Base map of Mathare is complete!

We’ve completed the base map of Mathare. It took us 17 days during which 15 mappers (on average each day) would map and edit for an average of 5 hours per day. That accumulates up to 1250 man hours. Of course the exact figure of man hours is much lower mainly due to a limited number of computers and equipment which resulted in many of the mappers just strolling along or observing the creation of the map from afar. We have mechanisms prepared for this type of instance, as we want everybody interested to learn and contribute. One of these mechanisms, which we implemented in the last two weeks of mapping, is rotating venues.

If I throw some statistics at you, the base map has – or, if I put it differently, mappers have collected, edited and digitized:

• 750 points
• 41.3 km of roads and paths
• 24 Mathare villages digitized, altogether an area of 3006444 m² 3.0064444 km²
• 138 buildings digitized, altogether  an area of 58322 m² or 0.058322 km²
• Other areas digitized (walled areas, fields, football and recreational pitches, natural areas, etc.)comprise 360602 m² 0.360602018 km²

Below is the base map where the first map (Map 1) presents only the points collected and the second map (Map 2) presents the types of resources collected (represented by points), such as hospitals, toilets, water points, schools, religious institutions, etc.