We would like to thank all who attended our launch last week. There was a stimulating exchange of views, which opened the door to new opportunities for Mapping for Change.
It is quite risqué launching a new enterprise during the tightest economic crunch in living memory, but the interest expressed over the last couple of years, the numbers that have turned out to the events that we’ve held, show that there’s a need for what we offer.
Our focus is on participation, engagement and empowerment – not on technology – but on people and communities. We are simply enabling you to see what’s there already, and how to use it; or, if it’s not there, to ask why not. What we are offering is a picture of what is, and encouraging you to ask the question: what could be?
Our doors are now officially open and we would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions, comments, ideas for new collaborations or even new contracts! Alun Morgan from the Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development (RCE) said:
“what a great event the launch of Mapping for Change was last Thursday! I thoroughly enjoyed myself intellectually and socially! I hope there will be opportunities to collaborate in the future.”
While we would like to say to those who didn’t attend, “you missed a treat!” we have however uploaded some of the presentations, which are available using the links below:
A decade of participatory mapping – the road to Mapping for Change
The OpenStreetMap community are keen to collaborate with MappingForChange on any projects where this might be useful. For example we can come along and join in with local people at your events, show people how to survey with GPSes / walkingpapers type approaches, show people how to enter data with the OpenStreetMap editors, or we could even just do a mapping party in advance of one of your projects to boost the map quality in an area. Drop me a line if you’re interested.
I also chatted to Louise about using OpenStreetMap for your website maps. Would be great to see them there even if it’s just as an optional layer. And we chatted about the open data policies MappingForChange should think about when initiating data gathering projects. Interesting stuff!