An extreme citizen science approach to digital mapping in Ethiopia

This briefing describes an 'extreme citizen science' approach to digital mapping in Ethiopia's Lower Omo region. The project utilized the Sapelli platform to enable indigenous collaborators, regardless of their literacy levels, to co-design and produce maps of local land use and resources to challenge authoritative or machine-generated representations of their territory.

• The project employed an 'extreme citizen science' model, which differs from standard citizen science because the goals of data collection are co-created with the community and the approach includes collaborators regardless of their digital or print literacy.
• In the Lower Omo region, state-led projects have historically marginalized indigenous people, moving from the creation of national parks in the 1960s and 70s to 'development' projects like the Gibe III dam, which stopped annual river floods in 2015 and impacted flood recession farming.
• The mapping process used the Sapelli platform, which uses a pictorial interface to lower barriers for non-literate users. Collaborators customized the app by replacing hand-drawn icons with photographs, adding quality indicators (thumbs-up/down), requesting captions in Nyangatom and Amharic, and adding capabilities to draw boundaries and gauge grazing quality.
• Between August 2021 and August 2022, six collaborators in Nyangatom recorded over 1,700 map contributions, primarily focusing on villages, grazing areas, and ponds for animal watering or recession farming.
• Land-user generated maps produced by the collaborators showed greater detail, density of features, and more overlapping boundaries compared to machine-generated maps (such as the European Space Agency WorldCover Map) or user-generated maps (such as OpenStreetMap).
• Significant barriers to the scalability and sustainability of this approach include the high cost of smartphones and data bundles for local people, as well as the need for a supportive legal environment and judiciary willing to accept citizen-generated data as evidence for land claims.

APA

Stevenson, E. G. J., Moreu, M., & Tekle, D. (2022). An extreme citizen science approach to digital mapping in Ethiopia. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/sei-brief-digital-mapping-ethiopia-osborne-2022.pdf

Chicago

Stevenson, Edward G. J., Marcos Moreu, and Dessalegn Tekle. An extreme citizen science approach to digital mapping in Ethiopia. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/sei-brief-digital-mapping-ethiopia-osborne-2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Stevenson |first1=Edward G. J. |last2=Moreu |first2=Marcos |last3=Tekle |first3=Dessalegn |title=An extreme citizen science approach to digital mapping in Ethiopia |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=August 2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/sei-brief-digital-mapping-ethiopia-osborne-2022.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stevenson2022extreme, author = {Stevenson, Edward G. J. and Moreu, Marcos and Tekle, Dessalegn}, title = {{An extreme citizen science approach to digital mapping in Ethiopia}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = aug, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/sei-brief-digital-mapping-ethiopia-osborne-2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }