Geographical visualization: A participatory planning support tool for imagining landscape futures

The geographical visualization of urban and regional landscapes is a powerful technique for engaging actors involved in decision-making processes. Tools developed can empower professional and citizen alike to make better-informed decisions. The paper reports on collaborative research being undertaken to develop and apply a range of 3D geographical visualization products to enhance both planning and scientific communication processes. In this paper we discuss some developments and applications of 3D geographical visualization tools and work being undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of such tools for solving spatial planning problems. The paper concludes by discussing the lessons learnt in undertaking a cross-disciplinary approach to developing and applying landscape visualization tools and offers some future research directions with respect to technical specifications and the usefulness of geographical visualization as a participatory planning support tool.