Mapping tools
“The entire reason why the lines on a map matter is because maps do more than depict the world. They change the world. They impact how we interact with the world and understand the world. In doing so, they shape the world itself.”
- Mark Graham and Martin Dittus, Geographies of Digital Exclusion: Data and Inequality, Pluto Press, 2022 (15)
Maps are tools of constructing worldviews and presenting representations of spaces.
Popular commercial mapping platforms like Google Maps have come under fire for how they present contested or occupied territories (e.g. Kashmir, Islas Malvinas [Falkland Islands], Western Sahara) and for shifting map views depending on where users are located.
A notable case is in how Palestine has historically been portrayed on some commercial platforms like Google and Apple maps, which have sparked criticism for naming choices (or lack of names), border decisions and pixelated images in Gaza.
Popular mapping platforms are profit-driven: Google Maps is by far the most widely used mapping platform for daily navigation globally, yet it is ultimately a commercial endeavour. It algorithmically generates areas or neighbourhoods with high levels of business activities, shows business addresses, collects and sells user data and allows for ad revenue.
This kind of business orientation makes Google Maps a poor tool for community mapping; additionally, Google has notoriously tracked users location history and search history data as well as stolen wifi transmission data through street view cars.
Below is an alternative to Google Maps that is open source, supports indigenous decision-making and facilitates groups to protect land and resources, and offers offline options.
Mapeo is a free and accessible mapping software aimed to facilitate community mapping in remote areas.
It is an open-source tool for community mapping initiatives, with offline capabilities. The maps (along with all the data) are community owned, affording agency and privacy, when desired.
In the following cases, Mapeo is used by indigenous land defenders in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon. This mapping software is used as a form of what geographers refer to as “counter cartography” or “counter mapping” - a process of drawing maps that disrupts dominant power structures and presents the perspectives of colonised and/or marginalised groups.
The Waorani community in the Ecuadorian Amazon use Mapeo to create territory maps for their land defence work. They hold in-person community workshops to agree on the initial setup of the mapping process. They then draw maps detailing different resources and important sites, drawing on knowledge from elders, and taking into account gender bias.
Following this process, the team lead GIS and GPS workshops to equip the community to go on mapping walks around the region. Using symbols and a legend, groups go out and map ancestral burial grounds, paths, to dangerous ant nests; documenting the important areas. The draft maps are uploaded into Mapeo and verified before being distributed across villages.
Other land defenders, like the ECA-RCA in the Peruvian Amazon, use Mapeo to patrol illegal activity like gold mining in protected areas. A benefit of this tool is that the data for these maps is community owned, allowing indigenous groups the power to choose what to share with the State.
One of their long term goals is to be able to the ability to go on patrols without the state park guards, to build a sustainable land defence system.
Entry last updated: January 2024
Page last updated: January 2024
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