Participatory Mapping

What is Participatory Mapping?

Participatory Mapping Workshops were performed in all nine villages of Tinghir Province, Morocco. The goal of these projects is to produce accurate maps for, and by, the communities represented. Working with the communities themselves, Dr. Atia and the Geography of Development team were able to put these populations on the map.

Get Involved

What is OpenStreetMap?

Much of the world’s most vulnerable populations are not mapped, and this has its consequences. OpenStreetMap (OSM), is a free, editable map of the world that is being built by volunteers that seeks to close gaps in the map by allowing anyone to contribute to it. This map has been used for a variety of needs, including disaster response and relief, disease outbreaks, geographic education, and international development. Established in 2007 in the United Kingdom, it gained traction around 2010 following the devastating earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti and its uses have been growing since. Over the past several years, the Spatializing poverty project team and participating communities have been contributing to the map in order to have better base information, to provide a clearer image of their needs to policymakers and development organizations.

How do I Contribute?

Learn to map

LearnOSM provides step-by-step guides to contributing to OSM and using OSM data. Check out their guide here.

Use OSM in the Classroom

TeachOSM provides guides and resources for educators to use OSM in the classroom at all levels. Check out their training guide and case studies here.

Start Mapping

Already an experienced mapper? Contribute to current high priority tasks via the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team’s Tasking Manager.

Host a Map-a-thon

To host your own mapping workshop, or “map-a-thon”, visit the Missing Maps Project’s Guide for comprehensive, step-by-step instructions​ and materials.

 To learn more about our work doing participatory mapping, visit the Mapping in Morocco page:

Additional Poverty Mapping Resources

Newsweek Magazine

Parshley, Lois. October 29 2017. Mapping Poverty to Save More Than a Billion Lives in the World’s Most Remote Slums.

Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI)

Multidimensional Poverty Research

Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP)

Community-based monitoring system: Poverty Maps

Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC)

Poverty Mapping

The World Bank

Poverty Analysis: Mapping Poverty
World Development Indicators

US Census Bureau

Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE)