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

Ground and Sketch Mapping

By: Julius Muchemi (ERMIS Africa)

Unit: M08U01

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, patterns, trends and relationships.

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