A Guide to using Community Mapping

and Participatory-GIS

​John Forrester and Steve Cinderby

A Guide to using Community Mapping
and Participatory-GIS

John Forrester​1​ ​and Steve Cinderby​2

Prepared as part of the Managing Borderlands project and funded by the Rural Economy and Land Use
(RELU) programme of the Economic & Social and Natural Environment Research Councils under grant
number RES24050020. Although RELU-funded, the programme cannot be held responsible for anything
in this guide.

1 John Forrester, York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis (YCCSA) and Stockholm Environment Institute, University of
York. E-mail: john.forrester@york.ac.uk.

2 Steve Cinderby, Stockholm Environment Institute, Environment Department, University of York.

E-mail: steve.cinderby@sei-international.org.
Contents

Is this guide for you? 3

What is community mapping? 4 When does community mapping become P-GIS? 4
What are the benefits of going on to use a GIS? 7

Some basics on participation 8

Methods for carrying out community mapping 9 Collecting information onto maps at
the meeting 9

Methods for carrying out GIS 12 Moving from paper to digital 12 Using outside GIS
help 12 The differences between P-GIS and other forms of GIS 13

Validation and using P-GIS outputs 14 Other (non-spatial) engagement methods

you could use 16 Further reading on participation, community mapping and GIS 17

Is this guide for you?

There are a few factors to consider before deciding to quickly decide whether or not you want to use this
whether or not to use community mapping (includ ing method of gathering – and storing – information
any form of GIS or Geographic Information System). about your issue.
The following decision tree may help you

START

Is there a significant spatial

YES NO
component?

Is there a minor spatial component

which is important?

Do you want to communicate that spatial NO

information to a wider group of stakeholders or
other professionals? NO
YES
YES understanding of that spatial
component to change how the
people you want to involve think
Do you have in-house GIS about it?
3​
capability​ ​or have you funding to
pay an outside contractor? YES
NO NO YES
Do you wish to use a better
option. 4​
GIS-based mapping is a Another method might work better:
good option. ​ 4 see section 7 for ideas.
34
Community mapping is a good
3 If you are uncertain whether or not you have the in-house capability, or whether or not available free-to-use packages (such
as Google Earth) will meet your requirements, then you should use this guide.

4 If you came down the right-hand route where where the spatial component is minor but important then you should consider using
another method alongside the mapping.

3
What is community mapping?
The key difference between community mapping and
Mapping is any method where people are encour participatory GIS is in what happens to the data after
aged to use a map or maps in order to communicate it is gathered. What we refer to here in this booklet
their knowledge and ideas more clearly. So using a as P GIS is the practice of gathering data using
copy of an ordnance survey map (e.g. ​Landranger traditional methods such as interviews, questions,
series 1:50,000 or larger scale such as the ​Explorer focus groups, all using some form of paper maps to
1:25,000 series) to allow someone to point out allow partici pants to record spatial details. This
issues, or to allow them to record the locations of information is then digitised so that it can be
things that they are telling you about, is participatory analysed and interrogated using the power of the
mapping. computer GIS software, and also so that any
outputs can then be communicated using
Participatory mapping that is carried out with mem computer-drawn map outputs​5​.
bers of a community, and which can be used to
represent the views of some or all of the members
of that community can be referred to as community
mapping. Community mapping is usually carried out
with groups of community stakeholders together
rather than with individuals. Community mapping is
one form of participatory mapping.

The decision tree above took you through a few

ques tions to help you think about what sort of data
you want to collect. Also, importantly, it should make
you

5 This contrasts, then, with other uses of GIS such as the prac
think about how you want to use it. This Guide tice of allowing community members to manipulate ‘official’
should help you decide which level of detail and data using a GIS; a practice usually called ppGIS (public
participation GIS).
which level of technology suits your needs; ranging
from using paper maps with marker pens through to
digital da 4
tabases (a GIS).

When does community mapping become P-GIS?

An example of community a public meeting where points, and focus
mapping is where you want interested parties sit or stand on practical realities in your
to explore the views of a around tables with maps of catchment. People may
community, for example, on the catchment. You are draw on the maps to
what flood management using the maps to provoke illustrate their point. You
measures might be best in ideas, help different might keep these maps as a
a given area. You organise stakeholders clarify their resource to use later.
 5
An example of participatory may also wish to carry out consultations with
GIS is where you have hydrological modelling of stakeholder
(maybe as a result of the possible measures, and gain groups and individuals can
community mapping) now permissions from landowners help show points of
decided to implement a and managers. For this you agreement, thereby focusing
scheme. You need to plan will need detailed high quality effort on resolving – or
what goes where whilst maps that show accurately avoiding – conflict and allow
consulting further with where measures might be. date to be fed into other forms
stakeholders. You Digitising the outputs of any of modelling.
 6
What are the benefits of going on to use a GIS? based information into a digital GIS is that you can
re-visualise the information in a clearer way than
Converting paper maps into a digital GIS version was drawn on the original map; you can combine or
can give lots of advantages. You have high quality com
digitised maps so you can print multiple copies or pare different groups maps together; and, finally, it
email it to group members. This allows you to do two allows you to perform analyses that would otherwise
important things: first to ask them if you have got it might be impossible or at the very least time-consum
right; second it allows you to communicate that data ing but which might be helpful.
to some other person or other stakeholder who was
not at the initial meeting.

The other key advantage of transferring the paper

others (15%) tell you that it is data using a similar map this will
“wrong”, explaining that they also help community stakeholders
meant another beck. You now to understand likely outcomes.
know that you are dealing with two Also, the same maps can be used
Example of using a GIS map to becks, and amend your map to communicate with planners or
validate data: at a public meeting accordingly to show both. contractors if you decide to proceed
you are talking about a particular Example of using a GIS map to with the scheme.
case of problem water entering a communicate data: now that you
river from “a beck”. A lot of have your ‘corrected’ map you want
different stakeholders talk about to see what might happen if you
“the beck” at the meeting; one block or slow the water from either
stakeholder draws “the beck” on or both becks. Having the digitised
your map. When the map is data allows you to accurately and
digitised and subsequently succinctly communicate that data
returned to participants to check, to a hydrologist: s/he will know
some stakeholders (85%) tell you exactly what you are asking. If your
that the map is correct while hydrologist can then feed back
 Example of using the GIS to vulnerable sectors by cross
further analyse data: in the referencing your GIS data with
validation process you know that other government data such as on
85% of stakeholders ‘approve’ one deprivation.
scheme while only 15% approve
the other. However, if you also
have gathered basic demographic
data (i.e. age or employment – see
methods section below) you could
also answer further questions
about which scheme is preferred
by different sectors of the
community, or you could even
target the scheme to benefit more
7
Some basics on participation participating in and to allow anyone involved to fully
understand what they can or cannot influence.
If you haven’t practised participatory methods before
this section is particularly important. The key to par There are also a few other basics to think about. If
ticipatory approaches is that they should be geared you want people to be open and talk freely you may
as much as is possible towards allowing ordinary want to choose a less intimidating setting in which
stake holders (the participants) to contribute to the people feel comfortable talking: so a room in a lo
design of the strategy or scheme on an equal cal hotel may be better than a local council cham ber
footing with involved ‘experts’ whether they be or an echoy church building. You also need to think
scientific experts or policy experts. This is not to saycarefully about how you control the meeting. A
that any one viewpoint should be put above another: strong chair may be intimidating to some, but on the
all should be consid ered and weighed together. other hand too weak a control may allow one
participant to dominate. You may wish to con sider
It is important to think about who is going to organise employing an impartial facilitator. Also, try to choose
the participatory exercise. Do you, as an agency or a neutral venue where participants do not feel that
other group officer or employee, want to ‘lead’ the ex they need to ‘be polite to’ their host by deferring to
ercise or do you want the community to take her or his opinions.
responsi bility for leading the exercise themselves?
Deciding on this will obviously influence your Finally, you also need to be clear about who ‘owns’
ultimate list of who gets invited. Think about who the output. If you are carrying out a participatory
you want to reach. mapping session with, for example, a local
community council, they have the right to be
Next, it is critical that everyone – organisers and par identified as owners of that knowledge and to have
ticipants – understand clearly what is actually being a say in how it is used. Whatever the specific case,
discussed. So if you are holding a public meeting to you should be clear with participants before you
discuss ​and decide upon a ​ broad community start what the outputs from their involvement will be
strategy to deal with flooding then that could use a and what purpose(s) to which you intend to put
participa tory approach. But that would be very these outputs. It may be that you can agree some
different from a public meeting where a strategy has mutually beneficial use of the data that you had not
already been agreed upon (or even imposed) and foreseen. If possible it is always good to put this in
the purpose of the meeting is to implement that writing and ask people to sign ‘consent’ forms so
strategy in the local area. that information collected at the meeting can be
used as agreed.
The latter meeting might nonetheless be
participatory in that stakeholders can still contribute
their in-depth local knowledge to help make the
high-level strategy work at the local level. However,
it is always good

8
practice to let participants know what it is they are
Methods for carrying out community mapping
expertise, where people are from, or just who is
Using a copy of an ordnance survey map to allow available at specific times. Using any of these
participants to point out issues or record the approaches will mean that you should also have a
locations of things that they are telling you about is joint meeting where the groups come back together
basic par ticipatory mapping. In practice, usually the to compare, contrast and if nec essary refine their
smallest scale map which is used to record maps together as a single group.
information will be the OS ​Explorer s​ eries
(1:25,000).
Collecting information onto maps at the meeting
The scale of ‘base map’ you want to use is
determined by the issue of interest; the size of Once you have appropriate base maps, how do you
group you want to engage and the method of get participants to record information onto them?
interaction you want to use; and the spatial scale Again, it really depends on what you are going to do
over which you want to carry out your investigation. with the information you are gathering. The simplest
The critical consideration when choosing your map and most straightforward means of gathering
scale is that the participants that you invite to mapped data is to encourage participants to draw
comment can identify features and rep directly onto the base map. The serious drawback
resent their ideas. If you want to get ideas from with this is that the map cannot be used again. Also,
across a wide area on strategic decisions within a if there are a lot of points (or a lot of participants), or
larger catchment you might be able to use a if you want to collect sequential information about
1:50,000 map. If you are talking to a farmer about two related issues such as perceived problems and
his or her land then you will need the 1:25,000 (or suggested solutions you might need to consider
higher resolution) as the 1:25,000 is the first scale alternative options. The easiest solution is to have
map to show field boundaries. If you are talking to more than one copy of the map for each activity.
residents about which properties are at risk then you Alternatively, use a layer of transparent film (again,
need to use a map which shows individual try an architects’ office supplier) over the base map.
properties clearly enough. Air-photographs or By using layers of acetate participants can
satellite imagery (Google Earth) can also be useful
resources (particularly in colour) as they often show
un-mapped features and can be more easily
interpreted by some participants who may be 9
undertake mapping in themed phases. For example,
unused to using maps.
problem locations first, followed by solution genera
tion on a second sheet. This means the same areas
It is common practice nowadays to use digital maps
can be drawn upon twice but will remain clear for
which can be printed out if you have access to a ‘plot
subsequent interpretation and analysis.
ter’ or large printer. Any architects’ shop or copy and
print bureau should be able to print these for you.
If you use film you will need to make sure that you
These maps can be aerial photography or ‘carto
use pens that write permanently onto plastic and
graphic’ (i.e. a more traditional map) or they may be
also remember to mark some coordinates onto the
a combination of the two, that is a spatially corrected
trans parency so that you can relocate it over the
aerial photograph upon which a road network or oth
map later. Three or 4 crosses over grid points
er spatial features have been superimposed. A
usually suffice but if you are using aerial
useful feature of digital maps is that you can adjust
photography you may need to chose 3 or 4 point
the scale at which you print them to suit your
landmarks as locators. Whether you are using
purposes.
transparencies or paper maps we have found that
0.5 mm or 0.6 mm fine point indelible (permanent)
Community mapping works best in groups of approxi
markers in packs containing a range of colours are
mately eight people or fewer. If you have more
usually the best makers to use.
partici pants then not everyone will be able to see or
If you are also collecting large amounts of verbal
draw on a single map. If you have more than eight
data (i.e. if you are using a tape recorder or digital
participants consider holding more than one
voice recorder) then you will also need to make sure
meeting or else have parallel mapping sessions with
that you devise a system to link the information on
more than one group. The split could be based on
the map and on the recording. A simple numerical
system usually suffices: e.g. “participant one”
recorded on the audio tallies with points marked “1”
on the map.

If you are holding a meeting at which more than

about 8 or 10 persons are likely to attend then you
may need more than one copy of the map (and
duplicate of pens) if you want everyone to be able to
cluster around a map and participate at the same
time.

10
Example of Community Mapping to lay over them. We marked noted what the polygons and lines
from the Managing Borderlands crosshairs corresponding to the represented on the maps to help
project: for a community edge of the maps and some key link back to the audio recordings
mapping event to generate flood landmarks (outside the key area the we were also making.
management options in Peebles participants mapping would likely
we produced two base maps. One focus on) on the acetates and we We used the second acetates to
covered the town in detail at 1:10K labelled these. allow participants to highlight
scale and the other the whole where they thought that new flood
catchment at 1:15K and included Five people representing key local protection or land use changes
colour air photographs and the OS organisations attended the would help reduce flooding.
1:25K map layer. meeting. They first drew where
flood issues had occurred in the The process took approximately
We printed these maps in colour past on the acetate using whichever 2 hours including introductions
A0 size (84cm by 119cm) and map (the town zoom or the whole and refreshments.
cut matching sheets of acetate catchment) was appropriate. We
 11
Methods for carrying out GIS map. The more points you use, the more accurate
the position of the photo will be. Once the map
photograph has been located geographically the
Moving from paper to digital information participants drew onto the map can then
be traced on-screen (us
Once you have collected the community mapped in ing a mouse or pen-pad) to get the data into the GIS.
formation at the ‘focus group’, the next stage in the
P-GIS process is to convert this into a digital (com A final approach to transferring your data to a digital
puter) map form – the process of digitisation. There format is to use a free online map display package
are two key approaches to digitising a paper map: such as Google Earth (GE). GE is NOT a proper
You can use a large digitising table and trace around GIS, however it is free of change and can be useful.
the mapped information. The digitising table has the In GE you can add points (called placemarks) using
advantage that it should allow you to accurately the map-pin button; areas using the polygon tool; or
transfer the paper information into the computer. But lines using the path tool. In GE you can add
obviously you need to have the right equipment. information describing what the feature is by adding
information into the ‘Description’ or change how it
Alternatively you can photograph your paper maps appears by
(or the acetate transparencies) and then the digitise
lines, points and areas on the screen into the GIS.
On-screen digitising requires you to link the extent of
the map in the photograph to the same geographic modifying the ‘Style, Colour’. You can save what you
extent in the GIS software. This is often called do to a your ‘My Places’ directory in Google and then
‘rubber export them (using the “Save_as” command) or
sheeting’ and requires some points on the share them with other people.
photograph to be linked to the same points on the
 may be of varying accuracy levels. In some
The key drawbacks of the Google Earth approach situations the infor mation can be very precise – for
are that whilst you can re-visualise and electronically example marking the exact location of a drainage
share the information it is difficult to print in high reso outflow that gets clogged (which may not even be
lution and you cannot perform any serious analysis present in official data) – but equally likely (and
of the information or combine different information. sometimes on the same map) quite vague – such as
where a new riverine planting to slow flood waters
should be concentrated.
Using outside GIS help
GIS are not well designed to automatically cope with
Although many people regularly use all kinds of such uncertainties and fuzziness. To use this data
computer software packages, they still may think most
that GIS needs specialist skills and expertise to gain effectively requires a dialogue between the partici
the most benefits from using them and ensuring that pants, meeting facilitator and GIS operator. This dia
the information generated is correct. For many com logue can confirm or improve the robustness of the
munity mappers this leap to full digital GIS is a bar P-GIS data and highlight the confidence with which
rier. However, it is possible for people to overcome the data can be used for further analysis.
this problem. GIS are widely used in academia (i.e.
in universities and many further education colleges); GIS does allow quantitative results to be easily gen
by local authorities (councils) and government agen erated from spatial data including community map
cies (e.g. the Environment Agency); and private busi data. This power and ease needs to be tempered
nesses. Community mappers should investigate the with an appreciation of the reliability and robust ness
potential to work with these groups – particularly of the information used in the assessment. This
academia – to overcome the access barrier to GIS understanding of the limitations of your data should
software and expertise. also include a similar understanding of the
limitations of official datasets which might be com
The advantages of collaborating are that the bined with P-GIS information. For example, flood
necessary skills for using the software should be risk maps are probabilities of how likely an area is to
available. How ever, there are issues that need to be inundation but they are not predictions or exact
considered. First, if an outside person will be flood extents. Communities have detailed experi
digitising and analysing the maps they will need ential knowledge of where floods occur but group
assistance and clear guidance to ensure they meetings may not be best place to assess future
translate the paper maps accurately and (technical) risk. A GIS can quickly overlay two sets
of information and assess the quantitative areas of
overlap with precision. The key to effectively using
this information is how to present these findings in a
12
way that does not overplay these numbers but
then produce the digital information in a way that is
instead is useful for the decision making process
useful and what you expected. Ideally the partner
and community dialogue.
group should come to the mapping meetings and be
part of the process from the start. Secondly, there is
the issue that once in a GIS you may be tied to
using that software in the future. Whilst GIS can
export data into formats for use in free viewers (e.g.
Google .kmz files) this is not ideal for future use of
the information.

The differences between P-GIS and other forms of

GIS

P-GIS data should be described as ‘qualitative data’

as it is based on people’s knowledge, opinions and
per ceptions. Also, the location and boundaries of
areas that people draw on the community maps 13
Validation and using P-GIS outputs
have mapped wider community opinions at an open
day and these include the subjective opinions of a
There are several ways you can validate your wide range of people with differing expertises and
digitised maps. The first and most obvious way is levels of involvement. While they may be
simply to send the maps (e.g. by e-mail or via the represented carto graphically in the same way as the
internet) back to the participants for them to specific expertise of land managers or land owners
approve. the two are differ ent. Just because you have made
them look the same doesn’t mean that they are the
Another way which tests the outputs with a wider same.
constituency is to use some sort of survey method to
gauge public opinion of the ideas which have been This Guide is not meant to be comprehensive. But
mapped. Further, if there are conflicting or mutually you have made a start. If you decide that community
exclusive choices these will need to be represented mapping and/or GIS will not help you then you may
on two (or more maps). We have in the past used still want to use some participatory methodology.
postal surveys to allow all the community members The following section gives some information that
to ‘vote’ for one or other option as represented by may help you chose. If you do decide to use a
the different maps. If it is not so critical to have mapping approach then the next section will also
100% community coverage but you still want to start you on looking for some more essential
gauge community opin reading.
ion more widely then a form of community mapping
which we refer to as Rapid Appraisal GIS (RAP-GIS)
is very useful. This is explained in detail in the box
below. The RAP-GIS approach can easily be
adapted to local circumstances by either holding a
specific event such as an open day – or maybe
even renting a vacant shop premises on the high
street for a week to allow community members to
comment – or by tagging your session on to another
event such as a show, as we did.
It really depends on whose comments you want, so
think about the best way of finding those people.

One final caveat on using P-GIS maps in policymak

ing and decision taking contexts is that you must
14
remember the provenance of the information that
you are representing. So, for example, you may
Example of RAP-GIS from the also add comments and make solutions were most popular or
Managing Borderlands project: The additional suggestions – through a whether they only received buy-in
results from P-GIS workshops with form of community mapping using from particular groups. For
key stakeholders to identify flags to mark the locations of example farmers highlighted
possible solutions for local flooding information. problems with solutions that would
issues were presented at By collecting information on who result in the land being less
agricultural shows. This allowed the participants were (what they did economically productive but these
wider audiences see them. for a living) and where they lived were the solutions that other
(by their postcode) and their stakeholders found the most
Show attendees could see the gender and age it was possible to appealing.
results presented on a map – but filter feedback to identify which
 The results of the wider feedback
were fed back into the GIS to
add another layer of community
mapping into the system. This
example highlights some of the
attractive elements of the digital
storage of data in the PGIS in
that information can be extracted
by additional factors (such as
age of participants) and new
information added or combined
with that already collected in a
more rapid way than could be
achieved by other approaches

15
Other (non-spatial) engagement methods you could use
useful.
• Focus groups; useful for gauging the opinion of
specific sectors of the community: e.g. young • Transect walks; useful to gauge community
mothers, teenagers. The focus is on the group opinion on a specific location. How you select
membership. The idea is that people with a similar participants for the walk is important. Can be
background will develop a group dynamic and combined with a focus group-type approach.
discuss issues in more depth.
• Town meetings (public meetings); useful for
• Individual interviews; useful for key stakeholders. sharing information to interested
(self-selected) community members but
• Leaflet drops; useful for covering a wide area should at all costs be avoided for contentious
such as a whole neighbourhood. Leaflets may, issues.
however, be considered junk mail. If you want
people to respond to a leaflet you may need to • Electronic media; methods such as ​Twitter c​ an
include a reply envelope thereby increasing cost. be good, especially for a younger age group.
Response rates are usually not high.

• On-street-intercept interviews; useful for

‘random’ sampling a community quickly. You
can control numbers and demographics.
• Poster sessions; as with on-street-intercepts
except that community members self-select as to
who engages with the poster. However, a poster
session in conjunction with another event can be
16
Further reading on participation, community mapping and GIS
SEI website at:
http://www.sei-international.org/mediamanager/
Participation documents/Publications/Sustainable-livelihoods/
Water Management at the Interface of Government participation%20workshop%20wp%20100308.pdf
and Society: The Role of Participatory Catchment
Organisations - Implications for Policy Development Community mapping and GIS
(5pps). Accessed 13th March 2012. Can be Inclusive and Sustainable Infrastructure for Urban
downloaded free from the Scottish Universities Regeneration: Leisure and Tourism Spaces
Insight Institute website at: –Facilitating Inclusive Design Using GIS-P (​ 47 pps).
http://www.scottishinsight.ac.uk/ This report gives more detail on using P-GIS in
Portals/50/Water%20Management%20-%20Policy% different contexts and is available to download free
20 Brief%20(2012).pdf from the SEI website http://
www.sei-international.org/mediamanager/documents/
The DISTILLATE Guide to Crosssectoral and Intra Publications/Future/facilitatinginclusivedesignusinggi
organisational Partnership Working for Sustainable sp. pdf
Transport Decision Making ​(25pps). Although
produced initially for transport planners, this guide is Mapping for Change ​is an innovative social enterprise
just as applicable to any local authority issue and is that exists to support the development of sustainable
available to download free of charge from the communities. We specialise in providing participatory
DISTILLATE website at mapping services to communities, voluntary sector
http://www.distillate.ac.uk/outputs/D1%20guide%20 organisations, local authorities and developers using
to%20partnership%20working%20(14-04-08).pdf a suite of innovative tools for communication. This
provides a link to their online mapping activities.
Overcoming the Challenges of ‘Doing Participation’ in http://www.communitymaps.org.uk/version5/includes
Environment and Development ​(53pps). These / CommunityMaps.php?minisite_group
workshop proceedings are for those who have already
decided to pursue a participatory approach to Toolbox & Manual Mapping the vulnerability of
environment and development, but want to dip in to communities. ​This report from Mozambique
something which will help them better understand the talks through the steps of using community
issues involved. Available to download free from the mapping to assess vulnerability and risk.
 http://projects. stefankienberger.at/vulmoz/
Public Participation GIS Portal. ​The corresponding
Good Practices in Participatory Mapping. J​ on Corbett online resources for PPGIS. http://www.ppgis.net/
wrote this very useful guide for the International
Fund for Agricultural Development, Rome.
www.ifad.org/ pub/map/pm_web.pdf

Useful P-GIS links

Participatory Avenues, the Gateway to Community
Mapping, PGIS & PPGIS. T ​ he online resource for
17
PGIS practitioners. http://www.iapad.org/