For a plan to be truly representative of a community, planners need to be flexible and use a variety of tools, methods and channels. This article gives you practical guidelines on how to use Maptionnaire to support face-to-face workshops. Running these processes in parallel doesn’t just increase your reach; it simplifies data management and makes the planning process more transparent for everyone involved.
Set up an interactive mapping station at your workshop
Break the ice by setting up a dedicated tablet or laptop station at your event. Encourage residents to pin or draw their ideas directly on the digital map (Map point, Map line, Map area features). If you want, respondents can also see and like places and comments other people have submitted. This is a lighter, more entertaining process for visitors yet produces valuable GIS data. It can also lower the threshold for mapping that people may have, as they can ask questions regarding the use of the technology and the maps themselves.
How-to:
- Create the survey with the maps and questions you want to ask (remember to also provide a clear legend!).
- If you want people to be able to like each others' responses, follow these instructions. Remember to ask each respondent to submit their responses when they are done, otherwise they won't show up for others to vote on!
- Publish a test version of the survey and copy the URL.
- Go to Settings and turn off Allow only one respondent per device and browser.
- Add the survey URL as the website where respondents are directed to when they submit their responses.
- Publish the survey in test mode again and test with the devices you intend to use (remember to make sure that the devices have had all their software updates!)
- Publish the final version and collect data.
Get the discussion started by presenting the results
Ask attendees to answer the survey (or just a question or two) via a QR code. When they are ready, show the results by projecting the analysis tool on the screen. Participants seeing their own input appear as a collective heat map in real-time takes engagement on another level and can spark more interesting conversation.
Even if you don't want to ask attendees to answer the survey in the beginning, you can show them how respondents have answered. You can prepare these charts and maps before the workshop and save them as views, or even collect them on a public webpage.
How-to:
Download your project’s QR code from the Publish tab
Guides on how to use the analysis tool
Use the analysis tool to inform the process
It's not uncommon to realize in the middle of the community engagement process that something needs to be changed. Access and use the analysis tool throughout the process to see who you have already reached and if any unexpected points have come up. This way you can target more efforts towards reaching specific communities. It can also provide valuable ideas for the face-to-face workshop – think of the digital survey as giving you a base set of information and the workshop as an opportunity to really drill into the important matters.
You can access the analysis tool at any point when you launch the survey. Keep tabs on how many respondents you have from different groups (e.g. based on demographic factors...) and use the filters to see how they have responded.
How-to:
Guides on how to use the analysis tool
Make it easy for attendees to go hybrid themselves
People may want to take the survey on their phone while attending the workshop, so keep the QR code and the URL visible on multiple places in the venue. It's also a good idea to provide flyers for those who need to leave early, want to take more time to fill it or want to take them for others who could not attend.
Download your project’s QR code from the Publish tab
Bubblin' under: print out paper versions of the survey in Publish (remember to provide paper maps separately!)