Channelling participation into useful representation: combining digital survey app and collaborative mapping for national slum-upgrading programme

Abstract

Upgrading slum settlements has been a priority for President Joko Widodo since he took office in 2014. The government’s national slum-upgrading programme, announced in 2015, aims to provide access to clean water, sanitation, and better housing in at least 38,000 ha of slums across Indonesian cities. Data collection for this project currently involves using paper forms to complete neighbourhood and household surveys in slums to develop baseline data. Aside from the laborious processing involved, paper-based survey data also lack positional accuracy and comprehensive information and cannot be integrated with community and government data. Ineffective data collection and mapping hinders the optimum use of slum baseline data. Improving data accuracy and tool usability is essential for effective and efficient programme implementation. This research utilised a digital survey app known as ODK and collaborative mapping to validate the results of surveys in the slums in Yogyakarta, Palu, and Malang. Field survey results were plotted into the following three different mapping platforms: a combination of Google Fusion Tables and Google Maps API for Yogyakarta, storytelling maps with ArcGIS Online for Palu, and OpenLayers API for Malang. Usability interviews revealed that community facilitators agreed on the effectiveness, efficiency, learnability, and utility of the digital survey app and the corresponding online map. The combination of field validation with ODK and collaborative mapping enables usable data flow to support the national slum-upgrading project.