Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Towards a framework for geospatial tangible user interfaces in collaborative urban planning

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Geographical Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The increasing complexity of urban planning projects today requires new approaches to better integrate stakeholders with different professional backgrounds throughout a city. Traditional tools used in urban planning are designed for experts and offer little opportunity for participation and collaborative design. This paper introduces the concept of geospatial tangible user interfaces (GTUI) and reports on the design and implementation as well as the usability of such a GTUI to support stakeholder participation in collaborative urban planning. The proposed system uses physical objects to interact with large digital maps and geospatial data projected onto a tabletop. It is implemented using a PostGIS database, a web map server providing OGC web services, the computer vision framework reacTIVision, a Java-based TUIO client, and GeoTools. We describe how a GTUI has be instantiated and evaluated within the scope of two case studies related to real world collaborative urban planning scenarios. Our results confirm the feasibility of our proposed GTUI solutions to (a) instantiate different urban planning scenarios, (b) support collaboration, and (c) ensure an acceptable usability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. http://www.postgresql.org

  2. http://www.postgis.net

  3. http://www.mapserver.org

  4. https://httpd.apache.org.

  5. https://www.reactivision.sourceforge.net.

  6. http://www.tuio.org.

  7. http://www.tuio.org/?java.

  8. http://www.geotools.org.

  9. iGUESS® is a registered Trademark in the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

  10. http://www.themusicproject.eu

  11. http://www.lamiloproject.eu/

References

  • Al-kodmany K (2001) Visualization tools and methods for participatory planning and design. J Urban Technol 8(2):1–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arias E, Eden H, Fischer G, Gorman A, Scharff E (2000) Transcending the individual human mindcreating shared understanding through collaborative design. ACM Trans Comput-Hum Interact (TOCHI) 7(1):84–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balram S, Dragicevic S, Meredith T (2003) Achieving effectiveness in stakeholder participation using the gis-based collaborative spatial delphi methodology. J Environ Assess Policy Manag 5(3):365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balram S, Dragicevic S, Feick R (2009) Collaborative GIS for spatial decision support and visualization. J Environ Manag 90(6):1963–1965

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bangor A, Kortum P, Miller J (2009) Determining what individual sus scores mean: adding an adjective rating scale. J Usability Stud 4(3):114–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Bortolaso C, Oskamp M, Graham TN, Brown D (2013) Ormis: a tabletop interface for simulation-based training. In: Proceedings of the 2013 ACM international conference on interactive tabletops and surfaces, ITS ’13, ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp 145–154

  • Brooke J (1996) Sus-a quick and dirty usability scale. Usability Eval Ind 189(194):4–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Bugs G, Granell C, Fonts O, Huerta J, Painho M (2010) An assessment of public participation GIS and web 2.0 technologies in urban planning practice in Canela, Brazil. Cities 27(3):172–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns C, Seyed T, Bradley K, Duncan R, Balasch A, Maurer F, Sousa MC (2012) Multi-surface visualization of fused hydrocarbon microseep and reservoir data. In: GeoConvention

  • Davies S, Selin C, Gano G, Pereira G (2012) Citizen engagement and urban change: three case studies of material deliberation. Cities 29:351–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Sousa L, Eykamp C, Leopold U, Baume O, Braun C (2012) iGUESS—A web based system integrating Urban Energy Planning and Assessment Modelling for multi-scale spatial decision making. In: International congress on environmental modelling and software managing resources of a limited planet, sixth biennial meeting, Leipzig, Germany, p 8

  • Djajadiningrat T, Wensveen S, Frens J, Overbeeke K (2004) Tangible products: redressing the balance between appearance and action. Pers Ubiquit Comput 8(5):294–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elbakidze M, Dawson L, Andersson K, Axelsson R, Angelstam P, Stjernquist I, Teitelbaum S, Schlyter P, Thellbro C (2015) Is spatial planning a collaborative learning process? A case study from a ruralurban gradient in sweden. Land Use Policy 48:270–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esteves A, Scott M, Oakley I (2013) Supporting offline activities on interactive surfaces. In: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on tangible, embedded and embodied interaction, TEI ’13, ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp 147–154

  • Fernaeus Y, Tholander J (2006) looking at the computer but doing it on land: childrens interactions in a tangible programming space. In: McEwan T, Gulliksen J, Benyon D (eds) People Comput XIX Big Pict. Springer, London, pp 3–18

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Goodchild MF (2015) Space, place and health. Ann GIS 21(2):97–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guerlain C, Cortina S, Renault S (2015) Towards a collaborative geographical information system to support collective decision making for urban logistics initiatives. In: The 9th international conference on city logistics. Elsevier

  • Horn MS, Solovey ET, Crouser RJ, Jacob RJ (2009) Comparing the use of tangible and graphical programming languages for informal science education. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, CHI ’09, ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp 975–984

  • International Organization for Standardization (2002) ISO/TR 16982:2002—Ergonomics of human-system interaction—Usability methods supporting human-centred design

  • Ishii H (1997) Tangible bits: towards seamless interfaces between people, bits and atoms. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, number March, pp 234–241

  • Jones CE, Maquil V (2016) Towards geospatial tangible user interfaces: An observational user study exploring geospatial interactions of the novice. Springer, Cham, pp 104–123

  • Jones CE, Haklay M, Griffiths S, Vaughan L (2009) A less-is-more approach to geovisualization-enhancing knowledge construction across multidisciplinary teams. Int J Geogr Inf Sci 23(8):1077–1093

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaltenbrunner M, Bovermann T, Bencina R, Costanza E (2005) TUIO: a protocol for table-top tangible user interfaces. In: Proceedings of the 6th international workshop on gesture in human–computer interaction and simulation

  • Kingston R, Carver S, Evans A, Turton I (2000) Web-based public participation geographical information systems: an aid to local environmental decision-making. Comput Environ Urban Syst 24(2):109–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klemmer SR, Hartmann B, Takayama L (2006) How bodies matter: five themes for interaction design. In: Proceedings of the 6th conference on designing interactive systems, ACM, pp 140–149

  • Kobayashi K, Narita A, Hirano M, Kase I, Tsuchida S, Omi T, Kakizaki T, Hosokawa T (2006) Collaborative simulation interface for planning disaster measures. In: CHI ’06 extended abstracts on human factors in computing systems, CHI EA ’06, ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp 977–982

  • Longley PA, Goodchild M, Maguire DJ, Rhind DW (2010) Geographic information systems and science, 3rd edn. Wiley, Hoboken

    Google Scholar 

  • Loorbach D (2012) Transition management for sustainable development: a prescriptive, complexity-based governance framework. Governance 23(1):161–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maquil V (2015) Towards understanding the design space of tangible user interfaces for collaborative urban planning. Interact Comput 28(3):332–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matulic F, Caspar D, Norrie MC (2014) Spatial querying of geographical data with pen-input scopes. In: Proceedings of the ninth ACM international conference on interactive tabletops and surfaces, ITS ’14, New York, NY, USA. ACM, pp 89–98

  • Mitasova H, Mitas L, Ratti C, Ishii H, Alonso J, Harmon RS (2006) Real-time landscape model interaction using a tangible geospatial modeling environment. Comput Graph Appl IEEE 26(4):55–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Open Geospatial Consortium (2005) OGC catalogue services specification. http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/cat

  • Open Geospatial Consortium (2006) OpenGIS Web map server implementation specification. http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wms

  • Open Geospatial Consortium (2007) OpenGIS Web processing service. http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wps

  • Open Geospatial Consortium (2010) OpenGIS Web feature service 2.0 interface standard. http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wfs

  • Open Geospatial Consortium (2012) OGC WCS 2.0 interface standard- core: corrigendum. http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wcs

  • Piper B, Ratti C, Ishii H (2002) Illuminating clay: a 3-d tangible interface for landscape analysis. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, pp 355–362

  • Rantanen H, Kahila M (2009) The SoftGIS approach to local knowledge. J Environ Manag 90(6):1981–1990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rinner C, Keler C, Andrulis S (2008) The use of web 2.0 concepts to support deliberation in spatial decision-making. Comput Environ Urban Syst 32(5):386–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roorda C, Wittmayer J (2014) Transition management in five European cities—an evaluation. Technical report, Dutch Research Institute for Transitions, Rotterdam, http://j.mp/1xrggtI

  • Schneider B, Jermann P, Zufferey G, Dillenbourg P (2011) Benefits of a tangible interface for collaborative learning and interaction. Learn Technol IEEE Trans 4(3):222–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun Y, Li SB (2016) Real-time collaborative gis: a technological review. ISPRS J Photogramm Remote Sens 115:143–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terrin J-J (2009) Conception collaborative pour innover en architecture: processus, méthodes, outils. Editions L’Harmattan

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IT for Innovative Services, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 5, avenue des Hauts Fourneaux, 4362, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Valérie Maquil & Lou Schwartz

  2. Environmental Research and Innovation, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 5, avenue des Hauts Fourneaux, 4362, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Ulrich Leopold

  3. ISRIC - World Soil Information, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Building 101, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Luís Moreira De Sousa

  4. Lycée des Arts et Métiers, 19 Rue Guillaume Schneider, 2522, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Eric Tobias

Authors
  1. Valérie Maquil
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ulrich Leopold
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Luís Moreira De Sousa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lou Schwartz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Eric Tobias
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valérie Maquil.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Maquil, V., Leopold, U., De Sousa, L.M. et al. Towards a framework for geospatial tangible user interfaces in collaborative urban planning. J Geogr Syst 20, 185–206 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10109-018-0265-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10109-018-0265-6

Keywords

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation