Use of Qualitative Methods to Examine GIS Planning and Management in the Context of E-Governance

Abstract

Critical GIS recognizes that GIS technology is socially constructed and emphasizes the key role of various socio-political and institutional contexts in shaping GIS knowledge production. This article focusses on the use of GIS in the context of e-governance in India. In recent years the massive proliferation of ICTs in India has led to a transformation from traditional governance to e – governance. Several planning projects have been launched under the rubric of e-governance and have witnessed novel use of various information technologies, GIS being one of them. The theoretical framework used in this study draws from the Critical GIS body of literature that calls for taking a holistic approach to GIS examination by coupling the internal contexts with the external contextual environment shaping an organization's GIS planning and management. In order to achieve this goal qualitative methods of inquiry are adopted to investigate a municipal e-governance project launched by the Government of Karnataka to address issues of urban development using GIS.