Nhiều người trong số các chủ đề chính trong nghiên cứu PPGIS xoay xung quanh biết những người sản xuất và tiêu thụ các sản phẩm khu vực GIS nhỏ. Các ví dụ bao gồm nhiều cách mà PPGIS được thiết kế và thực hiện, và xác định nhu cầu thông tin cộng đồng và làm thế nào PPGIS có thể đóng góp vào những nhu cầu đó. Tuy nhiên, nhiều người trong số những câu hỏi khó trả lời vì thiếu hàng tồn kho toàn diện của một trong hai nhà cung cấp hoặc người tiêu dùng PPGIS. Hai. | Chapter 2 Surveying the extent of PPGIS practice in the United States David S. Sawicki and David Randall Peterman INTRODUCTION Many of the key themes in PPGIS research revolve around knowing who produces and who consumes small area GIS products. Examples include the multiple ways in which PPGIS are being designed and implemented and identifying community information needs and how PPGIS might contribute to those needs. However many of the questions posed are difficult to answer because of a lack of comprehensive inventories of either PPGIS providers or consumers. Two exceptions are Craig s inventory of consumers community groups in the Twin Cities Sawicki and Craig 1996 and the Urban Institute s list of 30 citywide neighbourhood data providers Urban Institute 1996 . Neither is comprehensive nor were they meant to be. They do provide a start however. In this chapter we provide a definition of PPGIS and report on results of a search for PPGIS providers see Table . Research interest on the use of GIS as a tool for enhancing public policy activities by community groups has been in evidence for a number of years. As part of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis s Project Varenius a suggestion was made to undertake an inventory of PPGIS activities. The group decided that its primary concern was to learn from those using GIS and Information Technology IT to support community initiatives. Our original intent was to produce a comprehensive inventory of PPGIS groups throughout the United States. We quickly realized that it was not a reasonable goal in part because advancing technology is making PPGIS activity ever more widespread and in part because delineating PPGIS activity within the universe of GIS was not a simple task. The concepts we used to generate an inventory of PPGIS organizations are reflected in the following introductory statement to the survey instrument The Public Participation GIS effort of the National Center for Geographic .
