NOTE: This document is a very early sketch by a consultant/writer, placed online for collaborative writing. In no way should this document be viewed as a reflection of the overall team's sense of OpenDRI processes. DO NOT USE for operations.

Community Mapping/Exposure Mapping

and requires bringing together several entities:

  • A community mapping partner
  • A local government sponsor
  • Community mapping trainers

Local Government Sponsor and CoMapping

In most cases, the government will drive the mapping effort, defining standards and reviewing content for community mapping. In several countries, it has also been critical to develop a technique that has become known as comapping. An OpenStreetMap or community mapper partners with a local government official to review data collected from the field on a map. The local government official then comaps with the mapper to add attributes to the data and correct inaccuracies in the polygons. Because of his or her authority in the local ecosystem, the local government official can sign off on the accuracy of the mapping, lending far greater authority to the data than would be possible with OpenStreetMap/community mapping work alone. The most common comappers are managers of small local governments (wards, villages, etc), GIS officers, and local officials in land use and disaster management. They each bring a set of relationships that are critical to success of community mapping. They bring the authority to speak with building owners, school and hospital officials, and other individuals who can provide first-hand information about the building stock and construction techniques.

The design team should ask:

  • Is there a local government sponsor who is willing to engage in comapping with the effort to collect data about the built environment?
  • Is that local government sponsor willing to lend their authority to the community mapping effort?
  • In the country context, what will be necessary to enlist the support of that local government sponsor? Will a request need to be sent from a provincial-level official to the locality? Or will the local leader need to recruited through local relationships?

Community mapping trainers

The techniques of participatory mapping have been developing over the past 20+ years. That said, the OpenStreetMap community has transformed old notions of participatory mapping by creating a central database for geographic data centered around shared open standards. Previously disparate efforts with varied techniques (and accuracy) have gradually coalesced into a relatively uniform practices.

However, collecting data that accurately describes the built environment is a highly specialized niche within the OpenStreetMap and participatory mapping domain. OpenDRI has pioneered a set of techniques around field data collection, data models, and initial analysis that require the Design team to think beyond traditional participatory mapping efforts. Most OpenStreetMap data collections capture attributes about buildings and infrastructure found on maps used for navigation. OpenDRI collects data about the construction of buildings, sometimes in databases that run parallel to OpenStreetMap.

Because of the specialized techniques around tagging buildings with structural analysis and collection of data into parallel databases, the Design team should include a community mapping trainer with prior OpenDRI experience in the plans for training a local community in the techniques of collecting data about exposure. Where no such community organization exists, the Design team should consider hiring the trainer as the host of an innovation lab or incubator (described below).

Finding the Incubator/Logistics Company

A tactic that has helped both existing community organizations and outside mapping trainers is an incubator/innovation lab. This shared space acts as an accelerator: an organization rents portions of its physical space to entities that need conference rooms, Internet access, phones, and storage space. Incubators enable community mappers to host meetings, help with the purchase and maintenance of equipment, and provide a space where they can allow volunteers to engage in the hard work of turning field data surveys into maps. The incubator can be thought of as a logistics partner to OpenDRI: it facilitates the effort, providing critical services that otherwise would fall on the OpenDRI management.

The Design Team should look for a logistics partner who can run the incubator. Typical criteria for selection include:

  • Physical Space: Provision of a physical space appropriate to the scale and scope of the community mapping effort. This space should have reliable electricity and Internet access, as well as meeting spaces and work spaces. Locked storage for GPS and computing equipment is also important.
  • Services: the entity should be able to host meetings, draw together a larger network of technologists, and create synergies between mappers and the local technology communities. They are a relationship broker, with a deep network of contacts in the communities in which OpenDRI works.

Designing Field Data Collection

Collecting data from field environments have special challenges, especially in countries where maps are poor and addresses are often a long narrative than a postal address in the traditional sense. The Design team will need to consider several questions to ensure that the project has a solid field data collection design:

  • What data need to be collected to drive which specific analytical problem?
  • What other data could be collected alongside these data, without overburdening the system?

The Design team should work with the cross support of risk assessment and DRM experts, comparing data models recommended by this design process with the models from previous OpenDRI engagements.

Imagery

A key component of field data collection is the availability of fresh satellite imagery. Imagery should be of a vintage that it reflects the current built environment. It should also be of 1m resolution or better, so that mappers can identify structures and use the imagery to trace building polygons. Coarser resolutions make it difficult to identify individual buildings in dense urban environments and reduce the accuracy of the maps.

Data Model

Each country will require its own data model to reflect its architectural traditions, construction methods, and mix of natural hazards. That said, there are many common elements between OpenDRI data models for field surveys. The Design team should ensure that the project is using standard methods, customized to context.

Method of Collection: Electronic or Paper

Where possible, the Design team should plan for the collection of data on smart phones and tablets. This method greatly reduces lost time and accuracy from the use of traditional paper surveys. That said, in many places where electricity and Internet is unreliable, paper is the preferred method. The Design team should consult with the OpenDRI specialist to decide which approach will be most viable for the country context.

Sub for new section on community mapping

Objectives

Generation of High-Resolution Exposure Data

Capacity Building around Mapping and Data Curation

Activities

Design

Data/Tags

Establish the tags to be used.

#

Training in Field Data Collection

Training in OSM

Mapping Parties

Field Data Collection

OSM Curation

Key Personnel

Project Lead (International STC, $10K/mo)

Trainer

Junior Trainer (preferably from a location which has done the work before)

Students

Student Leads

Local Partners

CBOs

Local Governance. Ward chiefs,

Universities

Financing and Sustainability

Cost Drivers

Scaling the Program

Sustainining

Procedures

Local Governance Coordination SOP

Training SOP

  • 25 students

Data Collection SOP

Data Curation SOP

Equipment Management SOP

M&E/Q&A SOP

Donor Addendum

It may be in the interests of government donors to catalyze and support community efforts around their development objectives, particularly mandates around mitigating vulnerable communites’ exposure to natural hazards. Community mapping provides:

  • Increased resolution about the nature of the risks and their location.
  • Capacity to involve the host nation’s scientific community and ministries in training about the identification and mitigation of risks based on data that the host nation can curate.
  • Capacity to link DO with the investments of international organizations such as the World Bank, and potential partnerships to increase the leverage of government donor funding.

Sources

BTOR: Sri Lanka Missions 1 & 2 Community Mapping Guide, WBI Mikel Maron, GroundTruth Kate Chapman, HOT GDFRR: Robert Soden, Abby Baca, Vivien Deparday

Budget

Personnel Office Travel Food Equipment Office Space

Principles

Start Small and scale

Chapters

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