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INSPIRE-Grid D4.4 - Implementation_of_the_WebGIS.doc -31

Project no. 608472

INSPIRE-Grid

IMPROVED AND ENHANCED STAKEHOLDERS PARTICIPATION IN REINFORCEMENT

OF ELECTRICITY GRID

Instrument: Collaborative project Thematic priority: ENERGY.2013.7.2.4 – Ensuring stakeholder support for future grid

infrastructures Start date of project: 01 October 2013

Duration: 36 months

D4.4

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WEB-GIS TOOL

Revision: v01

Submission date: 2015-03-31

RSE SpA (P01)


Dissemination Level

PU Public X

PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services)

RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services)

CO Confidential , only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services)

Submitted

Author(s)

Name Organisation E-mail

Silvia Beretta RSE SpA (P01) [email protected]

Andrzej Ceglarz PIK (P06) [email protected]

Giuseppe Stella RSE SpA (P01) [email protected]

Michela Volonterio RSE SpA (P01) [email protected]

Stefano Maran RSE SpA (P01) [email protected]

Abstract

In the present deliverable a general discussion of the possible relevance of web-GIS use in public engagement processes is discussed. Then, after a brief review of possible software platforms that can be used to develop web-GIS applications, two realisations are described for their possible use in INSPIRE-Grid project. Both refer to the Norwegian case studies; the first was developed with open source software and allows an active interaction of the users; the second was developed with proprietary software and allows only the effective dissemination of information about the case study and the results of INSPIRE-Grid activities.

“Version history” that will become “Revision history” when the final “version” is converted into .pdf format and submitted to the European Commission.

Date Version Author(s) Comments

20-03-2015 Andrzej Ceglarz Formal corrections

24-03-2015 Alessandro Luè Integrations on the use of webGIS

Status of deliverable

Action By Date

Verified Alessandro Luè – POLIEDRA (P04) 31-03-2015

Approved (GC) Antonio Negri – RSE SpA (P01) 31-03-2015


TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS .............................................................................................. 4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................. 5

1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 6

2 USEFULNESS OF WEB-GIS TOOLS IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE ............ 7

3 WEB-GIS TOOL IN STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVEMENT ............................................... 10

4 DISCUSSION OF THE POTENTIAL WEB-GIS USE IN INSPIRE-GRID CASE STUDIES .............................................................................................................................. 13

4.1 Cergy-Persan .............................................................................................................. 13

4.2 Bamble – Rød ............................................................................................................. 14

4.3 Aurland – Sogndal...................................................................................................... 16

5 TECHNICAL REVIEW OF EXISTING WEB MAPPING TECHNOLOGIES .................. 18

5.1 Open-source web mapping platforms ........................................................................ 18

5.1.1 Web Mapping Clients ..................................................................................... 18

5.1.2 Clients relationship ......................................................................................... 19

5.2 Proprietary software: ArcGIS Online ......................................................................... 20

6 DESCRIPTION OF THE WEB MAPPING TOOLS DEVELOPED .................................. 21

6.1 The web-GIS for Aurland – Sogndal case-study ....................................................... 21

6.2 The web-GIS for the Bamble – Rød case-study ......................................................... 26

7 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 29

8 REFERENCES...................................................................................................................... 30


ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS

API : Application Programming Interface

ELC : European Landscape Convention

EMF : Electromagnetic Field

ESRI : Environmental Systems Research Institute

GIS : Geographic Information System

HVOL : High Voltage Overhead Line LCA : Life Cycle Assessment

MCA : Multi-Criteria Analysis

NGO : Non-Governmental Organization

OGC : Open Geospatial Consortium

TSO : Transmission System Operator

Web-GIS : Geographical Information System (GIS) accessible from the web

Web-MCSDSS : Web Multi Criteria Spatial Decision Support Systems

WFS : Web Feature Service

WMS : Web Map Service

UMN: University of Minnesota


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The deliverable aims to investigate the potentialities, which web-GIS tools could offer within the stakeholders’ engagement process. In particular, the functionalities, which could deal with involving people in the decision-making process, enabling them to interact with project aspects and expressing their own opinion about its alternatives or effects are here described and analysed. A technical description of two web-mapping explicitly realized on the Norwegian case-studies selected in the framework of INSPIRE-Grid project is also given, trying to provide a concrete example of the potential usefulness of these tools and of their application, indeed. The introductive chapter recalls the strategic importance of expanding and developing the electric transmission system and underlines the role played by public participation to gain the social acceptance of new transmission infrastructures. Then, web-GIS tools are briefly introduced as potentially suitable to improve participation within decision-making process. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the evidences found in literature referring to the possible application and theoretical usefulness of GIS and web-GIS tools in the fields of social and political sciences and, when observed, with specific reference to public participation or decision-making processes. Moreover, it is well underlined how scholars are concentrating on this particular issue and possible further areas of investigation are mentioned. A detailed description of web-GIS tools and functionalities is given in chapter 3, together with an in-depth analysis of their possible concrete application in different phases of the decision-making process and to serve different scopes (communication, consultation, participation). Before going into the technical details of existing web-mapping technologies and discussing their implementation in real cases, it seemed appropriate to sum up in chapter 4 the characteristics of the three case studies selected in the framework of INSPIRE-grid project. This helps not only to call to mind the different stage of development at which they are, but also the possible use of web-GIS tool in each respective context, matching the information about the progress level of each projects with the functionalities of GIS more useful at each specific stage. Chapter five examines the existing web mapping client platforms and the relative development and programming tools, specifying also advantages and criticalities that can be met using them to realize applications finalized to improve public participation. In closing, the two prototypes of interactive web-GIS realized for the two Norwegian case-studies are presented, together with their main functionalities.


1 INTRODUCTION

The planning of new international interconnections in the electric transmission system answers the need to strengthen the cross-border transmission grid. Its development provides an essential contribution to the welfare of different countries and it is strategically important in the UE energy policy, although to be realized in terms of sustainability. As many studies report, the main problems related to the lack of social acceptance towards these new infrastructures arise at a local level and interest the local communities which live on the territories affected by the expansion of the lines. It has been put in evidence that the main difficulties in accepting the infrastructures are related to environmental impacts, especially those on landscape, electromagnetic effects and some others consequent negative effects, such as the lowering of the touristic attractiveness of the area intercepted by the lines or the loss of economic value for the buildings near the lines. As it is easy to observe, these issues are strongly related to the localization of the lines and their spatial relationships with the contiguous land. Given that, it is very important to communicate and to explain in an efficient way the different possible spatial alternatives of the line routes under planning and both negative impacts and benefits related to each alternative solution. This can help to involve all the stakeholders interested in the decisional process and to enable them to participate and to consciously build their opinion about the suitability of the infrastructure and its localization. A comprehensive approach is therefore unavoidable to evaluate at the same time different environmental and social aspects of the transmission grid, for example through methodologies that allow us to compare different alternatives of interconnection, to analyze their impacts on the environment, to integrate the values and costs of these impacts in the decision-making process. With reference to this need, a key role can be played by systems which help in the visualization and evaluation of project alternatives and in realizing a characterization of the territory that takes into account the different territorial aspects at stake. These systems allow the user to combine economic and social evaluation with territorial and environmental data and to effectively represent the final outcomes through thematic maps. Moreover, their availability on the web helps in promoting the active involvement of stakeholders and decision makers in the planning process. To this end, some GIS and web-GIS functionalities are here described, with the aim to underline the potentialities of such tools and to put in evidence their possible application within power lines development projects.


2 USEFULNESS OF WEB-GIS TOOLS IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL

SCIENCE

The development of new technical infrastructure connected to the exploitation of the growing number of renewable energy sources requires the participation of affected stakeholders in decision-making process, as well as the stakeholders’ engagement in the development of the electricity transmission system. It is therefore necessary to individuate adequate methodologies which should improve and enhance the pursued stakeholders’ participation. One of these methods should be represented by web Geographical Information System (web-GIS), which over last two decades has developed specifically in regard to public participation. The present chapter aims to present the key findings of using GIS methods not only for public participation and in decision-making processes, but also within the fields of social and political sciences in general and provides also a glimpse on the potential areas of further investigation as well. In the literature dedicated to GIS techniques, there is a differentiation between methods – authors distinguish participatory-GIS (P-GIS), public participation GIS (PPGIS), web-GIS and others (see Brown and Kyttä, 2014; McCall, 2003; Simão et al., 2009). Although these tools vary one from each other, their common feature is detectable in the use of various forms of geospatial technologies finalized to give to the highest possible number of stakeholders the opportunity to participate public processes, which tackle with concrete problems. These techniques bring beyond a doubt an added value to interdisciplinary research concerning social and political studies. The integration of GIS techniques in contexts of creating/ planning/ shaping/ managing/ or distributing spaces helps to investigate social, cultural and political aspects and it is an explanation element complementary for existing theories. Recently, there has been an increasing number of studies which investigate different aspects of energy infrastructure development within the spatial context (visual impacts, appropriateness of siting investments, mutual learning process during the spatial planning, etc.) by using GIS tools (see Higgs et al., 2008, Möller, 2006; Rodman and Meentemeyer, 2006; Simão et al., 2009). Another bunch of literature explores the usefulness of GIS tools in the field of public participation, decision-making process or values definition (Brown and Kyttä, 2014; Higgs et al., 2008; McCall, 2003). In fact, these are very often cross-cutting categories in which the elements of energy, environment, space, governance, conflicts or power intersect among themselves in many dimensions. Since there are significant overlaps between these issues, there is a strong need to integrate them in an interdisciplinary manner. GIS tools have been developed in the “energy context” for almost twenty years (starting with the urban studies), but since the social and political science components are very little represented, this is calling for an approach where these disciplines come to the fore (Sovacool, 2014). This could also be considered as a challenge of the present time, where the governance of energy infrastructures needs to have (and will have) more and more polycentric character and where the local level will be affected by multifaceted problems connected to the development of such infrastructures (Goldthau, 2014). Fortunately, these connections have been already noticed and recognized and even if ecological and economic dimensions dominate over the social one (Brown et al., 2014), scholars started to underline its importance as well. In recent years, combining GIS techniques with the social science approach has increased (Brown and Kyttä, 2014). For instance, Elwood (2011) states that, actually, visualization and visual methods are at center stage to understand social and political implications. Even if the task of integrating GIS tools and social science is highly challenging, because of


contesting nature of knowledge paradigm (Brown and Kyttä, 2014), both of these approaches are complementary, as will be presented in some concrete examples described below. The recent detailed review of over 40 empirical studies concentrating on environmental and urban spatial management provided by Brown and Kyttä (2014) presents not only a quite complete state of the art, but also key issues and research priorities of GIS techniques for the future. Among the different elements mentioned by authors, five categories out of ten have overlaps with social and political science:

• spatial attributes measured in participatory mapping;

• integration of GIS data into planning decision support;

• understanding and increasing participation rates;

• improving participation;

• evaluating the effectiveness of GIS tools.

Basing on the evidence provided in this study, public participation and decision-making processes are the key issues to which attention is concentrated within the context of GIS techniques and spatial planning, as they are in essence complex and multifaceted problems, which cannot be treated as individual task (Simão et al., 2009). Regarding energy infrastructures, which have big visual effects on place where they are sited because of their size and scale, the use of GIS tools should help in improving the participation of stakeholders in decision-making process (Higgs et al., 2008): as Higgs and colleagues (2008) argue, “new visual techniques have real potential to incorporate public perceptions of landscape changes into a participatory decision-making process by permitting movement through the landscape”. GIS techniques are helpful not only in improving public participation in decision-making process, element which of course helps in reducing or limiting lacks of democracy in the process itself, but also they are useful in investigating issues like social acceptance, beliefs or values (Brown and Weber, 2012). GIS tools give possibility to understand public values, concerns and preferences, all elements which have to be taken into account in the decision-making process (Higgs et al., 2008). Scholars highlighted a broad set of values to be investigated, such as aesthetic, recreation, economic, wilderness, biological, heritage, learning, subsistence, therapeutic, life sustaining, spiritual, historic, future, cultural, marine and others (Brown and Weber, 2012; Brown and Kyttä, 2014), which are decisive for stakeholders in spatial prioritization and planning and affect their participation in decision-making process. Combining GIS methods with social and political approaches is especially needed not only in potential theoretical examples, but above all in case-studies which are applicable and representative in the real world (Higgs et al., 2008). What argued till this point only gives examples of the usefulness of GIS techniques (not only web-based) to investigate some social and political issues. Among these and in relation with GIS potentialities, scholars’ attention is arising also on issues like legitimacy, ownership structures, power, accountability, respect for rights, representation, equity and competence (Brown and Kyttä, 2014: 132; McCall, 2003). Even if there are actually no studies or examples of GIS employ dealing directly with such issues, they are mentioned in the literature as potential areas of research and confirm therefore overlaps and complementarity between social and political sciences and the GIS world. GIS techniques, with their technical basis concentrating on spatial planning and management, create a possibility of including different scientific approach in order to explain concrete phenomena. Among them, the integration of components derived from social and political science is highly relevant and opens the opportunity to develop interdisciplinary approaches, which can be used to tackle the management of energy infrastructure. Considering the relevance of processes of energy


modernization, which are taking place on global scale, such investigation will be highly required. Scholars discovered its usefulness, this finding evidence in the growing number of dedicated literature in recent years. At the same time, the simultaneous development of internet-based tools supports researchers in an interactive exploration of spatial information and creates potentiality to engage a big number of affected stakeholders (Elwood, 2011). Even if realism is strictly needed in using GIS tools with this aim, because they are not decisive in raising the public acceptance of infrastructure development and finding the consensus between stakeholders about the location (Higgs et al., 2008), the added value of integrating both approaches is incontestable and therefore also highly relevant in the framework of INSPIRE-Grid project.


3 WEB-GIS TOOL IN STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVEMENT

In the present chapter, some of the potentialities that the tools of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can provide are discussed, referring to their possible use in decision supporting processes for the involvement of the public and stakeholders. Moreover, their use is discussed especially when integrated into the web and thus made widely accessible and interactive. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are a fundamental tool for the study and assessment of spatial relationships and are commonly used in spatial planning and environmental impact assessment. GIS are used to acquire, process, analyse, store, and return in a graphical and alphanumeric format data related to a particular territory. A GIS processes spatial data (entities with spatial properties such as rivers, roads, buildings etc.), stored on spatial databases, and allows the user to understand spatial relationships and possible interactions among elements placed in a specific area; elements can be, for instance, the proposal of a new infrastructure, populated areas, important landmarks, land contours, existing infrastructures, and so on. The proper use of a GIS requires specialized software, specific skills, and dedicated human resources, which prevents the use of the tool for the generic public. In order to overcome these limits, a web-GIS can be used. A web-GIS is an application that enables the visualization of geographically referenced data through a web interface available online; in short, it can be defined as the presentation of the results of GIS elaborations through internet. Web-GIS is used to disseminate spatial information and the results of elaborations towards stakeholders and, in general, the interested public. It does not require any knowledge in geographical data analysis; a web browser and a working internet connection are all that is required and users are allowed to build their preferred visualisation and to access easily relevant information. For instance, the routes of the proposed overhead lines can be visualised and intersected with protected areas or the distance between lines and inhabited centres can be measured. Therefore, web-GIS can be an effective tool to be used to promote public engagement in the development of the grid, entering in support to participatory processes in different phases and with different possibilities of practical implementation and application. Referring to Rowe and Frewer (2005), participatory processes can be classified into three categories, according to the direction of the information flow between the host of the process and the public. They can be described as follows (see Deliverable D3.2 of INSPIRE-Grid project):

• public communication: here, information flows from the sponsor of the process toward concerned stakeholders or the public.

• public consultation: when stakeholders or the public are consulted, information flows toward the sponsor. In this case, there is no direct dialogue between the sponsor and the public.

• public participation: here, information is exchanged between the stakeholders and the sponsor in form of a dialogue.

Analogously, we can identify three different types of web-GIS:

• web –GIS supporting public communication: this is the simplest form of web-GIS. In first place it provides a geographical representation of the relevant features, for instance: the line route, protected areas, cultural and historic landmarks, urban areas, orography, land use, EMF, … This representation and the included basic tools (zoom, pan, search) allows the user to grasp immediately the possible spatial interferences (for instance the intersection between the lines and protected areas) and to produce his/her preferred views (for instance near home). Moreover this kind of web-GIS can make available to the user basic information, for instance how many inhabitants are present in a particular urban area or the


valuable species that are present in a protected area. It is possible to insert also some basic tool such as measurement of distance and area. The user can measure the distance between the HVOL and his/her home. Finally, the web-GIS can be used as an access point for other documents, such as educational web pages, informative sheets, and so on. In summary, for a generic citizen it is often hard to find the information of his/her interest in the Environmental Impact Assessment report; web-GIS can provide a complementary, customizable, and more convenient access point to data and information relevant to the project;

Figure 3.1: Main screen of the interactive web-GIS realized to allow the public access to the Wind

Atlas realized by RSE (http://atlanteeolico.rse-web.it)

• web –GIS supporting public consultation: in this case, the web-GIS can be used also for collecting comments on the project from the generic public. The added value of web-GIS is that the user can use a geographical interface to select the point of interest and to attach his/her comment. This can be useful, for instance, when the user wants to recommend the acknowledgment of a landmark or to point out an undetected critical situation. The system automatically detect the geographical coordinates and open a form with some required fields and a free text field. This information is then sent by e-mail to the project coordinator (or a delegated person) in order to process the recommendation (one example is reported in Figure 3.2). The aim is to improve the process of collecting comments from stakeholders and the general public;

• web –GIS supporting public participation: with this aim, the web-GIS can be used also to elicit and share public preferences and opinions about land characteristic, cultural or traditional aspects, elements with a specific social relevance, or even merely opinions from the local resident community. This way, the general public and the stakeholders are actively involved in defining the most prominent landmarks, the elements which characterize the territory or which are worthy to be protected and so on. For instance, it is possible to ask the website user to identify (using web-GIS functionalities, like point & click) the three outstanding points for different typologies and different protection levels, such as places to be fully protected or to be preserve unaltered; points of affection, important to preserve; places where mitigation measures are appropriate. Collecting and storing the preferences


expressed by the website users will allow the researchers to identify the most sensible points and to compute the score of the different alternatives routes according to their possible interference with these points of interest. The aim is to build a shared knowledge on a region that might be affected by overhead lines in order to better assess impacts of the different options and to provide customised maps that can be used by stakeholders to better represent their main concerns on a spatial basis. Furthermore, this could be in agreement with the principles stated in the European Landscape Convention (ELC), in which the landscape is defined as “an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and

interaction of natural and/or human factors. The term “landscape” is thus defined as a zone

or area as perceived by local people or visitors, whose visual features and character are the

result of the action of natural and/or cultural factors. Recognition is given to the fact that

landscapes evolve through time and are the result natural and human activities. Landscape

should be considered as a whole - natural and cultural components are taken together, not

separately”. This Convention applies to the entire territory of the EU and covers natural, rural, urban and peri-urban areas. It includes land, inland water and marine areas. It concerns landscapes that might be considered outstanding as well as every day or degraded landscapes. In order to implementation these principles in practice, a strong feedback from general public is needed and, as the physical support of the landscape is space, web-GIS is one of the most appropriate tool for this purpose.

Figure 3.2: Example of web-GIS user graphical interface. Three-dimensional view of the landscape

and visual interference of the wind farm planned from a point of interest selected by the

user (http://map.rse-web.it/parma)

To conclude and to give an idea of the practical implementation of such tools, it is appropriate to add that once the host of the process has chosen to involve the public trough a web-GIS and which type to use, the development of the web-based system requires the availability of information and geographical data concerning the elements that should be represented, and their characteristics (such as localisation of protected areas; land use; artistic and natural relevant points or, as regards the project assumptions, the performance of the various possible routes, the placement of infrastructure elements, and so on).


4 DISCUSSION OF THE POTENTIAL WEB-GIS USE IN INSPIRE-

GRID CASE STUDIES

In this chapter, a brief description of the case studies selected for the implementation of public engagement within the INSPIRE-Grid project is given. The aim is to underline the possible use of web-GIS tools in each case study, referring to their usefulness and effectiveness to promote stakeholders involvement in the participatory process.

4.1 Cergy-Persan

The first case study will focus on the Cergy-Persan project in France. The project consists in upgrading to 400 kV an existing 225 kV overhead line (20-km long), in addition to two existing 400 kV power lines, in the north-west part of the Ile-de-France region. The line upgrade will allow a better integration of renewable energy in an area characterized by both a high demand of electricity (20% of the French total demand in 2013) and a lack of local production. To that end, most of the existing pylons will be reused and upgraded – either heightened or strengthened – when necessary, in accordance with the technical requirements related to 400 kV. Schematically, the line crosses two distinct areas: a densely populated urban area – around the city of Cergy – and a regional nature park – the Vexin Français regional nature park. In such a context, the main siting issue consists in identifying a route that would enable the proper achievement of the project while contributing to the development of the urban area and avoiding or mitigating any possible negative externalities, particularly regarding the natural area. For this case, the stakeholder engagement has already been achieved both during the siting phase (need definition and spatial planning), thanks mainly to the voluntary public debate under the supervision of a participation guarantor1, and during the permitting phase, in the frame of the public inquiry2. As explained in Deliverables D6.2 of INSPIRE-Grid project, further actions for stakeholders’ engagement will be carried out testing the benefits of using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) at this end. In this frame, the outcome of an LCA could be used for directly communicate to the public the full environmental impacts and benefits of the project and to provide additional information to feed exchanges with stakeholders. On this basis, the implementation and use of a web-GIS interface for this case study appears to be little effective, mainly referring to the difficulty to localize and to spatially represent and visualize the global impacts defined through the application of the LCA method.

1 The guarantor (garant) is a neutral third party nominated by the National Commission of Public Debate, possibly on the demand of RTE. His role is to ensure that the rules of public participation – transparency, fair allocation of speaking time and argumentation – are fully respected during the participatory process. 2 Following the demand by RTE of a declaration of public utility, whose purpose is to make some future utility easements or propriety transfers legally possible in the case no amicable agreement is found with landowners, a (minimum) one-month public inquiry is opened to all citizens living in the local communities concerned by the projects, so that they could take position on the project and the environmental impact assessment. The public inquiry is managed by an investigating commissioner, who is appointed by the administrative court concerned by the project.


Figure 4.1: The electric ring around the Ile-de-France region

Figure 4.2: Route of the Cergy-Persan project

4.2 Bamble – Rød

The second case study regards a project already under construction between the Bamble and the Rød electrical sub-stations, in southern Norway. The project involves the construction of a 34-km 420 kV new overhead line, which aims to improve the security of supply in Southern Norway, to facilitate increased power exchanges and to facilitate the development of technologies based on

400 kV overhead line

200 kV overhead line


renewable energy sources. At the same time, an old 5-km power line will be taken down and rerouted in parallel with the Bamble-Rød line. Construction works are expected to be finished around summer 2015. The new line crosses a rural area. Stakeholders include local village communities, farmers and people who use the area for outdoor activities. Approximately 150 landowners are affected by the project and key issues of concern include benefits and compensation, electromagnetic fields, noise and the potential impact of the landscape. In addition there are approximately 30 NGOs and local interest groups involved in the project, concerned with environmental and tourism issues.

Figure 4.3: Route of the Bamble-Rød project

Even if also in this case the public participation period - in terms of collaboration - has closed, the use of web-GIS could be helpful in further phases of engagement to support the communication of additional information, especially those coming from the application of Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) methodologies for the project evaluation. In fact, although Bamble-Rød does not allow the implementation of a full MCA process, because of its advanced constructing stage; the aim is to collect all the data which are necessary to define the set of indicators and weights and are needed to conduct an MCA in TSOs’ projects, and to prepare in this way the implementation of a complete MCA in future projects. These research activities are expected to be carried out through interaction with the main stakeholders and in this sense the use of web-GIS can facilitate the communication


for example through the use of thematic maps, which can help in visualizing the different project alternatives and their interference with territorial elements.

4.3 Aurland – Sogndal

The Aurland-Sogndal project represents the third and last case study. It consists in the building of a new 420kV overhead transmission line between the Aurland hydropower station and the Sogndal electrical sub-station. This new line will replace an existing 300 kV power line between Aurland, Fardal and Sogndal, that will be decommissioned and removed at the end of the project. In addition, 6-7 km of another 300 kV power line between Fardal and Hove will be removed where the existing line will run parallel with the planned future 420 kV power line.

Figure 4.4: Route of the Aurland - Songdal project This upgrade is expected to improve the transmission capacity across Sognefjorden and to connect the 420 kV grid in Aurland to the new Ørskog-Sogndal power line, which is currently under construction. The Aurland-Sogndal section is currently considered the main bottleneck in the


regional grid. It will furthermore contribute to provide the necessary capacity to accompany the development of renewable energy production in the region. At the current time, the Aurland-Sogndal project is undergoing the permitting phase. Administrative authorizations are expected to be delivered around the end of 2015. As far as concerns the stakeholder and public engagement, this is the case in which the public participation to the decision-making process could be completely implemented. To perform it, some tools have already been identified, such as direct interviews and focus groups. In support to these delicate phase, an interactive dedicated web-GIS could be implemented for the public communication, consultation and participation: its functionalities could be used to present the results of the environmental assessment carried out by Statnett; to collect comments and suggestions through a geographic interface; to make explicit people’s preferences regarding particular points of interest or sites to be preserved and so on. Moreover, this tool could be helpful in the implementation of the MCA that will be conducted for this case study and in presenting its outcomes.


5 TECHNICAL REVIEW OF EXISTING WEB MAPPING

TECHNOLOGIES

Every day people use a lot of technologies, many of which are available on web and include a map service. Examples are the applications used to find a place or to plan the best itinerary for going there, to know in real time the traffic present along a specific path, to look at the weather forecast on a city or area. There are many technologies useful to present geographic data in different ways. A first big distinction among them should to be done on the basis of the programming environment in which they are developed, that can be open source or under a proprietary license. In the next paragraphs, a brief review of the main existing open-source developing environments is given. In addition to this, an example based on proprietary software is reported in paragraph 5.1.2.

5.1 Open-source web mapping platforms

The technologies here analyzed are all developed in open-source environment and characterized from the point of view of their structure and functionalities for data presentation and visualization. A web mapping client platform allows the visualization of data coming from several sources and could be integrated within web-GIS applications. Web-GIS users can directly interact with web mapping client services and then visualize data, make data interrogation and insert data, thanks to the GIS tools. As there is a wide variety of projects based on open-source software, the realization and configuration of web mapping client platform is quite well-known and feasible. The review here reported includes many web-GIS client that could be included in Open Geospatial Consortium’s (OGC) web services. 5.1.1 Web Mapping Clients

Web mapping client platforms consist of those parts of software (applications, viewers, libraries and frameworks, among others) that either provide or extend a web-based mapping component. They are useful to view and interact with maps from remote sources on the Internet. Some of the projects that are based on such a mapping component use pure client-side technology whereas the major part of them relies on server-side features and allows to perform advanced tasks, such as security, user and group administration, advanced printing capabilities, spatial analysis support and customization of graphic user interface, among others. The OGC promotes standards for the development of web mapping services, so that there exists a common reference framework to:

• access, display and download spatial data on the Internet (Web Map Service, Web Feature Service, Web Coverage Service);

• find them (Catalog Service for the Web);

• present them by means of different styles (Style Layer Descriptor);

• filter them (Filter encoding);

• store, convert and transform them (Geography Markup Language and Keyhole Markup Language)

• process them (Web Processing Service).


The Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) are the two mainly used services developed for web mapping projects; therefore, their availability on a web mapping client is very important and could be an element of comparison between different platforms. 5.1.2 Clients relationship

The figure here below shows the relationships among free and open-source web mapping client platforms.

Figure 5.1: Open source web mapping clients (source Carillo, 2012)

Web mapping platform components could be grouped by categories:

• libraries, which provide classes and functions to build applications at a higher level of programming;

• wrappers, which act as interface between the wrapped code and its caller;

• toolkits, used to make more modular and easily integrated a custom application;

• frameworks, that are reusable software templates or structures from which enabling and supporting key services can be selected, configured and integrated with application code;

• clients, these comprising viewers and ready-to-use web mapping applications.


As it is possible to see from the graph in Figure 5.1, many components are related with two main models: UMN MapServer and OpenLayers3. Web clients based on UMN MapServer are older and use the Application Programming Interface (API) called MapScript. In this case, the script is written in many languages: PHP, Python, Java, Perl and Ruby. A more recent web client generation use OpenLayers, in reason of its optimal web rendering performances and for the wide variety of data sources supported. Several companies contribute to OpenLayers development; projects like MapBuilder are very useful to accelerate its development. OpenLayers has become the reference library for creating web mapping applications. This library is also used by projects that have their own rendering components, in order to avoid duplicating efforts in a sector where there is a dominant and acknowledged application. The latest client generation is based on HTML5, which is enriched with significant improvements introduced for interaction with multimedia content and with vector, rather than through third-party, plugs-in.

5.2 Proprietary software: ArcGIS Online

ESRI, probably the first developer of geographical information systems, promotes the use of its platform ArcGIS Online4 for the development of web-GIS applications. ArcGIS Online is a cloud platform with ready-to-use base-maps, tools, templates, and datasets which make it easy to design and publish maps online. It is useful for creating and sharing maps, data and geographic content, with the opportunity to access a rich collection of geographical database with worldwide coverage. The platform is available on the web and can be used with smartphones and tablets. Simple to use, it does not require any installation and configuration and enable people to share maps on blogs, websites and social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), to add its own data, create “mash-up” integrating maps and information shared by other users, access the pop-up maps and other elements, including photos and links to web pages. The services are hosted into the ESRI Secure Cloud without need to transferring ownership and copyrights. Data can remain bounded within the organization or be made publicly available to other users. Through the ArcGIS Online platform, it is possible to develop a web-GIS application to answer the needs of data sharing and data analysis. The advanced tool WebApp Builder, implemented within ArcGIS Online, allows the creation, configuration and customization of the web-GIS application. This kind of application is natively optimized for the visualization on desktop and mobile devices: therefore, the layout adapts automatically to different screen sizes and easily dialogues with the interaction capabilities offered by the touch technology.

3 http://dev.openlayers.org/releases/OpenLayers-2.13.1/doc/apidocs/files/OpenLayers-js.html

4 https://www.arcgis.com/home/


6 DESCRIPTION OF THE WEB MAPPING TOOLS DEVELOPED

In the framework of INSPIRE-Grid case-studies analysis and on the basis of what has been possible to learn and theorise about the usefulness of web-GIS in promoting stakeholders engagement, two different prototypes has been developed to give a preliminary idea of the potentialities that could be implemented. As described in chapter 4, this kind of tools should be helpful in the two Norwegian case-studies, the French one having already overcome the participatory phase. It has been decided to apply two different web mapping technologies, one for each case-study. As already mentioned in chapter 4, the platform developed for the Bamble – Rød case-study could be mainly useful to spread and visualize geographic information, while in the Aurland – Sogndal case-study public participation is going to be completely implemented and so the proposed tool tries to answer the need of involving the population in the decision process.

6.1 The web-GIS for Aurland – Sogndal case-study

The web-GIS site dedicated to this case study has been implemented through the use of different tools, and specifically OpenLayers, GeoExt5, Heron6 and using the language PHP, which results particularly useful for queries call to the database from the server-side. The selection of the tools above mentioned responds to the following criteria and needs:

• the JavaScript language is well-known and flexible and it allows developers to realize different types of libraries, at different levels of complexity;

• the libraries that way realized enable the integration of the mapping platform Google and OpenStreetMap, which is very important to have cartography always updated;

• the graphical user interface that it is possible to realize are modern and customizable;

• the installation of special plug-in is not requested;

• there is a good compatibility with different browsers;

• there is the possibility for further tools implementation.

5 http://geoext.org/lib/index.html

6 http://heron-mc.org/index.html


Figure 6.1: Aurland – Sogndal web-GIS - the starting page

The starting page of Aurland – Sogndal site is available at http://map.rse-web.it/inspire. As it can be seen in Figure 6.1, the web page shows two alternatives of the power line track, the blue one and the pink one. In the left part of the monitor the Layers sheet, the Document download sheet and the Relevant website link sheet can be accessed. In the Layer sheet, it is possible to manage the visualization of the different layers uploaded:

• the base layer, that can be visualized selecting one of the possible options as OpenStreetMap, Google Satellite, Google Terrain and Google streets;

• the administrative boundary layer, related in this case to the municipal boundaries;

• the “points of protection” layer, where people suggestions and editing points are highlighted (see the details below);

• the “power lines” layer, where the “LL_oversiktskart” and “UP_alternativer” tracks are displayed.

At the bottom right of the web page, a “navigation map” bottom is provided, to facilitate the navigation on the map and to quickly locate or go back to the study area. In the upper part of the page many tools can be accessed; starting from the left, it is possible to find:

• the scale map;

• a tool useful to visualize the power line in Google Earth 3D environment;

• a tool for searching information within the “people suggestion” layer;

• an info button for geospatial interrogations (which is however not active on the base layer);

• a pan button;

• a “zoom more” button;

• a “zoom less” button;

• a “zoom extension” button, to zoom directly to the whole extension of the case-study area;

• a “zoom previous” button;

• a “zoom next” button;

• a tool for measuring the length of present objects;

• a tool for measuring areas;


• the function which make possible to change language;

• an help tool which is useful to explore the others main available tools;

• an editing tool;

• a “refresh view” button, to view the modifications after editing;

• a “register/unregister” tool.

Figure 6.2: Aurland – Sogndal web-GIS - the "People suggestion" layer

Some of these tools are specifically created for enabling people to insert their own opinions on the alternative routes or other elements of interest. The editing tool, explicitly developed, allows every registered user to enter information page related to the selected category. All the inserted data are stored in the database and made visible to everybody through the “people suggestion” layer (see Figure 6.2). Everyone can see all the points added, but not the name of the user who inserted them. The points of interest which it is possible to add are classified into three types and they could represent, for instance:

• type 1 - points which need a high priority of protection, represented here with a red dot;

• type 2 - points which need protection, represented here with a green dot;

• type 3 - points where the original landscape is heavily impacted and need some form of remediation, represented here with an orange triangle.

When a new user accesses the web site for the first time, the editing tool is not active; to edit data, the user has to fill the information requested in the registration page, to which the “register/unregister” button redirects. The system will then send by e-mail to the specified address the instructions and the connection path that have to be followed to end the registration (see Figure 6.3).


Figure 6.3: Registration page

After these operations, the user is logged-in and interact with the different drawing tools: three buttons activate the functions which allow to “draw feature”, to “modify feature” and to “delete feature”, as shown in Figure 6.4. Each user is allowed to insert a maximum of three points for each typology of the three listed above. When a new point is drawn, the user has to provide the related requested information in a specific box (see Figure 6.4Figure 6.5): the typology can be selected from a drop-down menu, in which is highlighted also the number of residual points to be eventually inserted; the field “Name” can contain a string text as well as the “Description” field.

Figure 6.4: Drawing tool If the user needs to move the added point or to change one of the point’s textual attribute, this can be done by using the “modify feature” button. Points can be also deleted, while the possibility to


change the point attribute “Type” is not provided. Each operation can be confirmed or deleted. If an operation is deleted, it should be recommended to refresh the map visualization with the dedicated button. Of course, the user can manage only its own points.

Figure 6.5: Pop-up window for inserting point information

An option for deleting the registration data has been provided, with the aim to avoid that if a user remains logged, then any other user with access to its personal computer could modify or manage the points entered by the user itself. This operation of course does not erase the data previously entered. To connect again, the user can simply re-activate the link received in the e-mail sent by the system or re-register by entering the same e-mail address of the first access. Finally, a “search” tool is provided for the search of points within the so-called “people suggestion” layer; the method for searching is based on two attributes, whose respective fields have to be filled by the user with a portion of text used as “point name” or a portion of text used as “point description” (see Figure 6.6).


Figure 6.6: Search tool

6.2 The web-GIS for the Bamble – Rød case-study

The web site dedicated to the Bamble – Rød case-study is available at http://rse.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html and has been realized with ArcGIS Online technology.

Figure 6.7: Bamble – Rød web page

This web-GIS tool (see Figure 6.7) enables to map, share and make available on-line some of the information related to the case-study descripted at paragraph 4.2. In the upper-right part of the web page a tool menu is displayed (see Figure 6.8), showing and giving access to the following elements:

• a legend;

• a layer list;

• a tool for measuring areas or length;


• a print tool;

• an information tool with technical details;

• base maps;

• a “zoom” tool which redirect to the extension of the study area.

Figure 6.8: Tool menu

The implementation and configuration of this GIS tool required a phase for row data elaboration and graphical personalization and the definition of a customized interface. The management of cartographic and descriptive raw data has been carried out starting from the uploading in the ArcGIS Online cloud area of the available cartographic shape-files; then, automatically, the required “Feature Layer” has been created for the composition of thematic map and different cartographic views which it is possible to realize through the web-GIS application. The symbols associated to each layer have been modified and selected with the aim of make the more direct and clear the understanding of the information contained in the layer itself for the web-GIS users. Some graphic personalization’s improvements have also been performed, such as the INSPIRE-Grid logo position and the selection of the banner color. The whole web-GIS is displayed with the default language settings of the browser.


Figure 6.9: Bamble – Rød web-GIS - Cartographic base-map, info table and info window

The different types of cartographic base-maps are provided from the cloud service. To this end, it has to be underlined that the technology selected for the implementation of the web-GIS provides a significant amount of high quality cartography with worldwide coverage (World Topographic Map, World Imagery). In the middle down of the created web page there is a button that allows the visualization of the layer’s attribute table, as displayed in Figure 6.9; this table contains all data related to the visualized layer. Selecting a single layer feature, a pop-up window appears, with all the information available for that specific feature. This information could be in form of text, web site link or multimedia elements.


7 CONCLUSION

Web-GIS has proven to be an effective tool to disseminate the results of spatial analysis to the general public and this can result in an enhanced communication of the different possible spatial alternatives of the lines under planning and both the negative impacts and benefits related to each alternative solution. But this approach is not limited to decision makers but results to be particularly appropriate also to communicate the problem, its spatial definition and its possible alternatives; to involve the stakeholders in the decisional process; to understand where the main conflicts lay and to find the best solution. This is the reason why the effective publication of the spatial relationships is so important, in order to make available to the general public basic information about the impact of the proposed infrastructures on the interested land and allow them to develop an own assessment. In this report the possible relevance of web-GIS tool for stakeholder engagement is discussed, referring to their possible use in the different kind of participatory processes (communication, consultation and participation). Moreover a presentation is given of the key findings of using GIS methods not only in public participation and decision-making processes, but also within the fields of social and political sciences in general. After a brief review of the possible software platforms available for the development of the tools, two options have been selected. The first one, OpenLayer, is an open-source platform and is more complex to be use; it requires many hours to be realized but at the end the user can customize its application in order to address specific requirements. For instance, in the web-GIS site realized for Aurland – Sogndal case-study, a functionality has been provided to enable the user to insert directly on the map some specific information, such as landmarks and points of interest. The second platform is based on the proprietary software ArcGIS Online and could be useful to present in an efficient way a realized project; it is very fast to realize and very user friendly, but has limited personalization and customization capabilities.


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Web references:

https://www.arcgis.com/home/

http://dev.openlayers.org/releases/OpenLayers-2.13.1/doc/apidocs/files/OpenLayers-js.html

http://geoext.org/lib/index.html

http://heron-mc.org/index.html

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