Interactive multimedia planning support: Moving from stand-alone systems to the World Wide Web

In city planning contexts, hypermedia systems have been demonstrated to be engaging tools that make complex information understandable to those who are not technically sophisticated. This is accomplished through the use of multimedia interfaces that use images, motion, and sound as representational aids. Hypermedia also affords associative linking which allows one to organize and browse related information in a manner similar to encyclopedic cross-referencing. Many of the early applications of these systems have been hampered by computing platform dependence and an inability to form associative links with remotely accessible information. The issue of connectivity with remotely accessible information has recently been addressed through the maturation of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). This makes it possible for the globally networked community to access this information in an associative manner. In this paper I will reflect on the relevance of the WWW to multimedia-based collaborative planning systems (CPS), drawing upon two examples from the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington, DC. Some of the initial benefits and drawbacks of the distributed approach to geographic hypermedia systems will be reviewed.