Ken Snyder

<img src="http://www.placematters.com/Graphics/Flickr.jpg" alt="Memory Map Example in Flickr" /><br /> <br /> Related to Charles' article about google maps and satellite images…<br /> <br /> The emerging <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/memorymaps/pool/">MemoryMap pool</a> on Flickr, where people annotate maps and photos (frequently taken from google maps) with their memories linked to specific places, takes the Google map service to a new fun level. So why not bring this into the planning process? Maps, <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/antonolsen/8687302/in/pool-memorymaps">like this example here</a>

<td>Take a planning challenge, add some technology and a pinch of public process, mix them just the right, and you have a recipe for good decision making. Orlando County Florida is cooking up such an event- and planners, practitioners, academics and members from all communities will be interested in watching their progress. <br><br /> <br><br /> Orlando Florida is embarking on a year-long initiative to address economic, environmental, land use, and transportation needs for a 90,000-acre study area in southeast Orange County.

<td>Exciting improvements in planning are possible when GIS tools are used in combination with public participation tools such as keypad polling. During a comprehensive plan update meeting in Hayden Colorado, flip charts were <img src="http://placematters.us/TechTalk/Slide1.jpg" alt="" width="150" align="left" border="0" hspace="2" vspace="2">replaced with computerized systems and keypad voting tools to gather resident input on a proposed development and future growth. CommunityViz and GIS were used to analyze the impacts of growth and to create a visualization of what the proposed development would look like in the landscape.

<body>The Sierra Club is using photomontage images online to demonstrate what &quot;smart growth&quot; can look like and feel like <a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/community/transformations/index.asp" target="_self">http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/community/transformations/index.asp</a>. Several photos show the difference between existing sprawl and potential smart growth solutions. <br><br>Photomontage is a visualization technique that is becoming increasingly popular as a tool to demonstrate what the future might look like under different design or build-out scenarios.

<p>The Internet can be a great way to supplement public meetings and get more people to participate in registering their opinions and preferences for planning alternatives. (Of course there are equity issues but that's a discussion for another piece.)<br><br /> <br><br /> The image below is an example of a question asked on the online visual preference survey used by Midtown Columbus Georgia. Results from the survey, gathered both in public meetings and online, are being used as a foundation for guiding the future planning recommendations for Midtown Columbus.