Developing a Community Geographical Information System (GIS) in Rural India Before rushing off and describing the unique challenges of developing a small scale GIS system India I better first describe what a GIS is and what it can do. A GIS in simple terms is a mapping system. Think of the paper maps and the series of layers that make up these maps. For example a topographic map is made up of layers such as contours, vegetation, roads, buildings, rivers and creeks etc ie all the features contained in the legend of the map. A GIS has all these layers in computerised form so we can now turn on or off these layers and manipulate the colours and styles of features in these layers to suit our particular mapping needs. However the true power of a GIS comes from the database information which can be linked to these layers. For example on a road layer we can link each feature to database information such as road type, road condition, road width, road age, when it needs to be resurfaced etc. We can then query this layer to display all the roads where the condition is poor for example and make a new layer from this query. Obviously multiple queries on multiple layers can be done for rapid complex analysis and this is where the true power of GIS becomes apparent. The basic software and hardware requirements for setting up a GIS system are quite simple. All you need is a computer or laptop, an appropriate mapping program, a printer, a scanner and a basic GPS unit. So upon my arrival at Pitchandikulam my first job was to assess the basic hardware and software setup with regard to GIS. To my surprise all the items listed above were evident although the great range of software we had was all pirated. We even had a laminator to laminate our maps although it 1950s vintage. GIS office and staff, Pitchandikulam So with all our hardware and software needs soon sorted I was ready to begin developing the GIS for the mapping needs of Pitchandikulam and our two specific project sites as well as begin a training program of staff and other stakeholders in GIS and community mapping. There are two specific project sites we are targeting the development of a community GIS, these are called Nadukuppam and Uluru or Kadapakkam. Nadukuppam is an inland panchayat (similar to a shire) consisting of 4 rural villages where income is primarily generated from farming. Uluru is a coastal community on the coast consisting also of a number of villages which were affected by the tsunami of 2003 where income is primarily generated from fishing.
Post Tsunami Fishing Village, Uluru One of the aims of Pitchandikulams work in these areas is to set up knowledge resource centres in major villages where community members, womens groups, farmers groups, school children etc can access a wide range of information such as government policies and information, educational material for teachers and children and maps and GIS information of the immediate area. The program includes training members of the community and trainers in the community in concepts of mapping, GIS and GPS. Information for the community mapping aspect of the knowledge resource centres would be gathered through a series of community mapping exercises and GPS survey. The mapping knowledge gained and stored at these centres would help the community better understand and take ownership of their surroundings and the problems they face with the ultimate goal of enabling them to make informed decisions toward proper utilisation of their physical space and natural resources. My first job was then to gather all the relevant mapping information we had at our two project sites. Here we came across the fundamental problem that exists with GIS in India, we had very little in the way of data, be it geographical layers or any underlying data which could be linked to geographical layers. The reasons for this are twofold. The first is GIS and associated geographic data in digital format has yet to really take off in India. Subsequently a lot of the map information is still in paper map form. The second is there is a general sense in the Indian government system and the associated bureaucracy that information, be it map or database information, is power and to give over information freely is to lose some of your power. Add to this the security concerns the Indian government has over releasing map information highlighted by the fact that after the Mumbai terrorist attacks government ministers wanted to close down access to Google Earth as the terrorists had used it to identify the targets of the attack. All this is backed up by the Indian GIS discussion forums on the internet which are filled with complaints and frustration at the lack of access to digital geographic information in India. So against this backdrop it became pretty obvious that a lot of the information we wanted to put into the GIS we were going to have to do ourselves. This was not a problem however as I took advantage of this fact to help train my two main GIS resources in GIS data collection and entry. There is nothing like a good couple of solid months of data collection and entry to help you get a feel for how a GIS works. Like many GIS professionals who enter the field of GIS through a computing background, my two team members had a good understanding of the GIS software and how to do GIS analysis but lacked the proper skills and understanding of mapping and mapping concepts which is fundamental to GIS work. Also the ultimate goal was to update the skills of my two GIS resource people so they would be
able to train community members and trainer in the community mapping, GPS and GIS concepts themselves without any input from me. So for the next few months we conducted an extensive training and mapping exercise of the four villages in Nadukuppam panchayat. We mapped water, road and electrical infrastructure, natural resource features such as ponds, significant trees and forest areas, social data such as household locations linked to census and health information, other infrastructure such as schools, shops, government buildings and temples and other relevant community information such as historical sites, self help and farmers groups, and womens centres. We mapped these features by GPS survey in conjunction with a community liaison person who could direct us and provide information on all the features we wanted to map. Household GPS and census survey, Nadukuppam Panchayat A mapping program was also been undertaken at Uluru and the nearby villages. However as Pitchandikulam is not as heavily involved at the community level in this region as Nadukuppam our method of mapping in this region tended more towards training a few key people, such as the computer technician at the Uluru Childrens Home, and using them to map the area rather than map it ourselves. Our role is more of checking the data collected. So after this extensive program of collecting data we put all this information into our GIS system at Pitchandikulam. We now had a working GIS system at Pitchandikulam of the Nadukuppam and Uluru areas containing significant up-to-date mapping and database information. There were two problems with this model however. The first is how do we get the information we had gathered out to the community in the knowledge resource centres? The second is our GIS contained information which we, as mappers though important, such as infrastructure etc but which hadn t come directly from the community, especially from the different groups of the community such as farmers, children, women etc which may view what is important to them as totally different from us and other members of the community. The whole idea of a community GIS is to be inclusive with information gathered from each group so everyone can see the features which are important to other groups in the community. Our first job however was to get the information we had gathered out into the community firstly, to give something back to the community to show what we had achieved over the last few months and secondly, to develop some interest in continued involvement in the mapping process. So to begin with a series of hard copy maps were prepared for the communities at Nadukuppam and Uluru. The instigation for the maps and their format came from two directions. Firstly there were maps produced by the GIS team at Pitchandikulam displaying to communities what information could be displayed on maps and the various formats available ie A4 to AO in size. Then there
were maps showing information requested directly from the community. These were printed if the GIS team had the information available or could obtain it easily. The most popular map formats were the A3 laminated maps and the large 6 x 5 feet poster maps printed on plastic. The information requested on these maps related primarily to community meetings being held or teaching aids at schools. Poster map being used as a teaching aid at Nadukuppam primary school The next step was to devise method to house the community GIS at the knowledge resource centres in a format easy for the community to access and use and as well as enable community members to actually contribute to the further development of the community GIS. At Nadukuppam next to the high school the knowledge resource centre is housed in the Nadukuppam Environmental Education Centre which was built by Pitchandikulam. The GIS facilities at this centre currently consist of a single computer although there are plans to set up at least 4 computers. At the Uluru Childrens Home there are 10 computers available at its computer centre. The easiest option to install the community GIS at these centres would have been to simply load the GIS program we were using along with the data on the computers at these centres. However the program we were using (MapInfo) is quite complex and requires a relatively high level of computer skills and extensive training. The next option we looked at were a number of simple and easy to use open source software programs available but again they were still to complex for the target groups in the community. After several try outs with various programs with members of the community the most successful and enthusiastically received program we tried was Google Earth. We are able to load all the data of the community GIS from our system over the top of Google Earth. Also with minimal computer literacy skills and training, community members were able to quickly use the program as well as add their own data to the program which we could then download to out own program. This included photos, videos and stories of all the features of their village they thought important and relevant. The added benefit of Goggle Earth is it gives people the ability to explore, not only their own area, but the entire world which is very eagerly received by people who have had very limited exposure to the world outside their immediate area. There is however currently some technical issues with implementing this program at Nadukuppam and Uluru, the primary one being there is no reliable internet connection at either of these sites. Likewise some of the computers at these centres (in particular Uluru) do no have the capacity to load and use the software we want to use effectively. There is also a problem with viruses on the computers, again due to the lack of an internet connection to constantly update
virus software. However at the time of my leaving Pitchandikulam had just secured a significant amount of funding to improve the computer and communication facilities at the Nadukuppam Environmental Education Centre which will hopefully address these problems. Likewise at the Uluru Childrens Home there are similar plans in place to address these issues as well. So in the month up until my leaving in May our focus was on transferring all the map and database data we had collected into Google Earth format as well as developing a training program in Google Earth for both trainees and potential trainers such as school teachers and environmental education officers working in the schools. We then hope these trainers will then be able to go out into the community and conduct training sessions with individual groups such as farmers, women, children etc and update the community GIS with their knowledge and stories. We can then take this information edit it and return it to the community GIS as well as update our own community GIS at Pitchandikulam with this information. Teaching school teaches basic concepts in mapping at Nadukuppam My focus of my return will be to update the facilities at the knowledge resource centres so we are able to run the community GIS as well as implement and run training courses in the community GIS. In addition other organisations have become interested in our work and the community GIS methodology we have developed. For example the organisation Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG) will very soon begin, in conjunction with Pitchandikulam, a community mapping program of several villages AVAG has links with, gathering infrastructure, resource and cultural information for community knowledge centres currently existing or proposed at these villages. Also the training institution called Auroville Industrial School has asked Pitchandikulam to setup and run an introductory course on mapping, GIS and GPS. We have subsequently developed a course consisting of 3 modules which can be modified for teaching at a community level or a university level. We will be implementing these courses for student at the Auroville Industrial School concurrently with out own training programs and students.