Participatory Mapping

What is Participatory Mapping?

Participatory Mapping Workshops were performed in all nine villages of Tinghir Province, Morocco. The goal of these projects is to produce accurate maps for, and by, the communities represented. Working with the communities themselves, Dr. Atia and the Geography of Development team were able to put these populations on the map.

Select each of the four tabs below for more information on each step of the mapping process.

Dr. Atia and her team collected data through mapping workshops with community members to mark where important points of interests (POIs) are. POIs include major roads, bridges, community centres, and development projects.

In each village, community members went through their village with existing map data and marked features with additional information, such as materials and maintenance needed. These tags would mention, for example, whether a bridge existed along a river, or villagers had to cross it on foot or construct their own. It would mention where roads were washed out, and whether schools needed new facilities or maintenance. Other features mapped included services established by the INDH, or the National Initaitive for Human Development. The INDH set up in efforts to improve the economic and social conditions for the poor where governmental maps indicated there was need. See the field map below for reference.

After collecting field data, mappers took the paper maps and added all the features to OpenStreetMap (OSM).

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Once all the data have been added to OSM, experienced mappers go through and make sure all features are well-mapped, aligned to the right imagery, and ready to be downloaded and used for analysis.

Finally, the data are spatially analyzed using the accessibility model Dr. Atia and her team created. The output of these analyses are maps showing obstacles to access to basic needs, as well as other indicators of poverty in the region.