Civic Mapping or, in other words, mapping information for civic engagement, has taken quite an interesting turn in the last few years. Technology has become more accessible and data more available, but the essential difference is that there is a growing interest in using maps to display information.
Maps can be great aids to decision-making as we all know very well. They have been used many times throughout the history of humanity, and probably one of its most important elements is that maps give a spatial reference to information, giving decision-makers great insights. On that regard, with so much data available nowadays, the barrier to contextualize information spatially has diminished, and much more data can be put into a map.
It might be important to recognize the importance of the availability of data nowadays. In short, there is a massive spike on the amount of data collected. So much data that, indeed, the cost of analyzing it and making it part of our decision-making process is not that easy – and, for that matter, might get really expensive as well. For example, if we consider using publicly available datasets to map the devastation of the Amazon in Brazil, we will probably need GIS specialists to translate geospatial data form the Ministry of the Environment, satellite imagery analysts to run models on the vegetation patterns and civic media gurus to properly code grassroots information inflows into geo-spatial data. That example illustrates some of the challenges in using maps for civic engagement.
On the other hand, there are many factors that are making the mapping of data much more accessible. It is important to highlight the popularization of platforms such as Google Maps that effectively has diminished the mapping divide by making maps more accessible. Initiatives such as Open StreetMap, the so-called Wikipedia of maps, has made online mapping more accessible from the point of view of those working with the creation of maps. Moreover, in the last few years a series of tools, from software (Ushahidi, TileMill, etc.) to grassroots baloon-mapping building kits, have been made available to the public in open-source ways. If we use all these elements to deal with the challenges of mapping information a lot progress could be done.
This is the challenge the Center for Civic Media at MIT in partnership with DataCenter.org have undertaken. How can they create a toolkit to make mapping accessible for grassroots organizations? How we assist those organizations in using maps for civic engagement? Those (very interesting) questions will hopefully be answered by the Civic Maps Toolkit to be made available at the end of this year.
The toolkit is in its early days and will be taking shape in the next few months, but Professor Sasha Costanza-Chock has noted that the toolkit will provide a series of things: 1. a concise overview of the field and subfields; 2. a series of case studies; 3. interviews with practitioners; 4. a resource guide with short descriptions of key Civic Mapmaking resources. I would be really interested in assessing the importance of data-driven decision-making, and figuring out how maps can make that process easier. Maybe this could be an interesting point to be developed in the next coming months.