WEB-BASED GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS AS A PART OF SMART CITIES GOVERNANCE IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION – A CASE STUDY

Abstract

Globalization and good governance influence each other. Good governance can attract global activities. On the other hand, globalization can support an increase of the level of the governance. Good governance is a pre-condition for sustainable development at the regional, national, and global levels. Simultaneously, it is a component of the development of a society. Public administration authorities as governance bodies make many decisions. Most of the decisions are spatially oriented, i.e. they include a particular location. Thus, geographic information systems (GIS) are used as a tool for data processing. Web-based GIS systems are widely used as a tool offering an interactive presentation of spatial data to inhabitants. Some of the solutions can also allow citizens to take an active role, e. g. to submit some information like reporting faults in the city. These applications support several key attributes of good governance: participation, responsiveness, transparency, and accountability. The case study provides an overview of how Web-based GIS are used by municipalities to inform or include inhabitants into public activities and affairs. Two former districts in the Pardubicky region, the Czech Republic, are chosen for the case study. These two districts consist in total of 227 municipalities. The number of inhabitants varies from 52 to 90 335 so both very small and large municipalities are included. The covered municipalities use five different commercial Web-based GIS solutions. The solutions are compared from the point of view of available functionality and a level of inhabitant involvement. Possible links to the size of cities are discussed. Some results are visualised by maps.