Participatory use of GIS From Pebbles to Keyboards Jeroen Verplanke

Redrawing = Re-discussing

Aerial photos leave less room for disagreement

Image mapping in Zambia

1990 2002

Maps and mapmaking Educate Inform and misinform Raise awareness Make political propaganda Source: G.Rambaldi, 2005

The power of maps “Maps communicate information immediately and convey a sense of authority” (Alcorn, 2000:11) “By ignoring indigenous names, and barely alluding to the presence of local settlements, maps produced by European explorers in effect declared the land to be empty and available” (Poole, 1998). Source: G.Rambaldi, 2005

Towards 2-way communication Spatial data, previously controlled by government institutions increasingly available to and mastered by civil society; SIT integrated into community-centred initiatives through e.g. PGIS, P-GIS, PPGIS, CiGIS, MiGIS, counter mapping, etc. Source: G.Rambaldi, 2005

From pebbles to keyboards … Participatory approaches Solid terrain models (P3DM) 2 D scale maps Sketch maps Ephemeral maps Source: G.Rambaldi, 2005

From pebbles to keyboards … Participatory approaches P-RS Orto-photomapping Tablet computers GPS Source: G.Rambaldi, 2005

Visual language symbols (points, lines, polygons and volumes) Building blocks symbols (points, lines, polygons and volumes) variables (colour, orientation, shading value, shape, size, and texture) Scales (horizontal and vertical) interpretation keys Source: G.Rambaldi, 2005

What is what? Choosing symbols and their variables. Visually linked to real world features Culturally significant Culturally acceptable Consistently applied Source: G.Rambaldi, 2005

Questions of ownership … Who decides on what is “important”? Who selects symbol and variable to depict given feature ? If made public, who decides on what to display on the map and its legend ? Source: G.Rambaldi, 2005

Who owns the Legend? … ultimately Who owns the pictorial language, its graphic vocabulary and the resulting message? Who owns the Legend? Source: G.Rambaldi, 2005