PoiMapper

PoiMapper: Mobile Data Collection Through Points-of-Interest in Kenya

Posted by MelissaUlbricht on Nov 30, 2010
PoiMapper: Mobile Data Collection Through Points-of-Interest in Kenya data sheet 3495 Views

PoiMapper, a product from Pajat, is a mobile application for data collection, hosting, and sharing. It works on a feature phone with Java capability and allows a user to design a case-specific questionnaire to collect field data, including numbers, text, and photo images. Through this, it supports the collection of point-of-interest (POI) data -- hence the name, PoiMapper -- and is currently being tested in this capacity in Kenya in collaboration with Plan Kenya, Plan Finland, Helsinki University of Technology, and University of Nairobi. The pilot is ongoing and an evaluation is to be done a month from now.

Basic Information
Organization involved in the project?: 
Project goals: 

Plan International is in the middle of a 4-month pilot in Kilifi, Kenya to use PoiMapper to create more detailed maps to support program interventions.

Brief description of the project: 

PoiMapper, a product from Pajat, is a mobile application for data collection, hosting, and sharing. It works on a feature phone with Java capability and allows a user to design a case-specific questionnaire to collect field data, including numbers, text, and photo images. PoiMapper is being tested as part of a 4-month pilot initiative in Kilifi, Kenya, with Plan International. The goals of the initiative are to contribute to the development of GIS software for both mobiles and computers and to ensure that technology is used to improve maps in terms of their accessibility and ability to provide more up-to-date and dynamic information.

Target audience: 

Field workers with Plan International in Kilifi, Kenya are currently using the PoiMapper system to map points of interest.

Detailed Information
Mobile Tools Used: 
Length of Project (in months) : 
4
Status: 
Ongoing
What worked well? : 

The ability to customize the application has been a strength for Njuguna in Kenya, as it give complete flexibility to cater the application to the needs of Plan International. Other stregths include the ability to use affordable, low-end mobiles, avoiding the use of expensive GPS devices. The application runs on a phone whose functionality is familiar, including the use of the basic mobile phone camera.

What did not work? What were the challenges?: 

A technical challenge arose when phones ran out of memory. This, in part, led to a redesign in which the service was changed from a survey approach to a database approach, where the majority of data is transferred and stored in the database.

Another challenge emerged when users wanted to change the questionnaires over time. The system had to be designed to be easy to add and change questions, Lounamaa said.