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MAPME at a glance
It’s Open Source. And it’s open to everyone.
MAPME is a community-driven initiative to jointly develop tools and solutions that help us to plan, monitor and evaluate our projects with the help of earth observation and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). We connect and assist users, developers and donors alike.
MAPME Capacity Building Tools
Build up your own capacities and reduce your dependence on external expertise.
Conservation
MAPME resources are used to gather information on the state of our ecosystems, external threats and stressors and the impact of our projects to e.g. reduce deforestation and desertification in and outside of protected areas.
Agriculture
MAPME resources are used to gather information about agricultural landscapes and the impact of our projects to e.g. increased agricultural productivity, water-use efficiency and drought resilience.
Infrastructure
MAPME resources are used to gather information about the infrastructure to assess the accessibility and coverage of essential basic services such as schools or hospitals to improve planning and spatial targeting of projects.
Impact Evaluation
MAPME brings rigorous impact evaluation methods to the world of geodata and remote sensing. Our goal is to create robust evidence of causal effects and quantify the impact of our work with a combination of geospatial information and econometrical estimation techniques.
We continuously work on providing new data and resources. Please subscribe to our newsletter to get updates or follow us on linkedIn!
What makes MAPME special
Travel through time & space
MAPME allows you to travel through time and space using free satellite imagery and examine potential project sites before, during and after the implementation.
Save time & money
MAPME provides automated data flows and analysis to plan, monitor and evaluate faster, more accurately and at a lower cost.
Build capacities
MAPME proposes training materials to encourage our community to strengthen their own analytical capacities.
Leverage Open Source
MAPME provides free tools developed with Open Source technologies and Open Data. The goal is to allow everybody to use, reuse and build on the existing toolbox.
Resources
Discover our training and data repositories
MAPME tools are designed for an easy start. We host different types of resources that can help you get in touch with the topic and deliver better results.
Tutorials
Our tutorials can help you learn, step by step, how to use GIS in the context of development cooperation.
mapme.biodiversity (R package)
Explore it on Youtube
QGIS training in KfW*
Code Repositories
MAPME repositories contain R codes that will allow you to generate interactive statistics and insights on different impact indicators separated by sectors.
Project Location Model
The open Project Location Model is an open standard for collecting location information in development cooperation. It is based and extends the IATI reporting standards to be geo-compatible.
Open Source Guide
A technical guide on using earth observation to measure different monitoring indicators in development cooperation.
*in German language
Basics
Explaining basic terms
Geodata
Geodata comprises of information about a specific geographical location. Geodata can be stored, visualized and analyzed with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This data is often collected by satellites, GPS devices or land survey tools, and serves as the base for governmental zoning and land-use planning. Thousands of high-quality geocoded datasets are provided for free by researchers, the government or the open-data community and wait to be discovered and used by you.
Satellites
Earth observation satellites orbit our planet constantly, during all hours and irrespective of the weather conditions to collect images that are sent back to receiving stations on earth. Every satellite fleet and every satellite have different features in terms of speed, coverage and sensor quality. This determines what we can see from space, how often we can see a given place or phenomenon and in how much detail we can see it (from several centimeters to multiple kms).
Remote sensing
Remote Sensing describes a set of techniques to retrieve information about the earth’s surface. Images can originate from satellites, drones or aircraft and a large amount of free and commercial imagery allows us to monitor the impact of humans on natural landscapes in retrospective or near real-time. Therefore, Remote Sensing is an effective instrument to study global environmental challenges, monitor ecosystems, map disasters, explore resources and many more.
“MAPME offers tools that help to get reliable data about the progress and impact of projects in the field.”
News
See our latest updates on GIS topics in the development sector
How GIS helps us to measure our impact and identify future challenges for conservation and development projects.
With MAPME we work together to create, maintain and extend high value products with extensive functionality at a lower cost.
Without MAPME projects work with isolated solutions that are often poorly maintained, require extra effort, while providing less functionality.
MAPME is for…
Project Managers
You have little experience with data analysis, but you are keen on getting reliable information not only for current but also for future projects.
Advantages for project managers
- Gain better insights into your projects
- Understand available tools and functionality
- Write your own ToR for a project of yours
- Communicate your results effectively
- Enable your partners and others to apply the analytical tools you use
MAPME is for…
GIS Analysts
You have hands-on experience with remote sensing and geodata analytics working either for an institution or as a consultant.
Advantages for GIS analysts
- Leverage existing tools for your analysis
- Discover how your peers work
- Become part of a community
- Promote your work by contributing and gain visibility
- Use your resources efficiently
MAPME is for…
Institutions
As an institution you would like to extend your digital capacities but reduce the costs considerably by leveraging the synergies among multiple projects with similar information needs.
Advantages for institutions
- Get an overview of the ecosystem and existing solutions
- Built on existing solutions instead of reinventing the wheel
- Access new tools to understand and report your impact
- Get in touch with developers, consultants and researchers
- Build your own institutional capacity and reduce external dependencies
Contact
Do you want to use GIS tools and earth observation in your projects?
You feel like you need assistance on how to get started with finding experts, setting up a contract and making sure your tools become Open Source? Get in touch and join our mission!
MAPME is an initiative financially supported and organized by KfW, AFD and GIZ. Your contact request will be forwarded to our team and we will get in touch with you as soon as possible. We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy! For more information please read our Privacy Policy.