Significant investments in water and sanitation continue to be made, but it is not clear that these investments have made significant improvements in water and sanitation service levels. Maps are a highly useful tool for visualising data to reveal patterns, trigger action and enable better decision making. Here are a few examples of how maps are being used in the WASH sector. Please add your own!
Published on: 14/11/2011
This presentation by James Batchelor (link below) highlights different types of maps and explains why they are useful, and looks at basic methods for analysis (to reveal land ownership by caste, and using 'multiple ring buffering'). He also touches upon more advanced analytical methods such as hot-spot analysis and 3D modelling. GPS-enabled smart phones and tablets and mapping applications (e.g. FLOW) are mentioned as useful monitoring and/or management information systems (MIS).
In India, Transparent Chennai a government accountability project housed at the Centre for Development Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research is mapping public toilets in the city, in an effort to increase citizen action and improve government accountability in sanitation. After a public consultation of informal sector workers highlighted that public toilets were an essential and missing piece of urban infrastructure, Transparent Chennai decided to undertake a detailed study of these toilets in the city. GPS locations for public toilets, along with pictures and toilet profiles (interviews and observations about the toilet appearance, use and maintenance) can be accessed through ‘Toilet Layer’ on the ‘Build a Map’ feature on Transparent Chennai’s website.
In 2010 IRC published an article about three mapping tools available for monitoring water and sanitation projects - Water Point Mapper, the h2.0 map viewer and FLOW (Field Level Operations Watch)
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