Countrer Cartographies
Counter Cartographies is the result of a multi year investigation into cartographic inequalities across Latin America. The project focused on community engagement in Rio de Janeiro's marginalised socioeconomic areas, where many residents live outside the vector of the city’s official maps. Like many other parts of Brazil, lack of cartographic representation is a serious issue. Residents living off the map, without a physical address, have limited access to social services, education or even the capacity to direct municipal services in the case of an emergency. Whilst conversely, cartographic misrepresentation makes acts of state sponsored violence, and lack of governmental accountability increasingly prevalent.
In order to break this cycle Counter Cartographies developed affordable community based mapping services in order to empower residents of Rio de Janeiro's informal settlements. The project aims to increase security and socio economic mobility through photogrammetric mapping technologies, utilising kites and other user driven means of aerial surveyance. Through community engagement, the project demonstrates the ways in which communities can develop geospatial information of their neighbourhood, for voluntary inclusion into platforms such as Google Maps and OpenStreetMap.
Images: Geospatial photogrammetric point cloud scans of Rio de Janeiro's Santa Marta area