GISRUK 2015 papers: participatory mapping in Nairobi and mobile apps for Earthquake and Fire
The GIS Research UK conferences (GISRUK) are the annual gathering of the GIScience research community in the UK. While I have missed the last two (including the current one in Leeds), I have contributed to two papers that are presented in the conference.
The first, ‘Participatory mapping for transformation: multiple visual representation of foodscapes and environment in informal settlements in Nairobi‘ was led by Sohel Ahmed , and include myself, Adriana Allen (UCL DPU), Cecilia Tacoli (IIED) , Edwin Simiyu (SDI) and Julio Davila (UCL DPU). It was written on the basis of the work that was carried out in the Urban Zoo project and explores participatory mapping with food vendors. The summary of this short paper note that ‘although branded as ‘obstructionists’ and major agents of ‘disease and filth’ by city authorities, food vendors remain the pivotal node in the local food system in most informal settlements; therefore, their interaction with the environment and infrastructure services, and challenges they face to keep the food safe to eat, requires further grounded exploration. Food vendors from informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, who are acting as mappers and change agents, are building multi-layered views of places through the deliberative process of knowledge co-production by participatory sensing, which lead to opportunities and challenges to improve those places.’. The paper is accessible here. See also Cecilia and Sohel blog post and briefing paper on their work in Nairobi
The second, ‘Exploring new ways of digital engagement: a study on how mobile mapping and applications can contribute to disaster preparedness‘ is written by Gretchen Fagg, Enrica Verrucci, and Patrick Rickles as part of the Challenging Risk project. The paper looks at mobile applications that can be used to help people prepare for natural disasters. The abstract note that ‘natural disasters can happen at any time and no community can consider itself completely safe from them. Digital technologies, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), are becoming globally pervasive (World Bank, 2014), with smartphones hosting excellent mobile mapping, data collection and information providing platforms. A report was compiled to investigate web and mobile applications that provide preparedness information and stimulate community empowerment, some using maps as a medium to convey the information. This paper discusses the purpose, results and implications of this analysis for further work to be undertaken to address the identified research gap.’ The paper is available here.
