Participatory approaches to geographic information systems (GIS) aim to improve program success rates and facilitate community control over data in environmental management and community development programs. But some argue that GIS is ill-suited for participatory applications because of its technical nature and reliance on experts to process publicly sourced data (Chambers in Electron J Inf Syst Dev Ctries 25:1–11, 2006; Dunn in Prog Hum Geogr 31(5):616–637, 2007; Radil and Anderson in Prog Hum Geogr 43(2):195–213, 2018). Yet, little attention has been paid to the outsized role of PGIS program coordinators in shaping relationships between experts and participants and determining how GIS technologies are employed. This study investigates the experiences of PGIS program coordinators and examines how they understand the processes and dynamics associated with participatory approaches, and how those understandings influence the ways in which participation is operationalized across different programs. This investigation highlights key challenges experienced by program coordinators and points to opportunities for intervention into the ways in which programs are designed and administered.

地理信息系统 (GIS) 的参与式方法旨在提高项目成功率并促进社区对环境管理和社区发展项目中数据的控制。但有些人认为 GIS 不适合参与式应用程序，因为它的技术性质和对专家处理公开来源数据的依赖（Chambers in Electron J Inf Syst Dev Ctries 25:1–11, 2006；Dunn in Prog Hum Geogr 31（ 5):616–637, 2007；Radil 和 Anderson 在 Prog Hum Geogr 43(2):195–213, 2018)。然而，很少有人注意到 PGIS 项目协调员在塑造专家和参与者之间的关系以及确定如何使用 GIS 技术方面的巨大作用。本研究调查了 PGIS 项目协调员的经验，并研究了他们如何理解与参与式方法相关的过程和动态，以及这些理解如何影响参与在不同项目中的运作方式。这项调查突出了项目协调员所经历的主要挑战，并指出了干预项目设计和管理方式的机会。