Collecting Comments on a PDF Planning Document on the Web?

How do you collect public comments on a web-based PDF planning document? It should be simple. But it isn't.

3 minute read

June 2, 2015, 2:00 PM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


Public Meeting

David Jackmanson / Flickr

When Lee Einsweiler and Colin Scarff at Code Studio (Austin, Texas) completed a draft of the Zoning Code Evaluation Report for the city of Los Angeles' massive zoning code rewrite project, they ran into the same problem they've encountered dozens of times across the country.

It's a problem that planners run into every time we produce a draft document that requires public feedback.

How do you collect public comments on a web-based PDF planning document? It should be simple. But it isn't.

Usually, we publish the PDF on the web and invite residents to email in their comments. This is a messy and decidedly inelegant solution. Nobody likes to download and read a PDF, and when the comments come in, it's hard to track and match them up with the text in the document.

Erick Lopez is a tech-savvy city planner in the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, tasked with ensuring that the city's new zoning code is optimized for the web. He believed this was a solvable problem, and charged the team with coming up with a thoughtful solution that the city could use to collect feedback on the myriad of documents that would be produced through the five-year, $5 million zoning code rewrite project.

Erick was right. Code-named "MarkUp," the result is a very simple web interface that displays a PDF document by chapter, allowing visitors to "click" on any line in the document to simply add a comment.

Visitors can see the comments left by others and respond to their comments. To leave a comment, visitors login or use their Facebook or LinkedIn account.

Screenshot of MarkUp on the re:code Los Angeles website

Image 1: Screenshot of MarkUp on the recode.la website, with comments placed on top of the PDF.

The challenge arising from people who are argumentative or leave inappropriate comments was solved with the simplest possible use of crowdsourcing: If enough visitors mark a comment as abusive, the comment is unpublished until it can be reviewed by a staff member.

Lee and Colin recognized the opportunity to design a version of the report that would combine the original PDF with all the public comments. This enabled 316 comments received by the team to be automatically converted into a unified document that could be viewed alongside the text.

Screenshot of interface staff access to export comments embedded in the PDF.

Image 2: Staff access a web-based interface which enables exporting of PDF documents with comments alongside the text to which it refers.

Based on the success of MarkUp to collect feedback on the PDF, the Planning Department and Urban Insight soon received calls from several other cities trying to solve similar problems. Based on these requests, Urban Insight has rewritten the system into a cloud-based project called OpenComment, https://www.opencomment.us.

By using the power of the cloud and open source software, cities, counties, and other organizations now have a relatively affordable, securely-hosted option to quickly upload PDF documents and empower visitors to comment on them on a website.

How do you collect public comments on a web-based PDF? Erick was right. This is a solvable problem: https://www.opencomment.us.

Chris Steins is the co-founder of Planetizen and Planetizen Courses and the CEO of Urban Insight, a technology consulting firm working with Code Studio and the Los Angeles Department of City Planning to develop the first modern, web-based zoning code.


Chris Steins

Chris Stines is Planetizen's former Editor and the founder of Urban Insight, a leading digital agency. Chris has 25 years of experience in technology consulting and urban planning and has served as a consultant to public sector state, county, and local agencies, Fortune 500 private firms, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations.

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Bird's eye view of manufactured home park.

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing

Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

March 25, 2025 - Shelterforce

U-Haul truck on road with blurred grassy roadside in background.

Americans May Be Stuck — But Why?

Americans are moving a lot less than they once did, and that is a problem. While Yoni Applebaum, in his highly-publicized article Stuck, gets the reasons badly wrong, it's still important to ask: why are we moving so much less than before?

March 27, 2025 - Alan Mallach

Rusty abandoned oil well and equipment with prickly pear cactus next to it in West Texas.

Using Old Oil and Gas Wells for Green Energy Storage

Penn State researchers have found that repurposing abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal-assisted compressed-air energy storage can boost efficiency, reduce environmental risks, and support clean energy and job transitions.

March 31, 2025 - Pennsylvania State University

Downtown Los Angeles skyline viewed from a distance with freeway and trees in foreground.

Updating LA’s Tree Rules Could Bring More Shade to Underserved Neighborhoods

A new USC study finds that relaxing Los Angeles’ outdated tree planting guidelines could significantly expand urban tree canopy and reduce shade disparities in lower-income neighborhoods, though infrastructure investments are also needed.

3 hours ago - USC Dornsife

Aerial view of Claifornia aqueduct with green orchard on one side.

California's Canal Solar Projects Aim to Conserve Resources and Expand Clean Energy

California’s Project Nexus has begun generating electricity from solar panels installed over irrigation canals, with researchers and state agencies exploring statewide expansion to conserve water and boost clean energy production.

4 hours ago - Turlock Journal

Close-up of older woman's hands resting on white modern heating radiator mounted on wall indoors.

HHS Staff Cuts Gut Energy Assistance Program

The full staff of a federal program that distributes heating and cooling assistance for low-income families was laid off, jeopardizing the program’s operations.

5 hours ago - The New York Times