A machine learning application to Google Maps Reviews as a participatory planning tool

Public participation is vital to achieving successful plan outcomes, whereas meaningful participation requires at least informing and consulting the public. However, collecting frequent feedback from the public is a labour-intensive process. Information technologies like Google Maps Reviews offer to collect extensive public inputs by allowing users to share their feedback and ratings about services. Machine learning methods are ideal for analyzing these reviews to understand users' experiences. This study proposes a machine learning application using Google Maps Reviews to examine feedback on the selected parks in Istanbul, Türkiye. Reviews provide insights into not only park features but also its social structure. The introduced method supports surveys and interview methods preferred by planners.