ABSTRACT
The Internet provides a new source of information and a new discussion platform for public participation in planning processes. As geographic information systems (GIS) are an essential part of planning practice, equal access to public participation GIS (PPGIS) is crucial for successful stakeholder collaboration. Unfortunately, people with restricted access to computers, limited Internet skills, and poor map literacy could face potential exclusion. Although the older adults’ age groups show the strongest growth among Internet users, their general Internet skills remain limited compared to those of younger age groups. Furthermore, little previous research has been conducted on older adults’ usage of PPGIS, as current studies focus mainly on older adults’ use of the Internet in general or (passive) web maps in particular; PPGIS usability studies generally target a wider audience. In this qualitative and descriptive study, we examine older adults’ experience with a PPGIS survey and implement the findings into a final research survey design. The findings support previous results from other Internet or web map usability studies with older adults while, in addition, displaying similarities to the outcomes of general PPGIS usability studies, especially regarding cognitive abilities. Studying older adults draws attention to a vulnerable but growing Internet user group. As other age groups face similar challenges, we suggest that using older adults as a ‘test group’ for PPGIS usability could help improve the experience for the wider public.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the support of the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture for funding the ActivAGE research project. We thank the City of Helsinki and especially the Department of Social Services and Health Care as well as the Service Centre Kamppi for their cooperation. In addition, we thank all those who participated in the study. Furthermore, we are grateful to the editor and the anonymous reviewer for the useful comments. Thanks to Chris Smith for his valuable help with the text. We are very grateful for the collaboration with Mapita TM and especially their IT specialist, Sakari Ellonen. We received many helpful comments during our department’s research colloquium KLAKSU and thank our colleagues.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Videos were provided in three languages: Finnish, Swedish, and English. The Finnish video was seen 902 times with and average watch time of 3:39 minutes (from 5:24).