Public Participation GIS Research Group

Current projects include:

• This is a 2½ year project running from November 2010 funded by the European Commission's ICT Policy Support Programme.
• SMARTiP is focusing on the challenge of transforming public services by empowering ‘smart citizens’ who are able to use and co-produce innovative Internet-enabled services within emerging 'smart' cities. The project aims to take the experience developed by a wide range of existing user-driven, open innovation initiatives in Europe, particularly those developed through Living Labs, and to apply this experience to engaging citizens as active co-producers of public services.

• EcoCities
• EcoCities is a joint initiative between the University of Manchester and office provider Bruntwood, that seeks to provide a blueprint for the first climate change adaptation strategy for Greater Manchester.

• Green and Blue Space Adaptation for Urban Areas and Eco Towns (GRaBS)
• This is a 3 year project funded by the European Commission’s INTERREG IVC program for €3m from 2008-2011.

• Joseph Rowntree Foundation Housing and Neighbourhood Monitor
• This is a £1/4m project running from April 2008 - April 2011. Over the coming months the site will develop in to a point of contact for data, information and analysis of housing and neighbourhood issues in England, N. Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Using a Google Maps interface different organisations will be abe to analyse and spatially map a range of data sets and use it in the support of neighbourhood analysis.

• SURegen - Integrated Decision Support System for Sustainable Urban Regeneration
• £2.3m project over 4 years funded the EPSRC Sustainable Urban Environments Research Programme

Past projects include:

• Citizenship in the Electronically Networked City
• Jenni Viitanen, a PhD student, examined how citizens will access services in the city of the future with a particular focus on the planning system.
• Funded by an ESRC-CASE award with Manchester Digital Development Agency

• NW England and N Wales Shoreline Management Plan PPGIS
• This project has now finished but can still be accessed althoug your comments will not be responded to. The North West England and North Wales Coastal Group were tasked with preparing a revised Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) for the coast between Great Orme's Head (N. Wales) and the Scottish Border. The SMP is the means by which the Coastal Group will determine the best way to look after the coast in a sustainable way for the next 100 years. It is prepared using guidelines set down by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which is the Government Department (under the previous Labour Government) having responsibility for setting national policy for defence of the coastline.

• Educational Management Information Systems & PPGIS
  • Khitam Shraim, a PhD student, examined the potential role of PPGIS in educational planning in Palestine - a challenging project! Funded by the Ford Foundation

• Woodland Planting
• demonstration of the potential for public participation in rural woodland policy making.


• IntelCities
• EU research project investigating the delivery of public services in the future.


• E-MapScholar
• Edina funded project to advance the use of Ordnance Survey and DigiMap data for teaching and learning.

• Virtual Slaithwaite
• Part of the ESRC Virtual Society? project from 1998. Arguably (according to others!) the first ever on-line PPGIS in a 'real' setting (unless you know of others?)


• Nuclear Waste Disposal
• On going work on using PPGIS for nuclear waster disposal in the UK (project based in Leeds).