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

Introduction to PGIS Practice

By: Giacomo Rambaldi

Unit: M01U01

Flow of the presentation

• Historic perspective• About Participatory GIS (PGIS) practice• Communication as a key ingredient• Contexts• Building on indigenous spatial knowledge• The importance of the “P”• Tools, methods and technologies in the practice• Enabling and disabling environments• A range of implications

Images courtesy: Giacomo Rambaldi, CTA; and CyberTracker Conservation;

Image composition: Luigi Assom, CTA

Historic perspective

• 1980s– Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods

• Ground and sketch mapping, transect mapping

• 1990s – Innovative geographic information technologies

• Geographic information systems (GIS)• Global positioning systems (GPS)• Remote-sensing image analysis software • Open access to online spatial data and imagery

About participatory GIS practice

• Participatory GIS is an emergent practice

• It merges: – Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) – Geographic information technologies– Communication / media– Web 2.0 applications

About participatory GIS practice

• The practice is geared towards community empowerment through applications of geospatial technologies that are: – measured; – demand-driven; – user-friendly; – integrated.

Communication: key ingredient

• Producing, georeferencing and visualising indigenous spatial knowledge helps communities: – engage in peer-to-peer dialogue; – promote their issues and concerns with

higher-level authorities;– address economic forces.

Contexts

• Self-determination

• Management and amelioration of conflicts

• Collaborative research

• Collaborative resource-use planning and management

• Intangible cultural heritage preservation

• Identity building

Contexts

• Good governance

• Raising awareness and assisting with education and social learning

• Community-based hazard management and risk reduction

• Promotion of equity

Building on indigenous spatial knowledge

• Resource distribution• Resource use, control and access• Places of historic, cultural and religious

significance• Indigenous names, cosmovisions, creation

and origin myths, etc. • Hazard perception

The importance of the “P”

• Genuine bottom-up participation should cut across the process in: – understanding existing legal and regulatory

frameworks– setting project objectives – defining strategies– choosing appropriate mapping methods– gathering, managing, analysing spatial data– communicating, networking and advocating

Tools, methods and technologies

• Ground and sketch mapping (M08)• Participatory scale mapping & surveying (M09)• Participatory 3D modelling (M10)• Participatory mapping using aerial and remote-

sensed images (M11)• GIS for practising PGIS (M12)• Participatory Internet-based mapping (M13)

Enabling and disabling environments

• Legal and regulatory frameworks• Attitudes and behaviours• Physical environments (e.g. infrastructure)• Skills• Human and financial resources• Locus of control on the process• Locus of control on access and use of data (i.e.

knowledge is power)

A range of implications

• Participation: genuine – no window-dressing• Ethics in the practice: a must!• High-tech versus low-tech: a blend?• Some key questions:

– Whose GIS is it? – Whose questions are addressed? – Who sets the agenda? – What will happen when experts leave or when donor

funding dries up? – What is left with those who generated the data and

shared their knowledge?