Engaging with local communities: A review of three years of community mapping

Abstract

© 2011 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Web mapping provides a powerful way to engage with local communities and Mapping for Change (MfC) has set up a series of local Community Maps around the UK, with each map highlighting local issues, planning concerns, development sites and environmental issues. The precise content of each of the maps differs from site to site and has been determined in full consultation with each Community. Communities add information to the map themselves and act as sensors in their local environment, highlighting both issues and positive factors. This paper describes the evaluation of fifteen Community Maps with regard to the number of active users, people viewing the data, the types of data being added and the relationship between activity on the map and activity within the groups. The results obtained are of interest to local government community engagement processes-MfC represents one of the longest lasting Community Mapping activities to date.