College of Design-News Releases

Christopher Seeger, assistant professor of landscape architecture and ISU Extension landscape architect, received the 2008 Award of Excellence from the Iowa Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and a Merit Award in Communication from the ASLA Central States Conference in April. The awards recognize his development of an interactive online geospatial tool used by a Seattle design firm to collect public input at a series of charrettes focusing on infrastructure and design plans for the city of Lake Forest Park, Wash.

AMES, Iowa--An Iowa State University landscape architecture professor has been honored for development of a new method for two-way communication of geospatial planning and design information to a broad audience.

Christopher Seeger, assistant professor of landscape architecture and ISU Extension landscape architect, received the 2008 Award of Excellence from the Iowa Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and a Merit Award in Communication from the ASLA Central States Conference in April.

The awards recognize Seeger's role in developing a Participatory Online Geospatial Charrette Tool for Jones and Jones Architects and Landscape Architects of Seattle for use in the Lake Forest Park Green Infrastructure Plan. Seeger developed the tool through his design firm, LandViz-Media LLC.

Seeger used open-source technology and Google Maps to create spatial interfaces that allowed the public to provide input on site inventory and infrastructure plans for the city of Lake Forest Park, Wash., over a series of four "charrettes," or intensive, collaborative sessions in which a group of designers works with city officials, developers and residents to draft solutions to design problems.

The online tool "extends the charrette process and makes it more accessible to a wider audience," Seeger said, giving voice to many people who otherwise may not have participated in the process, allowing for more detailed input and helping the design firm manage large amounts of data in a concise, digital format.

Seeger’s use of Google Maps for the Lake Forest Park project improved upon an existing system for collecting and processing charrette data and importing it into geographic information systems (GIS) software. "Changing the front-end interface to something the public had familiarity with (Google Maps) made it very comfortable and useful," he said. "It could also work with Yahoo Maps or Virtual Earth."

For over a decade, Seeger has been working to develop applications to increase public participation and interaction in site planning and design. He is using his experience working with Jones and Jones on the Lake Forest Park project to develop similar participatory data collection processes for projects he is involved with through ISU Extension, including the Safe Routes to School program and Iowa's Living Roadways Community Visioning Program, both funded by the Iowa Department of Transportation; the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; and a long-term plan for the Wright County Fair.

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