In the United States, an important objective of cultural planning is creating a sense of place based on the needs and visions of the people living there through public involvement. However, the processes used to involve the community need more theoretical and methodological attention. The aim of this article is to suggest strategies, based on a clear definition of participation, that local governments can use to ensure community involvement. A review of the literature about public participation highlights the importance of educating and informing all the participants to incentivize a dialogical encounter. The objective is to go beyond one-way communication, where community members merely provide their input. In this article, the author demonstrates how a geographical information system (GIS) could be used by a local government to educate and inform all the participants delivering technical and scientific knowledge. The communicative strengths of a GIS could create the foundation for a planning process based on a dialogical exchange. The author provides two suggestions for such a process using Madison, Wisconsin, as an example. Finally, she recommends the use of these suggestions as an operational model for future cultural planning processes and suggests directions for future research.