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UID:pretalx-foss4g-2024-academic-track-TNEYZW@talks.staging.osgeo.org
DTSTART;TZID=-03:20241204T171500
DTEND;TZID=-03:20241204T174500
DESCRIPTION:This article presents the case of the mapping of the informal s
 ettlement Erizo Juan Santamaría. The neighborhood went from being an empt
 y space on digital maps to be part of the official cartography of Costa Ri
 ca. The mapping was carried out using technologies based on free/open soft
 ware and participatory cartography methodologies\; the work was done joint
 ly between the people who live in the community and Laboratorio Experiment
 al (LabExp) a research and extension project of the public university Inst
 ituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica. The active participation of the communit
 y in the process was key for the Municipal Council of Alajuela\, where the
  neighborhood is located\, to make official the traces and names of the st
 reets and alleys of Erizo Juan Santamaría for municipal purposes. Further
 more\, at the request of the municipal council\, the National Nomenclature
  Commission approved the names at the national level.\n\nThe informality o
 f the Erizo Juan Santamaría neighborhood lies in the fact that the people
  who live in the space do not own the land. The territory where the neighb
 orhood is located belongs to two public institutions\, one part to the Mun
 icipality of Alajuela and the other to the National Institute of Housing a
 nd Urbanism (INVU). In the 1970s\, the first families began to occupy the 
 territory where the settlement is currently located. Since then\, the inha
 bitants of Erizo Juan Santamaría have solved their basic common infrastru
 cture needs\, as well as managed access to public services. The two public
  institutions\, owners of the land\, as well as the neighboring neighborho
 ods have assessments and interests in the informal settlement\, which are 
 manifested in a tense relationship that includes marginalization\, manipul
 ation\, stigmatization\, and invisibility.\n\nIn 2017\, LabExp and represe
 ntatives of the neighborhood agreed to work together on a 4 years universi
 ty extension project aiming to make the informal settlement visible to dec
 ision-making institutions and neighboring neighborhoods through maps. Unti
 l then\, the neighborhood was not represented on commercial digital maps o
 r on the free OpenStreetMap map. LabExp proposed a work plan based on part
 icipatory processes\, the use of free software and open geospatial data.\n
 \nIt was determined to prioritize two elements to be mapped\, considering 
 the relevance for the community in its relationship with the different dec
 ision-making actors. The first was the houses\, since INVU was interested 
 in developing a project to improve the neighborhood's housing infrastructu
 re\, the institution would carry out a census. Through a number in each ho
 use\, the map could be linked to the census data. The second were the stre
 ets and alleys\, with the intention that neighbors improve the way in whic
 h they gave their home addresses when requesting services. At all times\, 
 OpenStreetMap was considered as the repository where the collected data wo
 uld be stored. The mapping process was carried out with free and open tool
 s from the OSM ecosystem: OSMTracker to capture GPS data in the field\, Fi
 eldpapers to collect data in workshops and conversations with neighbors\, 
 JOSM to edit the OSM map and QGIS both to create maps to capture data and 
 to create maps to disseminate the mapping process. The mapping activities 
 and dynamics included: free cartography workshops with students at the loc
 al school\, field trips and unstructured playful dynamics with children in
  the neighborhood.\n\nIn addition to the mapping\, two activities were key
  to foster a feeling of ownership of the process by the residents of the n
 eighborhood and to disseminate the partial and final results. The first wa
 s the production of short videos in order for the community's inhabitants 
 to narrate their reality about infrastructure\, show the neighborhood\, an
 d describe the relationship with the decision-making institutions\, in suc
 h a way that they linked these experiences with the process of mapping. Th
 e second activity was a voting process to choose names for streets and all
 eys. Each person in the neighborhood had the opportunity to make name prop
 osals for the mapped transit spaces. Subsequently\, the residents of the n
 eighborhood were called to elections. One Sunday morning\, each person had
  the opportunity to express their will\, voting for the names of their str
 eets and alleys together.\n\nThe mapping process was completed by 2021\, E
 rizo Juan Santamaría appeared on the digital maps. In OSM\, the houses we
 re included with their respective numbering according to the needs of the 
 INVU\, the streets and alleys with the names selected by the inhabitants\,
  elements of public infrastructure\, trees and the proper name of the neig
 hborhood. The community was also represented on other commercial maps. Tha
 nks to the dissemination of the short videos and press releases in the Uni
 versity's and national media\, the mapping process of Erizo Juan Santamar
 ía was known to the members of Municipal Council of Alajuela.  The Counci
 l dedicated an entire session to heard about the project and agreed to mak
 e official the names of the streets and alleys decided in the voting proce
 ss by the neighbors. In addition\, the Council managed to make official th
 e names before the National Nomenclature Commission of the National Geogra
 phic Institute.\nThe case of Erizo Juan Santamaría is a unique example in
  the country where\, through participatory cartography\, the production of
  free geospatial data is contributed to official cartography. The visibili
 ty of the neighborhood on digital maps makes it easier for the inhabitants
  to access services that were previously denied or restricted due to the i
 nsecurity that people offering the service felt about visiting the neighbo
 rhood\, partly due to stigmatization and partly because the location led t
 o an empty space on the digital map. Given the increasing use of digital m
 aps to access services and make decisions\, it is important to discuss the
  right of communities to appear on digital maps.
DTSTAMP:20260513T083945Z
LOCATION:Room I
SUMMARY:Study Case of Erizo Juan Santamaría: from free map to official car
 tography - Jaime Gutiérrez Alfaro
URL:https://talks.staging.osgeo.org/foss4g-2024-academic-track/talk/TNEYZW/
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