Development and Operational Evaluation of Regional Social Networking Service as Public Participation GIS

Public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) are used in regional urban development and in solving regional problems that affect local communities. In this paper, the de- velopment of a Web GIS-based regional social networking service (SNS) is described. The regional SNS employs PPGIS and supports user activities, GPS-enabled mobile phones, and a reward point system. The system has four functions: information extraction by user activity area, location-based information posting, GPS location referencing, and reward points. Furthermore, a PPGIS opera- tional model is proposed for continuously using the regional SNS. In this model, roles are assigned to local governments, nonprofit organizations, and universities. The proposed system was evaluated in Takizawa Village, Japan. The system was found to be applicable to PPGIS activities. In addition, some challenges in implementation and education were identified.