MANUAL ON PARTICIPATORY

VILLAGE MAPPING USING

PHOTOMAPS

by Daniel Müller and Björn Wode

second draft revised by Carola Wehr

Second draft, 30/06/2003 Son La

SOCIAL FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (SFDP) SONG DA

INTRODUCTION
What are Orthophoto-maps?
Photomaps are printouts of geometrically corrected (rectified) aerial photographs placed
in a map coordinate system. The corrected aerial photos are called Orthophotos. Plotted
Orthophoto-maps are the most accurate and economical remote sensing data for
mapping purposes with large scale maps.They are easy to use and a non-literate tool to
effectively engage farmers in discussions on natural resource use, planning and
management.

What is participatory photo-mapping?

Conventional approaches to obtain land use maps are usually conducted by outsiders
who interpret remote sensing data without profound knowledge of local resource
conditions. Limited field experience possibly results in inaccurate delineation and
misinterpretation of land use classes.
The objective of participatory photo-mapping is to enable villagers to carry out the
interpretation of aspects of their land resources, which are of significant importance to
them. In this process villagers delineate their land use on transparencies laid over an
Orthophotograph. The information on the transparencies will later be scanned or
digitised and geo-referenced. Involving local stakeholders with their extensive field
experience is expected to improve the accuracy and precision of obtained data.

Why participatory photo-mapping?

Orhtophoto-maps are an effective participatory communication tool on village level to:
visualize resource use to facilitate discussions without communication barriers
and to motivate participants to reflect and discuss about land issues;
allow a rapid identification of social, economic, and environmental problems
of the village by determining and debating issues related to natural resource use
with active participation of the community;
create a common understanding among local land users and administrative
authorities on spatial distribution and status of resources and resource use;
provide a basis for joint and demand-driven decision-making between different
villages and between villages and state entities;
acquire accurate spatial data on large scale on the basis of local knowledge;
provide options for participatory impact monitoring for rural development
investments from government and other donors;
mediate and solve prevailing boundary conflicts;
generate accurately scaled information on land use, that can be officially
approved for management purposes.

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PROCESS
Participatory photo-mapping is a process, which can be used to generate a series of
outputs to be transferred into a Geographic Information System (GIS). Transeferred
information permits for various ways of processing, analyses, and presentation and can
be easily updated according to the specific objective. The process of conducting
participatory photo-mapping contains the following steps:
1. Preparatory work
2. Field work
3. Data processing
4. Feedback to and from stakeholder
Each step is described in the following sections.

I. Preparatory work
Collection of secondary information on natural resources and socio-economic data
Village selection according to identified objectives
Selection of participants, which should represent the whole village population in
terms of gender, age and social status. Group size may range from six to 10
persons
Orthophoto-map print-out, preferably in A0; scales depending on the desired level
of detail and on local conditions, but ideally should be 1:5,000. Currently available
orthophotos are from 1999/2000. They are referenced to UTM coordinates and the
Vietnamese Date 2000 (VN 2000). A coordinate system, small crosses at the
intersections of the map grid and a northarrow need to be printed on the
orthophoto-map and the projection and map date should be indicated, as well as
the the name of the village, the scale of the map and the date of the photo .
Additionally, selected elements of the topographic maps such as main roads or
rivers can be added, but only in areas with limited visibility like vegetation covered
regions. For better orientation of technicians it is recommended to add main
contourlines with very thin line symbols and elevation points. It is important to
include the houses of users whenever possible, because this helps users to
interpret photomaps and also gives them confidence that they are part of the
community land to be discussed. Each aerial photo should be printed with an
overlapping area with the neighbouring photos to facilitate correct merging of the
photos on village basis.
Transparency to place on top of the orthophoto-map print-out. . For present and
planned land use different transparencies should be used, but the transparency for
the planned land use should be fixed on top of the other one and the orthophoto-
map. The outer boundaries of the orthophoto-map coordinate system have to be
transferred to the transparencies for consistent future data processing
Stationary: double clips (to temporarily fix the transparencies securely on top of the
aerial photomap), permanent and white board marker in different colours

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GPS receiver can complement data collection of non-visible boundaries (e.g. future
plans, ownership) and allows instant verifications of mapping results in the field as
well as additional transect walks within an accuracy of 3-5 meter, thus is only
recommended for measurements of plots > 10 ha

II. Village meeting

The village meeting can be scheduled from ½ a day to one day according to the
motivation and specific interests of local participants. Participants should be clearly
informed in advance about the topic to be discussed and the place and date of the
meeting. The meeting point should be on an even surface with good overview of
surrounding land resources. The facilitator has to ensure that all users have equal
opportunities to participate in discussions and express their real expectations.
A short introduction should provide (i) sufficient information about the approach of
participatory photo-mapping, (ii) a brief explanation of the techniques of aerial
photography, (iii) the year and month of origin of the aerial photograph used and (vi)
ensure enough opportunities to clarify remaining questions.
Whenever possible the facilitator should allow users to direct their own discussions. At
the beginning participants should have sufficient time to get familiar with the photomaps.
Orientation could be facilitated through the identification of the present location and the
recognition of easily identifiable landmarks such as rivers, roads and residential areas.
Mapping activities could start with important classes like paddy fields and ghost forests
and with land types close to the village and on relatively flat terrain. The facilitator should
inform villagers about the date (month and year), in which the aerial photos have been
taken. They have to evaluate if land use changes occurred since than. Seasonal land
use changes needs to be discussed as well.
Forest users are generally very skilled at interpreting photomaps and facilitators should
be patient and allow users to conduct their own interpretation.
Users like to position photomaps in relation to a clearly visible landmark (like a road, a
river, the edge of the forest). If such landmarks are difficult to find it is sometimes helpful
if the facilitator correctly positions the photomap with the aid of a compass.
Often boundaries need to be re-adjusted during discussion. Therefore, villagers are
supported with white-board markers, which can easily be wiped off in case of non-
satisfying delineation. Villagers should be asked to draw slowly and carefully. After
common agreement is reached correct boundaries can be fixed with permanent,
waterproof markers. On the first transparency boundaries of the present land use
situation should be drawn, while on the second transparency the planned land use
should be sketched. The title should indicate the respective theme.
Land use classifications have to be discussed and explained carefully before land use
types are being marked with agreed symbols. If non-standardised symbols are used, an
accurate legend has to be attached for further data processing. Local names have to be
used to identify localities such as hills and rivers. They should be written on the
transparencies.

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As the boundary map is part of a legal agreement it is important that the positions of
boundaries are marked carefully and with agreement from all participants. Field checks
should be carried out in the afternoon to check the information.

Note: The facilitator should spend more time listening than talking

III. Data processing

To process village information with GIS software for future use in planning and
management, the following steps have to be accomplished.

1. Preparation of transparencies :
After field work, data can be enterd into a GIS program. Therefore, the orthophoto-maps
have to be handed over together with the transparencies to the responsible institutions.
There are different options to transfer the data to the GIS. One option consists in on-
screen digitizing of the information on basis of the orthophotos. This option does’nt
require any special preparation of the transparencies. The second option is to scan the
transparencies for data transfer. To enable a later spatial referencing of the scanned
information, small crosses should be drawn (with a thin permanent pen) on the
transparency at the intersections of the coordinate system gridlines of the photomap.
These crosses will be used to align the scanned transparency to other reference
information.
Further preparatory steps include the cleaning of the polygons on the transparency by
removing breaks in the lines and erasing mistakes and unnecessary drawings. Polygons
could also be closed on the outer boundary of the photomap to ease later digitising.

2. On-Screen Digitizing/ Scanning

A) On-Screen Digitizing
On-screen digitizing is carried out on basis of the digital orthophotos. The interpreter has
to manually draw the boundaries on-screen by following the lines and shapes of the
orthophoto on the screen. The advantages of this method are, that no scanner is
required and that the results from on-screen digitizing are data in vector format. Since
this is the finally required data format, no further conversion between vector and raster
data (resulting format from scanning process) is necessary. As the data are digitized on
basis of the orthophotos, the same geographical reference system (UTM, VN 2000) has
to be defined for the GIS layer (information files).

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B) Scanning
The transparencies have to be scanned in separate tiles as input to GIS software. The
number of tiles depend on the size of the scanner. With an A4 scanner it would result in
approximately 15 tiles to be referenced. To reduce time requirements preferably an A0
scanner, or at least A3 scanner should be used.
The transparencies can be scanned in black and white with an output resolution of 150
PPI, because scanning quality is not of major importance since only the outline of the
polygons are needed from the transparencies. Black and white scans decrease file size
and therefore reduce subsequent processing time. To store the scans filenames should
be used, which can be associated with their position on the transparency. We suggest to
give sequential numbers to the scans indicating the position on the transparency. The
scan in the upper left corner could be named “11”, the next one to the right “12”, and so
on. The second row of scans would then start with number “21” for the left tile in the
second row. In addition, the scans for different villages should be placed in separate
directories on the computer to avoid later confusion.

3. Data input into GIS

The projection which needs to be specified for LUP/LA data in the GIS needs to be the
same like the projection of the orthophotos and the topographic maps (UTM, VN 2000).
Since the VN 2000 is not an international geographic date, its parameter have to be
entered, or GIS Software has to be used for dada conversion.

A) On-Screen Digitized Data

Since on-screen digitizing is carried out with GIS Software, the data are already entered
into the GIS.

B) Scanned Data
E.g.: ArcView
In ArcView the Image Analysis Extension is used and the scans have to be added as
‘Image Analysis Data Source’. Then the ‘Align Tool’ can be used to geo-reference the
image to the coordinate system of the reference map. Exact coordinates are known for
the small crosses, which were drawn on the transparency at the intersections of the map
grid. The crosses can be entered as control points with the ‘enter coordinates tool’. That
procedure has to be repeated for four points in the corners of the scan. If coordinates
are properly entered a root mean square error can be displayed, which should be below
1,0 . The referenced and saved image can then be added as ‘Image Data Source’. All
referenced scans merged together should reflect the whole village map as it was drawn
on the transparency. After geo-referencing the data have to be digitized to achieve
vector data.

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E.g. MicroStation/ MapInfo

Microstation can be used for digitizing of the scanned data. Therefore the lines and
polygons of the scanned transparency are followed on-screen. The information can than
be exported to the GIS software ArcView or MapInfo. After data import into the GIS
software, the information is available in the required vector format.

After the present land use information has been transferred to the GIS, the layer should
be copied and renamed (“planned land use”). The copied data on the new layer should
be modified according to the planned land use transparency.

4. Entering Attribute Data

Every polygon of the resulting GIS datafile (e.g. shapefile) need to have an identity code
(ID) for the land use class and one identity code for the local names. Additional attributes
which can be entered comprise e.g. the implementing year. Before additional data
processing the shapefile has to be clipped with the boundaries of the photomaps and
cleaned from gaps (undershoots) and overshoots. When editing work is finished, land
use statistics for the respective villages can be calculated.

5. Design of Map Layout

Finally the map layout has to be designed. Standard regulations should be used for the
colours and symbols, as well as for the information, which has to be added also to the
map, like titel, scale, geographic reference syste, coordinate grid, year for data
collection, etc. The scale of the maps is normally 1:10.000.

Features like contourlines, elevation points, main roads and rivers are available already
in digital format from topographic maps, thus these elements can be added to the
present and planned land use maps.

IV. Feedback to and from stakeholder

After the data processing is finalised a print-out of the developed map is brought back to
the village and further details are verified or re-adjusted if necessary until a final
agreement has been reached among all parties involved. The original orthophoto-map
should be handed over to the villagers after data processing is finalised.
The final mapping information has to be presented in a way that meets the local
capacities and demand. Information to be provided on the map should be the year and
month of the aerial photograph, the identified land boundaries, date of data collection,
land use classifications, local names, viallge name, scale and geographic references.
One copy of the developed map remains in the village to be used as a decision-making
tool for villagers during their further village meetings.

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SOCIAL FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (SFDP) SONG DA

GENERAL REMARKS ON PARTICIPATORY PHOTOMAPPING

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths Weaknesses Solutions

Easy to understand Missing topography on Add basic contourlines to
2D photomaps and the orthomap;
distorted land use
Villagers know their
polygons on 3D
environment
photomaps
Higher mobility than 3D model

No limited durability like 3D

model

Outdoor work is less time-

consuming

Enables data integration into Limited capacity for data Continued data
GIS, so that information can be input and processing at processing at provincial
easily processed, assembled, district and even higher level;
analyzed and returned to levels
Data collection at district
stakeholders
and communal level
Greater spatial accuracy than When using old Discuss land use
“opposite sloping” photomaps villagers may changes;
tend to follow old plot
Field checks
boundaries
Greater clarity and reduced Availability of up-to-date Use photos from
likelihood of arising boundary photomaps limited at 1999/2000
conflicts present
Increased official acceptance of
results
Possibility for digital storing Technical equipment Integrate investments
enables low-cost re-prints of plots required into budget calculation
and of generated information
Enhanced possibilities for Specific skills are Training (1-2 weeks)
information sharing required
Improved planning potential.
Combines local knowledge with a Land use situation Discuss climatic impact
clear scalable geographic shown in the photomaps with villagers
reference refers to one season of
the year

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SOCIAL FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (SFDP) SONG DA

Enables automated monitoring of Aerial photos need to be

land use changes and available in fixed
quantitative analysis intervals of e.g. 5 years

Conclusion
Participatory mapping based on orthophoto-maps is a precise, cost-effective and
participatory tool for land use planning, resource assessment, impact monitoring and
conflict mediation . Participants in mapping exercises typically show high level of
participation and engagement, most likely due to the authentic nature of the data. In
addition, data input into a GIS program enables post-processing, permits enhanced
cadastral activities, better land use statistics and computer-based monitoring of land use
changes.

ANNEXES

ANNEX 1: Orthophoto-map with sketched present land use , Pa Hoc

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SOCIAL FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (SFDP) SONG DA

ANNEX 2: Present land use transparency, Pa Hoc

ANNEX 3: Present land use map, Pa Hoc

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SOCIAL FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (SFDP) SONG DA

ANNEX 1: Orthophoto-map with sketched present land use , Pa Hoc

Figure 1: Aerial photomap of Pa Hoc village, Chieng Hac commune with

landuse boundaries, land use classification and local names added
by villagers

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SOCIAL FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (SFDP) SONG DA

ANNEX 2: Present land use transparency, Pa Hoc

Figure 2: Extracted transparency after village meeting in Pa Hoc village as

basis for further data processing and digitalising of land use map
database

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SOCIAL FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (SFDP) SONG DA

ANNEX 3: Present land use map, Pa Hoc

Figure 3: Finalised present land use map of Pa Hoc village

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