Developing a participatory WebGIS for monitoring the physical problems of rural settlements

Abstract

Nowadays, with the growth of population in rural settlements and the complexity of the relations governing these settlements, the physical problems have become wider and more complex. The physical problems of the rural areas are related to water resource, waste water, roads, healthcare centers, electricity, as well as other infrastructures. There are various ways to monitor these problems, many of which are traditionally implemented in rural areas The present study seeks to develop a web-based participatory Geographic Information System (GIS) to monitor the physical problems of rurals. For this purpose, a web GIS was first designed and developed. This system was implemented for participatory monitoring of the problems of Eskaman, Dehshad Bala, Razi Abad and Asilabad villages. The people of these villages were invited to report their problems locally through the web GIS and complete a questionnaire related to the usability of the system. The results show that the highest number of problems reported by villagers (24%) is related to water and sewage problems. Assessing the usability of the system shows that despite the desire of villagers to use the system, the need to teach the use of GIS tools and simplification of the user interfaces is of critical importance.