A Finnish group of researchers currently based at San Diego State University is launching a study in Pacific Beach with a unique online map-based survey to collect information about how people use the PB area in their daily life, what they value in particular and what they would like to see improved. Beautiful PB Initiative Project organizers invited the Finnish team to assist with the survey. The so-called softGIS-method has been developed in Aalto University, Finland, to collect and analyze data collected from the residents. It has become an established part of Finnish participatory planning, according to the Finnish scholars. It has also been used in Australia and Japan, but Pacific Beach is the group’s first study in the U.S. The scholar group said it does not have a particular research grant but it has an exchange period at SDSU and is conducting the survey for free. The Finnish scholars said the survey is very comprehensive and takes quite a long time to complete, but survey participants can skip some sections if they wish. No personal information is collected and the data will always be represented in a way that anonymity is not endangered. The Finnish scholars stress they maintain very high standards in the collection of data for such surveys. To participate in the survey, visit www.softgis.fi/pacificbeach.