Defining environmental and cultural landmarks in Lebanese villages through an integrated public participation GIS method -

Abstract

The complexity and changeability of both the landscape concept and the human valuation process make people’s designation of various landscapes values not well understood. Previous landscape research has tended to concentrate on one physical landscape component, such as water, built areas or flora; and on one value such as landscape aesthetics. To date, no study has empirically surveyed and studied, at a regional or national scale, the relationship between the diverse landscape components with the perceived landscape values of people (Brown, 2006). We spatially overlapped aerial photographs and valued landscape components (represented by the icons and stories selected by the people) through a nationwide public participation GIS (PPGIS) process and by using the Open Green Map (OGM) system’s set of international icons. We discuss the benefits and limitations of the method for stock taking of baseline information for landscape planning. We used matrix grading evaluations to identify significant sustainable management systems of communal lands and their spatial associations in relation to the mapped landscape components. This study validates the effectiveness of public participatory GIS (PPGIS) in relation to efficiency of data basing in a data poor context, community involvement in an ethnically diverse nation, and the related planning outcomes at the level of local municipalities and national ministries.