Development of Social Media GIS for Information Exchange between Regions

This study aims to develop a social media GIS (Geographic Information Systems) specially tailored to information exchange between regions. The conclusions of this study are summarized in the following three points.(1) Social media GIS is a geographic information system which integratesWeb-GIS, SNS and Twitter into a single system. A social media GIS was conducted for the collection of regional information in the eastern part of Yamanashi Prefecture. The social media GIS uses a design which displays its usefulness in multi-directional information transmission and in easing the limitations of space, time and continuity, making it possible to redesign systems in accordance with target cases.(2) During the operation of the social media GIS for about two months, most of the users were in their20s. Users exchanged regional information using the comment and button functions.(3) The system was evaluated based on the results of a questionnaire to users and an access analysis oflog data during operationin order to identify measures for improvement of the system. Because of users' high evaluations of its original functions, the overall operability of the system was highly evaluated. Most of the contributed information was only known to local residents, and it was evident that the system fulfilled its intended role.