2011

1005 Cypress Street Vancouver, BC V6J 3K6 email: info@placespeak.com tel: 778.999.7677

About PlaceSpeak
PlaceSpeak is a product developed to address a significant gap in the consultation software industry: the lack of location-aware tools that can connect people and issues to place. We connect peoples online identities with their residential addresses so that they can voice their opinions in a variety of online forums. This provides proponents like you with the confidence that they are receiving feedback from the right places. Current methodologies in the consultation industry are costly to implement and return little value relative to cost. Public meetings are often hijacked by narrow-focus interest groups and phone/mail surveys are becoming less effective as fewer and fewer people are willing to participate. PlaceSpeak addresses a significant disconnect in the community consultation arena in three ways: 1. By connecting users digital identity to the real world through an authentication process that verifies their residential addresses. 2. Using the geo-verification process to transform the way people in neighbourhoods interact with location-based issues by amplifying conversations relative to location. 3. Advancing the public consultation process by creating an online platform that enables, and encourages inclusive, informed participation, policy development and decision-making.

How It Works

Contact the PlaceSpeak team to get started!

info@placespeak.com or 778.999.7677

Why Choose PlaceSpeak?

PlaceSpeak provides better tools for public online communication and consultation than existing products and services. Competing online consultation platforms do not provide any ability to link people to place. As a result, proponents who seek public participation on location-based issues cannot verify the identity of participants. More importantly they cannot assess if these particpants are representative of the neighbourhoods where the topic has the most relevance.

Who Should Use PlaceSpeak?

PlaceSpeak is targeted at four key groups that currently use conventional consultation methods: 1. Local governments this includes cities, towns, villages, regional districts, unincorporated areas and tribal councils and the service areas within those organizations (e.g. engineering, planning, education, health and community services, emergency operations, police, fire). 2. Public and regulated agencies this includes (but is not limited to) agencies, federal and provincial government ministries and crown corporations, public/private partnerships with responsibilities in the public transit, universities and colleges, emergency services, health, transportation, utility, housing, and insurance sectors. 3. Private sector firms development corporations and other professional members of the real estate sector involved in land use decisions that require public consultation, resource sector and infrastructure management. 4. Location-based organizations private/public entities including rate-payer groups and community-based organizations .

Distribution and Reach

PlaceSpeak focuses on residents geographic locations. This means that whatever form your consultation takeswhether its polls and surveys or discussion forums is based on place. This allows you to target specific locationsa block, a neighbourhood, a city or regionso you know you are talking to residents in relevant areas. As a result, PlaceSpeak can be used for numerous location-based consultations in order to educate, inform, gather feedback and seek authenticated support for your projects

PlaceSpeaks permanent bank of geo-verified residents allows you to quickly and easily connect directly with residents who are interested in participating in community discussions. This includes people who do not attend traditional open houses or public meetingsespecially younger residents. We have residential users throughout the Lower Mainland. Currently they are clustered in central Vancouver, but our database is growing every day. The PlaceSpeak team will assist with targeted resident outreach to ensure that we are reaching the residents you need to hear from.

Your Goals, Our Tools

You Want
Location-based Feedback

PlaceSpeak Provides
PlaceSpeak utilizes Google Maps to geo-locate residents. This approach allows you analyze their input from a geographic perspective. With PlaceSpeak, you can inform residents about your topic in a variety of ways, gather and compile feedback and ideas, and engage residents in discussions to build support for you projects all while maintaining full control over all communications. Through PlaceSpeak you can gain the trust of the community by providing an online space that allows more people to learn about your project and have their say. This allows you to explain your project and clear up any misinformation or misunderstandings. Communicating and engaging online, with a platform like PlaceSpeak allows you to reach a greater number of individuals using less resources. PlaceSpeaks permanent bank of geo-verified residents allows you to quickly and easily connect directly with who are interested in participating in local community issues, including people who do not attend traditional open houses or public meetings. PlaceSpeak makes it easy to manage and facilitate all interactions with residents. The PlaceSpeak platform is based on proven, out-of-the-box features that makes it easy to present your content. This eliminates the need to spend a lot of time and money creating a custom website for your project. PlaceSpeak incorporates analytical tools and reports to help you make sense of your communitys feedback. We also offer in-depth reporting and analysis service.

More Productive Public Involvement

More Community Buy-in

Cost Effective Consultations

To Reach the Right People

Ease of Use

Analysis and Reporting

PlaceSpeak Process
Map Using Google Maps overlap, you can outline the geographic area(s) of your target residents. Multiple areas can be created for various resident levels (block, neighbourhood, community, city, region, etc.). Residents will automatically be identified as being members of the areas. Description Includes information relevant to your topic. This could be text, images, links to other websites and uploaded documents (.doc .pdf .ppt .xls .mp3 .wma). There is a maximum size of 2MB per file (up to 10 MB total). Discussion This is only visible to residents who connect to your topic. It provides a forum for you to engage directly in discussions with residents and seek qualitative feedback. Events Add any key date or events for your consultation. Dates could include milestones, survey deadlines, public hearings and city council meetings. Gallery Upload photographs, maps, or images related to your topic. PlaceSpeak accepts a wide array of image types (.gif .png .jpg .tif .bmp). There is a maximum size of 2MB per image (up to 10 MB total). You can also embed YouTube videos directly into the page. Surveys Ask the questions of residents. PlaceSpeak uses LimeSurvey to conduct polls and surveys. You can find out more at www.limesurvey.org.