Participatory GIS for e-Governance and Local planning: A Case Study in Different
Environments on Its Applicability
Amit Kumar
Senior Research Fellow
CSRD, JNU, New Delhi,
Email: amit.k@rediffmail.com
Geographical Information System has established as a powerful planning and decision making tool. GIS provides spatial planning and decision making system to get visual presentation of different facts in the form of multi temporal maps and comparison maps.
Participation of local community at different data inputs in GIS enable to produce a holistic and efficient output. Participatory GIS requires a combination of software tools for group decision support, individual decision support and geographic analysis and presentation. It can provide a better solution of many governance related issues of ownership, distribution, resource allocation and site determination. The use of local knowledge and perception can help in creating outline of development plans. It can contribute to the empowerment of communities in solving developmental problems.
The paper presents a comparative case study of the applicability of Participatory GIS in two different states – Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Various issues including traditional knowledge system, conventional approach for local panning, institutional changes have been dealt. Its importance in establishing transparent and accountable governance has been analyzed.