Renate Steinmann

Can online map-based applications improve citizen participation?

Public participatory geographic information systems (PP GIS) aim at enlarging citizens involvement and participation in decision-making processes. In this paper we review existing online PP GIS applications and present the framework of our analysis. We concentrate on the aspects of interactivity of such applications and the GIS functionalities needed for their operation. First results of ongoing research exhibit that a vast majority of applications only deliver information to the citizen in a one-way communication process. Although the technology is available, only few applications fulfill criteria of our analysis to be classified as two-way communication tools. We conclude the paper with directions for our further research.

WORKPAD: Process Management and Geo-Collaboration Help Disaster Response

In complex emergency/disaster scenarios, persons from teams from various emergency-response organizations collaborate to achieve a common goal. In these scenarios, the use of smart mobile devices and applications can improve the collaboration dynamically. The lack of basic interaction principles can be dangerous, as it could increase the level of disaster or can make the efforts ineffective. This paper examines the main results of the project WORKPAD finished in December 2009. WORKPAD worked on a two-level architecture to support rescue operators during emergency management. The use of a usercentered design methodology during the entire development cycle has guaranteed that the architecture and resulting system meet end-user requirements. The feasibility of its use in real emergencies is also proven by a demonstration showcased with real operators. The paper includes qualitative and quantitative results and presents guidelines that can be useful in developing emergency-management systems.

A Conceptual Model for Analyzing Contribution Patterns in the Context of VGI

The chapter proposes a conceptual model as foundation for analyzing user contributions in the context of VGI. The conceptual model is based on a set of action and domain concepts, which are combined to a task-model describing typical tasks of volunteered geographic information contribution. As a proof-of-concept, the model is applied to two sample data sets that are extracted from the OpenStreetMap (OSM) change history. OSM data samples provide a proof-of-concept concerning the applicability of the model for crowd activity analysis. The resulting “contribution graph”, which is a graph-like structure of linked editing actions, can be used as foundation for analyzing complex contribution patterns.

AffectRoute – considering people’s affective responses to environments for enhancing route-planning services

Humans perceive and evaluate environments affectively. Some places are experienced as unsafe, while some others as attractive and interesting. These affective responses to environments influence people’s daily behavior and decision-making in space, e.g., choosing which route to take, or which place to visit. In this article, we report on a methodology of using people’s affective responses to environments for enhancing computer-based route planning. More specifically, we explore a crowdsourcing approach to model and collect people’s affective responses to environments; an Affect-Space-Model and a mobile application are developed to facilitate this crowdsourcing approach; a routing algorithm (named AffectRoute) is then proposed to aggregate and integrate the collected data for automatic route planning. Evaluation with human participants shows that the routes generated by considering people’s affective responses to environments are significantly preferred over the conventional shortest ones, which are employed in car navigation systems and many online route planners. In conclusion, considering people’s affective responses to environments contributes to the improvement of automatic route planning. The proposed method can be integrated into existing route-planning services (e.g., location-based services) to provide users with more satisfying routing results.

Mobile Kollaboration unterstützt durch geografische Information

ZusammenfassungenMobile Kollaboration beschreibt die Zusammenarbeit mehrerer mobiler Benutzer, um gemeinsam ein Ziel effektiver zu erreichen. Speziell bei der Zusammenarbeit von Einsatzkräften im Notfallmanagement erfolgt die dafür nötige Kommunikation und Koordination lediglich auf Basis von Sprachkommunikation. Datenkommunikation in Form von Verteilung geografischer Information an die mobilen Einsatzkräfte kann neue Möglichkeiten schaffen und somit die relevanten Abläufe optimieren. Wir stellen eine Anwendung für portable Endgeräte vor, die geografische Inhalte visualisieren und vor allem neue oder modifizierte Inhalte in Echtzeit an alle Beteiligten verteilen kann. Die Anwendung wurde gemeinsam mit Einsatzkräften entwickelt und evaluiert. Die Benutzertests bestätigen, dass das Konzept der ortsbasierten Koordination eine wesentliche Verbesserung im Bereich der Koordination von Einsatzkräften sein kann.

Gendersensitive Routenplanung für Fußgänger im urbanen Umfeld

Der vorliegende Artikel beschaftigt sich mit der Routenplanung von Fusgangern unter Berucksichtigung genderrelevanter Nutzungskontexte. Neben Routenplanungssystemen fur motorisierte Endbenutzer nimmt die Entwicklung von (mobilen) Losungen zur Unterstutzung von Fusgangern in deren Wegeplanung stetig zu. Diese bieten derzeit jedoch nur wenige Optionen zur Auswahl einer geeigneten Route (zumeist kurzeste oder schnellste Route). Der vorliegende Artikel leistet einen Beitrag zur Frage, welche weiteren Kriterien fur die Routenauswahl relevant sind und wie diese genutzt werden konnen, um mobilitatsunterstutzende Routenplanungssysteme fur Fusganger zu verbessern. Hierzu wurde zunachst ein Feldtest mit 20 Testpersonen durchgefuhrt, um festzustellen, welche Kriterien hierbei entscheidend sind. Der Fokus lag dabei auf den psychologischen Routenqualitaten Attraktivitat, Komfort und Sicherheit. Darauf aufbauend wurden drei Profile abgeleitet (attraktiv, komfortabel und sicher), die das Ziel haben, genderrelevante Bedurfnisse zu berucksichtigen. Die Anwendungstauglichkeit der Profile wurde mit 41 Testpersonen evaluiert. ... Gender-sensitive route planning for pedestrians in urban space This article investigates how route planning systems for pedestrians can be improved by considering gender-relevant contexts of use. Beside route planning systems for car navigation, the rapid development of mobile services supported the emergence of solutions for pedestrians in the last years. However, existing systems just offer a limited set of options to choose a suitable route (usually shortest or fastest route). This contribution explores, which further route choice criteria should be taken into account. A field test with 20 test persons was conducted to collect route criteria influencing the psychological route qualities attractiveness, convenience and safety. From the results a data model was developed, that allows to consider these criteria in a routing algorithm. Three profiles (attractive, convenient, and safe) were derived with the aim to cover also gender-relevant contexts of use. In an evaluation 41 persons tested this approach in comparison to the shortest route.