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WEB-GIS

Dept. of U

KEY WORDS:

ABSTRACT:

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1.1 General co

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In terms of implcan identify sindifference in implementation;disruption in orgcase of incorreccompany imagethat the main becitizen, who in

S SOLUTIO

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ded in public comicipal companiesater distribution

1. INTRO

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rvices, wants a

T FOR CITI

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f Civil [email protected]

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certain problemroved (Figure 1.)

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ld be involved infrom citizens. In s has become theitizens and issuevernment, publidevelopment of n process betwess. Reported proe.

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itizens and the tn detail: two wata Bucureşti S

Compania de Apone heat distri

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International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences,Volume XL-4/W1, 29th Urban Data Management Symposium, 29 – 31 May, 2013, London, United Kingdom

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Figure 2. Main

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n ways of commumunicipal

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ZAU CITY WE

y Characteristic

n water cycle (Aand Schneider,19

sensor”

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questions andinteractivity of

ough digital map

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unication: betwecompanies

g an applicatiress in a more c

ect, which is thomers, respectivAlso should be

ted, processed orapplication des

ces or public ends of GIS solu

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dapted from: Mc

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nly choice is tothe operator, or

me companies. Afeedback from

d suggestions toffered by certainps usage.

and communitydue to problemservice offers theto the accurate

een citizens and

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utions should be

ATION

cPherson, 1973;rd to "citizen-

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A m o n

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it was necessainformation off

y of performing .4km2 in Buzăucontains both ban area, and bu

database and apon management tools in process

a. The proposedn seven modulesstics (Table 1).future visual idthe database wa

Module Urban omponent

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Documents

able 1. Database

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ction of the pope, are collected requires the use

mit in real-timeweb-GIS platfor

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ucture

ary to analyze fered by public

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uffer information

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e architecture (M

tion network, ponitored and recces located on-siistic density hthat reside in tha as public transpvel among all

cause they operaformation, exprpulation on the in a low and ine of concept "ce the informatirms.

u Application

an urban areainstitutions, wi

zes, we chose aeneral concept, ata located in n of adjacent elem

esents the suppm citizens, offerizations the entiref the support daording to their deto be as conclusy citizens in thh accuracy as h

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nctual, linear, oron related to e

ng place in the arometric elementork pipelines, nbranching points

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This interactivepilot study case at citizen’s hompeople can viewthe urban arerepresentation oused to locatestructures in geo

2.2.2 Designi

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a, Buzău City;

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r a public policyidents. For pubn, we used theth Internet acceily view their

problems fromndations/solution(Figure 5).

tting an online rpplication but alny, classified inted – the requesution (further ther comments and

gned – the requser will not be abssigned;

– the request w

6. Citizen request

approach classin citizen invo, G. et al, 2011hem, the pilot in "collaborative (long-term visuanalysis, real-ti

ent), and with thtivities sectors.

mation of citizen

fy the type of bent the possibility ocompany, we c

06.2012 based othe questionnaireWater Company

any services, cocollection syste

ble 2). In additios the possibility cision process, u.

y or services impblishing and vie ArcGIS Servess, who lives inown neighborh

m the field,ns for water distr

request, the citizlso the past interto three categorit is assigned at e citizen can comrecommendatio

est is unassigneble to post new c

was solved by th

t solution for Bu

fication in termlvement in co), and also repapplication frome" "contributoryualization, reportime reports and

he possibility of

ns’ perception f

neficiaries and aof implementing

conducted a fielon statistical appe aimed to quanty by categories:

ompany communem and ways to on, a set of quesand ways of invusing online sol

provement proviiewing maps in

ver 10 softwaren the pilot studyood map in or, or to prribution network

zen will be able rventions from thes (Figure 6) the operator lev

mplete his own rons related to his

d at the operatocomments until

he network oper

uzau web-applica

ms of solutions thollecting informporting problemsm Buzau City cy" and "co-deveting, water distrid feedback, volextension to pu

from study area

assess people's pg web-GIS platfod study during

proach. Questiontify public perce water quality p

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In terms of solution applicability at the institutional level, some issues take into account citizens' perception, for example their motivation to engage in an online environment by generating field requests. A simple presentation of the application will not automatically lead citizens to use it unconditionally. Project results prove valuable for a much wider range of users who use the internet daily, hold a high quantity of local information and are willing to communicate with responsible institution (whether we are talking about a company or public authority). Practical purpose of the application is more than to provide for citizens, located in urban areas, or for the municipal water company the opportunity to interact and to request information in case of field breakdown.

Question: Answers:

....................................................................... 6. How do you want to get involved in the future decision process? 1. Using classical tools such as phone/fax/printed mail.

yes | no | I can’t decide

2. Directly at the public authority head-quarter thought a printed form.


3. Using web application with online forms.


4. Using web application, online maps and graphical tools that contain street, zip and cadastral number reference.


5. Using web-mobile application. yes | no | I can’t decide

Location Postal code .............................................. Age category?* ..............................................

Table 2. Field questionnaire for Buzau Study Case (selection)

3. CONCLUSIONS

By increasing public participation in reporting problems process identified in the water distribution network, community interest will increase related to work carried out by municipal compa-nies, where requests will be solved in short time and lower costs. If companies or local authorities will not develop solu-tions that improves institutional transparency the amount of in-formation collected will be lower due to lack of public confi-dence. In addition to problems requested by the citizens, the application should contain technical information of general in-terest, for example the possible source of water losses. New applications for citizens, implemented at the water compa-ny level, should have a similar structure and interface to appli-cations already used by people, regardless of their internet con-nection speed

Analyzing municipal companies in Romania at department level can draw some important conclusions. For companies serving small and medium urban areas ITC technologies use is not a priority due to internal financial policy and monopole. For this type of company is more important the field network develop-ment or breakdown limitation. Therefore, dissatisfied citizens are forced to keep their current provider in absence of other al-

ternatives. For companies serving large sized urban areas, where the citizens’ mobility is high and access to ICT technolo-gies is growing, customer relations departments have a higher degree of development. From the perspective of the customer relations department modern technologies are used to a mini-mum and limited to simple complaints. Prolonged or incom-plete response time leads to loss of public confidence in the company. Filling out simple online forms does not automatical-ly lead to department’s development. Visual image of the water distribution company can be improved by eliminating aspects that characterize them now, namely inefficiency and focus strictly on the financial aspect. Such image is not positive for customer relations and for the citizens generally. Timely solution implementation with lower costs will create a positive and a modern image to the main beneficiary from urban areas: the citizen. In the regionalization or reorganization context the water supply, company that worked so far only locally, must adapt to new customers requirements that include access to information more quickly. The company must be known to customers and to update relations with other urban operators. This requires public relations campaigns and customer information adapted to local aspects. A larger company leads to increased professionalism with better service with the risk of excessive secrecy related to some public information. For a company to attract the interest of the main beneficiaries, in a possible involvement of data collection, must take place prior various information campaigns such as: customer letters, brochures, websites, media advertisements (print, audio or video), posters in public places (front desks or water company headquarters), promotion trough their personnel (own staff need to be well trained before the campaign), active and exposure at public events (fairs or water days), sponsoring local and regional events , water open days, etc. So that the solution can work, identity of the beneficiary must be unique. Errors that may occur must be avoided due to duplication of postal codes or the use of mistaken contract numbers and names. Customer identification indicates preferably the direct geographical location of the customer, prior to other types of information. Maintaining contact with the public and with commercial beneficiaries of the service is of vital importance for Water Supply Company. This means listening and inviting citizens to make suggestions and requests measured by different indicators.

4. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

This web-GIS application will inspire the local government to make applications for environmental protection, urban traffic management and local tourism development. At the same time, it represents the beginning of development similar applications in other public utilities companies. To facilitate public participation in the process of collecting information is necessary for spatial databases managed by public administration, connected to other utility operators’ databases. All services provided to citizens currently require a review and a regroup in a single contact point, in order to request municipal services and report breakdowns in the provision of these services. As described in paper’s chapters, providing services to/from central dispatcher can be traditional (over the front desk or by phone) or electronically (via a web portal).


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Another element that will require attention is represented by the fact that database and all application will be secured against theft of confidential information or overloading the system with false claims. Finally it should be noted that the research is interdisciplinary and complex enabling the development of future studies according to technological developments.

5. REFERENCES

Arctur, D., Zeiler, M., 2004. Designing Geodatabases. Case Studies in GIS Data Modeling. ESRI Press.

Danielson, L. and White, N., 1998-2012. Using GIS in public policy analysis: North Carolina. Raleigh, N. C.: Design Research Laboratory, North Carolina State University, http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/design/research/WECO/policyGIS/index.html (3 March 2012) Gerull, L., 2005. External services în. The GIS Guide for Local Government Officials in. Ed. by Cory Fleming. International City/Country Management Association (ICMA). ESRI Press, Chapter 5, pp.81-104. Kingstom, R. 2007. Public Participation in Local Policy Decision-making: The Role of Web-Based Mapping. The Cartographic Journal vol.44 no.2, pp.138-144. Marsalek J., Cisneros J., Karamouz M., Malmquist P.A., Goldenfum J., Chocat B., eds. 2008 - Urban Water Cycle Processes and Interactions, UNESCO Publishing; Chapter. 1, , pp.9-18 McPherson, M.B., 1973. Need for metropolitan water balance inventories. Journal of Hydraulics Div., ASCE, Vol. 99, No.HY19, , pp.1837-1838. McPherson, M.B., Schneider, W.J., 1974. Problems in model-ing urban watersheds. Water Resources, Vol.10, No.3, pp.434-440. Newman,G., Graham,J., Crall, A., Laituri, M., 2011. The art and science of multi-scale citizen science support. Ecological Informatics. Petrescu, F., 2007. Geographic Informatics Systems in Urban and Regional Planning. Bucharest, ed. Matrix Rom. Pricopie, R., 2010. Public Participation. Communications for sustainable development, (Participarea publică, Comunicare pentru dezvoltare durabilă), Ed. Comunicare.ro. Waite, B.,2005. Planning, implementing and funding a GIS. în The GIS Guide for Local Government Officials Ed. by Cory Fleming. International City/Country Management Association (ICMA). ESRI Press, Chapter 3, pp.29-60.


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