Participatory GIS

The two terms describe closely related practices that emerged in different settings. PPGIS (Public Participation GIS) arose largely in the global North and emphasises giving the public access to spatial decision-support tools in planning. PGIS (Participatory GIS) developed in development and natural-resource contexts in the global South, integrating participatory methods with GIS to represent and defend local spatial knowledge. In practice the boundary is blurred, and both stress participation, empowerment, and attention to who controls the data.

Not necessarily. PGIS spans a continuum: at the low-cost end communities use ground and sketch maps and participatory 3D models built from local materials, which require no computers. Georeferenced products add GPS units, base maps or imagery, and GIS software, increasing cost and skill requirements. Practitioners choose the point on the continuum that matches the purpose and the community's capacity, since more sophisticated technology can both strengthen recognition and deepen exclusion.

Chambers framed them as questions of power: whose map is produced, who is empowered or disempowered, and who gains or loses. Concrete risks include elite or outsider capture of the data, exposure of sensitive sites and resources to appropriation, exclusion of those without technical access, and loss of community control over the maps once digitised. Good practice addresses these through inclusive participation, informed consent, data-protection safeguards, and clear agreements on data ownership and use.