Site Visits on the Net
(This article by Peter Thorpe, was published in the weekly magazine
'Planning' on 17 October 1997, and also on the Royal
Town Planning Institute's Web Site. It is reproduced here with the
kind permission of the RTPI.)
We have now held two 'Internet for Planners' Seminars in the
Cross Conference Series, and there is still time to book on the next seminars
arranged for 14 October 1997 in Edinburgh, and for 12 November 1997 in
Cardiff (call Vicki Pike at Planning and Environmental Training on 0171
636 9107). In this second 'Site Visits', I thought that it would be appropriate
to review some of the themes and concerns emerging from the seminars, in
addition to introducing you to some more internet sites of topical interest.
The recurring questions from the lively audiences who have attended
the seminars so far, probably echo the predominant concerns of Planners
country-wide:
- what are Planning Organisations doing on the internet, what are the
real business benefits, and what are the pitfalls to beware
of?
- what relevant information for Planners is on the internet and
how do you find it without wasting a lot of time?
- how do you keep your organisation's data secure in the face
of increasing external access?
- how do you, and your organisation, get started?
The key messages from the various contributions are:
- the internet is in effect a shop window through which you can view
a wealth of examples of sites, good and bad, in order to develop your thoughts
on what might work best for your own organisation - you don't have to go
on a course before you can do anything!
- the best way to get started is to begin the learning process by jumping
in with both feet, get wet by doing some surfing, and try out a small pilot
site on an experimental basis to be viewed by a restricted and critical
audience.
- to successfully design your internet site, you require above all a
clear business aim, together with a blend of design and modest technical
skills, commitment from the top and plenty of feedback (more on 'security'
in future articles).
- finding things on the net can be made easier by getting into the habit
of organising your 'bookmarks', by using 'search engines' which are capable
of handling a number of key words to refine your search, and by making
full use of sites which hold 'directories' for specific topics (more on
this below and in future Site Visits).
These messages were emphasised at the University of Central England
on 4 September 1997 by our three speakers - Lachlan Robertson (North Wiltshire
District Council), Laurence Russell (Surrey County Council) and Rowena
Rouse (Oxford Brookes, University). Sites which were used as examples at
the seminar and are well worth a look are:
- Surrey County Council Planning Department's pages on the County
Council site (http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/planning/);
- The RUDI (Resource for Urban Design Information) Project
at Oxford Brookes University which is developing into a major resource
which will streamline your access to an abundance of sites relating to
urban design (http://rudi.herts.ac.uk/);
- other examples of good site design which demonstrate
the power of the technology:
Peter Thorpe is an independent IT Consultant and member
of the RTPI's IT and GIS Panel. He may be contacted by E-mail at p@ptcon.co.uk
or through http://www.planweb.co.uk/
if you want to draw his attention to good examples of internet sites for
review in future articles, or to let him know of any topics, issues or
concerns which you would like to see covered.
Know of anything new this month of interest to Planners?
PlanWeb is designed by Town Planners for Town Planners
and the Land and Property Professions. Our site is experimental so please
send us feed-back on what you think, together with any items of Internet
News, interesting sites, or other topics which you would like to see included.
If you've know of anything new this month which is of interest to Planners,
then please let us know so that we can mention it. E-mail
to Peter Thorpe at pthorpe@compuserve.com
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