Mapping with Purpose: A Guide for Humanitarians at the Frontline
Subtitle: Choosing the right visual tool for the job—from quick communication to complex decision-making.
Short Description: Humanitarians make maps for donor briefings, strategic plans, and field operations. But are we always using the right ones? This article provides a practical guide to the spectrum of mapping tools, explaining when to use a simple drawing and when you need a full-fledged analytical system. It is a call to move beyond one-size-fits-all visuals and create maps that deliver the right message to the right audience, improving safety and effectiveness on the ground.
Introduction
In humanitarian work, the question of "where" is constant. Where are the needs greatest? Where can we operate safely?
Yet, for a tool so critical, we often use it without considering if it's the right one for the job. We treat all maps as if they were the same, sending a complex analytical output to a donor who needs a simple snapshot, or trying to plan precise field movements using a high-level strategic map. This isn't just inefficient; in volatile contexts, it can lead to missed opportunities, wasted resources, and even increased risk.
An oversimplified map can declare a whole city a "no-go zone," cutting off aid to thousands, while a map that's too complex can paralyze decision-making with unnecessary detail.
This article guides you through the hierarchy of mapping. We will explore each level, defining its purpose, audience, and limitations. By understanding the difference between a simple sketch and a live geo-server, you will be able to choose the right tool for the right task.
Level 1: The Quick Sketch (Situational Awareness)
The Tool: Drawing software (PowerPoint, Paint, Google My Maps) or a pen and paper. The Goal: Immediate communication.
These are single-use tools meant to explain one specific thing: recent attacks in a location for a donor's visit, a specific office location, or a hospital route.
This is primarily to show security personnel or donors a snapshot of the situation; it demonstrates your situational awareness. They don't need an academic analysis—they need an image that will likely get lost in emails after their team checks it. Do not spend more than 30 minutes on this.
Level 2: Simple Visualization (The Storyteller)
The Tool: Basic GIS export, Canva, Illustrator. The Goal: Strategic direction.
These are high-scale maps covering a large area with a low level of detail. Their purpose is to tell a story, serving senior management to gain localization awareness.
In the humanitarian sector, we tend to get stuck in this category, which hurts our operational capacities. For a technical coordinator writing a proposal, this level is sufficient. They only need to tell the donor: "I want to go here because of the humanitarian situation, but I'll tell you the exact locations in the final report."
Level 3: Business Intelligence ( The Dashboard)
The Tool: Power BI, Tableau, ActivityInfo. The Goal: Monitoring and inter-regional analysis.
Dashboards are the next level of understanding, facilitated by data collection tools like KoboToolbox and ActivityInfo. This represents a major qualitative jump. Before these tools, much data went under-analyzed, and organizations were at the mercy of the specific skills of the Information Manager on duty—ranging from excellent data scientists to basic Excel users.
The Limitation: Dashboards are great at middle scales, but when you incorporate data at the local level, the volume of information becomes unmanageable for the software. It is not made for granular operational tracking. This is a classic example of the humanitarian trope: "Use it until it breaks."
Level 4: Web Map Services (The Operational Engine)
The Tool: GeoServer, OGC Standards (WMS/WFS). The Goal: Granular, local queries and field coordination.
These servers handle the most granular information. If well-configured, they are as good as the detail of the information uploaded. These are the tools a Field Coordinator needs to decide exactly where to go.
Because they are perceived as difficult to set up and senior management doesn't strictly need them for advocacy, they are often overlooked or deemed too expensive. However, modern open-source backends like GeoServer have solved the cost and complexity issues.
The Power of Scale: The Nikopol Example
Understanding the difference between Level 2 (Strategic/High Scale) and Level 4 (Operational/Granular) is not just academic—it changes lives.
Consider the city of Nikopol, which is constantly under artillery attack due to its proximity to Enerhodar.
- The Strategic View: On a large-scale map (Level 2), the whole municipality is colored red to indicate danger. Consequently, it falls out of the humanitarian planning of many agencies because it is deemed "too complicated to access."
- The Operational View: A closer look via a granular Web Map Service (Level 4) tells a different story. It reveals that attacks are concentrated in a narrow strip along the river coast. The rest of the city is practically untouched, with a ratio of attacks no higher than other cities in the East.
The Result: By using the wrong scale, we cut off aid. By using the right scale, we identify safe zones for distribution.
Level 5: Full GIS & Geoprocessing (The Analyst)
The Tool: QGIS, ArcGIS, Python/R. The Goal: Asking complex questions.
If you need to query your data spatially, you need geoprocessing capabilities. For example: "How many settlements are within a 20 km distance from the Frontline where combat activity is low?"
You need a full GIS to run this analysis locally and report on it. This level also includes replicable analysis using statistical software (like R or Python), providing the foundation for long-term policies and the institutional memory of an operation.
Conclusion: The Future is Area-Based
The humanitarian sector must move up this pyramid. While simple maps have their place, relying on them exclusively limits our accountability.
The shift toward Area-Based Coordination (ABC) will drive this change. ABC demands more refined, generalized, and local data rather than high-level aggregates. This creates the feedback loop we need to promote: better local data enables better coordination, and better coordination reveals the need for more nuanced information systems.
Bonus: The Foundation
There is a "Level 0" beneath the pyramid: Draw your own maps. It is a relaxing experience. When I am in a slow peace meeting, I color my sketches. Your brain gets infused with the names, references, and geographical features, building an intuitive understanding of the terrain that software alone cannot replace.