Applying internet based 3D visualisation and priority games in public consultation

The County of Northern Jutland had just finalised a public consultation concerning a new connection across Limfjorden, which separates the northernmost part of Jutland, called Vendsyssel, from the mainland of Jutland. The County administration was quite aware of the fact the decision concerning the new Limfjorden connection was very sensitive. Many people have already taken their decision without detailed knowledge about the alternatives. All descriptions and assessments of the project we published on the Internet. The aim was to give all the citizens the best possible background for being involved in the decision-making process. The current paper demonstrates how web-based interactive tools can support the participation of the citizens. The use of 3D geo-visualisation / VR makes it easier to represent spatial information in a way that is more similar to how people observe and perceive them in the real world, minimising the gap between observing and perceiving the real world and a modelled world, and certainly this could facilitate the citizen's role in participatory planning processes. This is confirmed by a questionnaire among the active citizens, which showed that about half of the respondents had tried the 3D visualisation (flight simulator) of the various alternatives. One characteristic of interactive participatory planning is feedback and learning, and therefore the County decided to develop a priority game to support the learning process. However, according to the survey, the Priority game had not so much appeal among the public, because only very few respondents had tried the Priority game, and only two of these found it useful in their own decision-making process.