planners and developers may enhance the dialogue in system requirements analysis. A case study is proposed to illustrate the framework application and a perspective for further research development is given.

Complex Networks Analysis of Commuting

The emerging new science of networks is providing an elegant paradigm for the characterization of the broad area of complex systems. New research perspectives have been opened in the study of many real phenomena and processes, and recently fields like urban, regional, and environmental sciences have gained new insights from the tools provided by network science. The complex networks analysis (CNA) becomes a useful framework in these fields to disentangle problems of a complex and unpredictable nature.

GIS and policy management for regional planning. A case study in Sardinia, Italy

Regional planning is usually characterized by a high level of complexity and uncertainty. The overlay of a number of instruments that affect land use, such as master plans, urban planning laws and regulations, leads to many difficulties linked to the interpretation of their meaning and the particular distribution of their impacts. In this scenario, it is necessary to find an instrument able to speed up the phase of the analysis for planning, by means of an automatic link between alphanumeric information and a set of geographic objects. The Italian Center of National Research funded in 1998 a project concerning the regional planning state of the art, with the main goal of understanding the basic outline and the underlying development strategies for Italy. The research project, named QUATER, comprises a series of local research Units. The aim of the paper is the presentation of an activity report issued by the Unit of the Region of Sardinia, at the Department of Territorial Engineering, Cagliari, Italy. Particular attention will be given to the construction of a GIS able to manage spatial information and an alphanumeric data set in order to provide shared, public and transparent information for policy and planning management.