## 5 Examples of Crowdsourcing Applications in Spatial Planning
Such kinds of information are marked with the support of a cartographic internet-based platform, and then, they are imported into a decision support system for national park planning in order to be further analyzed. In some cases, indexes were determined expressing the quality of the variables per park land unit, as well as index thresholds, which were further elaborated by statistical analysis. The main objectives of the project focus on the collection of information from the public (experiences, environmental effects, comments about the offered facilities and services) and the exploitation of this information for redesigning and upgrading the park region in order to cope with climate change, fire risk and grazing. Enforcing alternative tourism activities is also an important objective of the study [15]. The data were collected and further analyzed with the adoption of GIS and web-GIS technology. A PPGIS website was created through which respondents could interact with the map of the park by placing markers that correspond to several variables of the park and also by optionally annotating each marker location with text [15]. Thus, data and knowledge from the public were collected using an interactive spatial component (web map) and also an online questionnaire. In parallel, the views of the public were compared to the views of the park staff. The system (PPGIS Mapping for National Park Planning) supports the following operations: inputting data collection from the visitors and the public, analyses carried out by the planners and managers of the park (output) and the generation of a report that contains a descriptive analysis, an inferential and managerial analysis, maps of the density/hot spots of the park (created with ArcGIS software), radar charting and tables [15]. The whole process is integrated through the following steps:  
* Collection of data for park variables;
* Development of a webpage containing the map of the park;
* Representation of each variable as a marker that the user can place onto the map (drag and drop); each marker can be accompanied by a user's comment;
* Completion of a questionnaire by the user concerning personal information and issues related to the park;
* Promotion of the system via e-mails. The collected data are further analyzed, and useful information is produced that may support the decision making process. Based on these data, the setting of priorities for the regions and services where scarce managerial resources should be allocated is carried out. The quality thresholds are specified and the experiences/environmental effects and the level of the offered services presented, and also, proposals for redesigning and upgrading the park for management are described [15]. Another interesting application was developed at the University of Delft, with the support of several computing tools known as \"obstacle avoidance\" tools. The goal of the application is the computation of a network of alternative \"shortest paths\" in a city, in case of an emergency state, such as an earthquake, where obstacles existing on the road network block the traffic and hamper the access of the rescue services in several parts of the city. The tools adopted for the development of this application are Google Maps and the respective application, Directions Service (Google servers), for searching the shortest route by exploiting the A* algorithm. The possible obstacles, existing on the road network, are represented as polygons on the map through a process of gaining feedback from the crowd (the users of the infrastructure), who send the respective information by using their smartphones, personals computers, _etc._ The whole concept of the application is based on the process of collection, analysis, dispatch and diffusion of spatial data to the users and the rescue services. In this context, a platform was created that enables the receipt of \"crowdsourced\" information concerning the infrastructure condition and the existing obstacles.