Public Participation GIS for Cultural Resources Mapping and Management in Emuhaya Constituency of Kenya

Abstract

Culture is essential for human development as it promotes peace and stability while making development strategies relevant at the local level. These culture responsive development strategies empower and include the community in the development agenda. The problem noted for research in this thesis is the lack of formal documentation and visualization of culture information for sustainable development. The main goal of the research was to develop a participatory mapping model that conceptualizes and constructs a system that was used to create a digital culture repository for Emuhaya Constituency of Vihiga County, Kenya. Literature review was conducted on modern participatory culture mapping approaches and the opportunities for applying internet and mobile technologies to these approaches. In this research both qualitative and quantitative data about culture and culture perceptions was collected through interviews and questionnaires. The quantitative analysis focused on descriptive and inferential statistics. Quantitative content analysis was used to code and extract the qualitative information obtained from the respondents. The data was then used to establish the functional and non-functional requirements of a participatory mapping model that was used to create a digital cultural repository for the study area. The model was then used to implement a mobile and web GIS component that facilitated public participation in the culture mapping process. The model was tested using several tests and the results recorded and presented in this thesis. The research also created a compact and suitably adapted software methodology for implementing the model. The software methodology was tested and validated during the development of the Emuhaya cultural resources portal. The main achievement of the research is the implementation of a participatory culture mapping model that relies on indigenous culture information from non-technical users through familiar and readily available devices. The approach taken moves away from the traditional field based participatory techniques and relies on technology to involve a wider stakeholder base while utilizing minimum resources. This is an advancement of the existing participatory mapping approaches. The findings have revealed that this application of technology can be ported to other participatory mapping domains/projects.