Participatory Digital Mapping as a Research Method

Participatory mapping is the creation of maps by non-expert individuals, groups and communities – often with the involvement of supporting organizations including governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), universities and other actors (Corbett, 2009). It is a process popularized in the 1970s and 1980s and became a core method in the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) toolbox. As a method, it was designed as a visually engaging tool that supported less-literate participants to share and communicate their local spatial knowledge, aspirations and experiences. Participatory mapping embraces a broad range of tools and approaches of varying technological complexity, ranging from ephemeral mapping (the creation of maps using sticks, stones, sand and other readily available materials), through the use of sketch mapping (the crafting of maps on paper but without cartographic scale or coordinates), through to the use of digital computer-based tools including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the Geospatial Web (Geoweb). However, fundamental to all these approaches is the core principle – to make visible the local geographies of marginalized and vulnerable people, to put themselves quite literally on the map.

From its grassroots origins to its contemporary digital uses, participatory mapping has acted as both a research process as well as a mature development practice (Chambers, 2006; Di Gessa, 2008; Fox et al., 2008). The method is used as both a means to solicit data and to engage communities in participatory action research, i.e. ‘research leading to social action’ (Lewin, 1944) in which participants themselves collect data and produce new knowledge in order to inform their action for social change (Kindon et al., 2007). It has also been an important tool of advocacy to influence decision-making and communicate unique community perspectives about their relationships, desires and experiences with the land (Chapin et al., 2005). There is a further body of research associated with participatory mapping that examines and describes engagement in the process as being potentially transformative, often expressed as being empowering for individuals and within communities (Corbett and Keller, 2005; Elwood, 2002; Harris and Weiner, 1998).