Development of User-Participation-type Communication tools for revitalization of local communities using MapServer Kei SAITO*, Michihiko SHINOZAKI* and Shinji CHIBA** * Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan ** ARCHI PIVOT, INC., FOSS4G2006

Introduction Recently, making the hazard map, the region community map and etc by collaborative work with neighboring residents is popularly practiced in our country. Various regional information-sharing is preceded. For example, good reputation restaurant, historic site spot and dangerous point and etc...in our neighborhood. However, it is very difficult for the general resident to develop the tool of the information management combined with digital-map such as GIS technology.

Purpose of this Study We provide the efficient communication tools for collecting and sharing various regional information using FOSS WebGIS and DBMS – MapServer and PostgreSQL- With widely-distributed mobile phone equipped with the digital camera and GPS locator in Japan. We make active use of free spatial data that is provided free from the Internet.

Spatial Data improvement in Japan The governments embarked for active efforts toward improve GIS-related in the wake of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake. Free service of browse of land information and GIS spatial data have been offered through the Internet as part of the measure of spreading and promotion of GIS from April 2001. Download Service of Digital National Land Information. Download Service of Block Position Reference Information. Land Information Web Mapping System District and Population Land Use Aerial photo Data

Development of the User-Participation-type Communication tools using MapServer This support system builds up with FOSS Web-based GIS application such as MapServer and free several spatial data. Client users use the digital camera and GPS locator equipped mobile phone as a tool to gather several local information This system composed of the all free GIS software, DBMS and spatial data. Users can use this system any time and anywhere because this system is Web Mapping type GIS. Users can use own regular mobile phone as a terminal device to gather and input a lot of different information.

System configuration

Example of Operation This system uses the Web browser as GIS client such as a map viewer and an interactive I/O for the command of spatial and attribute search. The users use the mobile-phone as support tools for the field survey to gather the positional information and circumference situation including image data. The mobile-phone used for the information gathering is the commonly used type in our country

Positional Information acquisition “Under positioning your Example of Operation Screenshot of Mobile-Phone Click Positional Information acquisition “Under positioning your present location”

Manually input Data and up-load by CGI Example of Operation Screenshot of Mobile-Phone Received Data Submit Scroll Down Manually input Data and up-load by CGI Title ex. Favorite Shop name Comments etc. Received Positional Data Latitude (+35.90899) Longitude (+139.63215) Altitude (40m)

Data recorded in the Database Picture of the site situation Example of Operation Screenshot of Mobile-Phone Submit Data Recorded Data recorded in the Database Picture of the site situation

“Mapfile” description Stored Spatial Data on the PostGIS Example of Operation Screenshot of Database Console “Mapfile” description Stored Spatial Data on the PostGIS

Example of Operation Screenshot of MapServer on the Web BaseMap (Several Layers) Town District Main Roads Railways Color-coded Map Population Number of household Commercial statistics, etc...

spatial search to the attribute data Example of Operation Screenshot of MapServer on the Web Figure is Highlighted Input Search Keyword spatial search to the attribute data

Example of Operation Screenshot of MapServer on the Web Stored POI Click Icons Stored POI Figure is Highlighted Shop Restaurant Historical Recommend Park Dangerous Positional Coordinates Point data stored on the PostGIS Comment and Image date stored on the Database

System Feature This system enables user to preserve the situation in the region matched to the positional information as digital data in real-time, and to add data on GIS and to be able to display it from the remote place. The user can work without needing an advanced GIS skill because the map data and attribute information stored in the database can be operated through the Web a browser. There is an advantage such as possible of the information collecting and sharing between local residents.

Conclusion We developed the free Web-based GIS system that combined the FOSS MapServer and the PostGIS, and applied the support system for good local communication using commonly used mobile-phone. The neighboring residents collect the latest information change from day to day, and they can be shared on the Internet. This communication tools can be expected to lead to the community strengthening in the region as one of the new media. We were able to develop and to propose the system for the GIS support tools for local communication that makes the best use of the feature of FOSS through this research.