Support the spread of “good practice” in generating, managing, analysing and communicating spatial information

Ground and Sketch Mapping

Unit: M08U01 By: Julius Muchemi (ERMIS Africa)

Presentation outline

• Introduction – Ground mapping – Sketch mapping • Map legend • Transect walk • Mental map analysis • Strengths • Weaknesses

Introduction

• Ground and sketch mapping – Most commonly used method – Suitable when introducing mapping to a community

Ground mapping

• Most basic map making method • Drawn on the ground • Uses raw materials (e.g. soil, pebbles, sticks, leaves) Facilitating a participatory integrated community development exercise in Somalia, 2003.

Picture courtesy of Julius Muchemi, ERMIS Africa.

Ground mapping

• Participants store acquired knowledge as mental maps and mentally recompose it when needed • Used to map physical and cultural landscapes as the local communities perceive them to be

Sketch mapping

• A slightly more elaborate mapping method that uses large sheets of craft paper • Features are depicted with natural materials or, more often, with coloured pens or chalk Facilitating the development of a participatory forest management map in Karima Forest, Kenya. 2007.

Picture courtesy Julius Muchemi, ERMIS Africa

Sketch mapping

• Stakeholders usually have a range of choices regarding: – materials to use for the sketch map – symbols to use to visualise desired features • Size of each feature reflects the importance that stakeholders attach to it

The map legend

• Information is preserved through documentation process • Records are preserved in a legend and interpreted using depicted symbols A legend developed by local communities to aid in developing a sketch map for participatory forest management for Karima Forest, Kenya. 2007.

Picture courtesy Julius Muchemi, ERMIS Africa

Transect walk

• A cross-section ground-truthing exercise • Traverses across entire landscape • Covers ecological, production and social contexts along the chosen route RRA conducted in El Nido, Palawan in January – February 1997, National Integrated Protected Areas Programme (NIPAP) Adapted from G. Rambaldi

Transect walk

• Assists in: – harmonising stakeholders’ understanding of the mapping context – making observations and confirming the field realities of the mapping outputs – eliciting a reality-based discussion about issues, constraints and potential for addressing them – diagramming the landscape features and related issues – analysing, planning and monitoring development initiatives

Transect walk

• A transect walk assists in ground-truthing: – man-made features (e.g. infrastructure, local markets and schools) – natural features (e.g. land-use types, vegetation zones, cultural sites, hills, rain, escarpments, valleys, plains and coastal areas)

Mental map analysis

• Mental map analysis is used to : – illustrate that different groups of people within communities or organisations have different perceptions about the same mapping space; – identify map features and determine their attributes, position, relationships.

patterns, trends and

Strengths

• Local communities take a leading role to: – generate local and indigenous information – visualise spatial perceptions, skills and practices • Engages non-expert users • Stakeholders can relate to mapping products

Strengths

• Low-cost approaches to mapping • Not technologically dependent • Easily facilitated because they are tactile

Weaknesses

• Lack accuracy because they don’t rely on exact measurements or a consistent scale • As a result, ground and sketch maps : – are not useful for location and quantitative accuracy – are not used to determine quantitative measurement (e.g. size, area, length) – lack authority with policy makers

Weaknesses

• Interpretation is subjective because the data don’t use a consistent scale • Maps disappear when a wind blows