What outputs do you want?

It might be too early to start thinking about outputs, but if you already have a sense of what these might be then they might give some useful direction to your planning process. By output we don't mean the goal or results of your project, although these might overlap, we are referring particularly to concrete materials that result from your Mapeo project.

For example these could be:

• Printed map / maps: These might be for an external audience such as the government or a legal body, or they might be for the community itself to use for other purposes. If you are planning on creating a map then consider what information you can show on the map - perhaps you spend a long time collecting stores which then are hard to find space for, or you collect so much information that the map is hard to read.

• Data reports: You might want to produce regular reports on the data you collect, or wait until the end of your project and then produce a report with all the data or the highlights. Do your reports include quantitative data that you want to analyse and present in a particular way or is it mainly qualitative data that will need editing or compiling before presentation. Thinking about these can help you to organise your teams and data collection so that you have the data when you need it, in the right format.

• Alerts: If you are collecting evidence of something that needs fast action then having an alert system built into your methodology could help. Mapeo Mobile can export datapoints to WhatsApp and other apps so you could potentially send alerts of illegalities straight to law enforcers for immediate action.

• Interactive webmap: This could be a good output if you are hoping to build a campaign and want to share some of the project with the public or media - or even for your own community such as for an educational or storytelling resource. It also enables different kinds of information to be present than on a printed map as you can include videos and audio more easily. However it may involve a level of technical expertise or budget beyond the scope of your project, and it is definitely not the right output for every goal.

---