The good news is that new and engaging ways to gather input and facilitate conversations appear on the market or open-source software sites nearly every day. Among the most promising are tools that combine the latest in mapping and e-participation technology. Interactive maps, such as those created using the open source software worldKit, allow users to post comments that are linked to specific locations. worldKit is being used for everything from mapping the location of website visitors to pinpointing earthquake locations in tsunami zones. In a planning context, interactive maps allow residents to place comments directly on a map of a current plan, and to comment for as long as the community leaves the site open. Each comment is linked to the location that the resident chooses, and other residents can respond to the initial postings and develop a dialogue.

Applications and variations of this mapping technology are extensive. Map users can upload photographs and video as well adding text comments. The Organic City, an online storytelling project focusing on downtown Oakland, CA, provides visitors with a chance to read stories and watch videos that focus on specific locations. Filters allow users to find all stories with specific subjects or by particular authors. Text and audio clips can be downloaded to a phone, iPod or laptop and used with GPS technology to access the stories in the actual locations described. Other projects record sounds and audio clips taken at various locations, allow users to post their own stories and videos and add digital drawings of their houses or other structures, or map out routes to places they’d like to visit.

The Foundation used online mapping tools extensively in the Durango Comprehensive Plan update process this fall, and the community continues to utilize them today. Visitors to the website can "fly through" the current Preferred Development Scenario using Google Earth (a video on the site provides instructions). Users can then provide comments directly on an interactive map, whether or not they are directly related to new zoning districts or changes to regulations; the clustering of comments on the map alerts the Planning Department to specific areas and aspects of the Preferred Development Scenario needing attention. Since the launch of the interactive map in October, approximately 60 comments have been gathered via the mapping tool. Because the comments are georeferenced, they can also be linked to other geographic data for analysis, such as 3-D models and scenario planning maps.

The days of taking pen in hand and writing all over a map are not gone—far from it. Yet planners now have the opportunity to gather commentary through a wide range of media in a variety of contexts, which is likely to increase both the quality and quantity of public participation. For example, electronic maps were used live in the Durango town meetings to collect comments while online participants simultaneously added their own comments to the mix. Examples such as this illustrate that the emergence of interactive maps linked with commentary, storytelling, and multimedia features is ushering in a new capacity for public participation, which will undoubtedly continue to evolve and improve.