PP GIS as an alternative for data collection for territorial planning in Cuenca Ecuador

Abstract

Today, information, knowledge and means of communication are increasingly available and growing at an accelerated rate. But exclusion from the media, information and specialized knowledge limits the participation of the population. The New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) are presented as a tool that facilitates interconnection through mechanisms according to time and space, allowing the improvement of social, political and public relations between subjects. NICTs allow the population to be involved in the processes, promoting the commitment of citizens in decision-making and therefore favor representative democracy, consolidating the so-called Cyber-Democracy. Web technology has proven to be a very useful tool for giving public access to information and relevant data that until now were only available to certain privileged sectors of the population. As a new tool, the implementation of GIS products on the Internet is proposed, such as the Geographic Information Systems of Public Participation (PP GIS), which provide an efficient and low-cost means for the collection, creation and distribution of cartographic products to users and strengthen citizen participation processes. In Cuenca-Ecuador, NICTs are scarcely used within the processes of citizen participation in territorial planning, so it is necessary to test their use as an alternative that improves the creation, updating and distribution of cartography. This work investigates the incorporation of a SIG PP in the territorial planning of the cantonal GAD of Cuenca indicating its advantages and disadvantages.