The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) announces the 2022 Map Competition, themed “Enhancing the Role of Geo-conservation in Protected Areas Management and Environmental Conservation”. The total price tag is EUR 10,000. The competition aims to promote the use of Earth Observation and create awareness of the data-sharing geoportals and observatories to allow users to discover GIS datasets and creatively use them to develop innovative solutions. Participants are encouraged to unleash their full potential and realise their passion for creating web maps, story maps, data dashboards or web applications.
Who can Apply?
Twenty-four African countries are eligible to participate in this year’s mapping competition.
Award Prices
The two main themes of the competition are Terrestrial (Related to Planet Earth Land) and Marine (Related to the Oceans & Blue Economy). There will be four winners in each of the following categories:
- Forestry, Protected Areas & Wildlife (EUR 2,000).
- Marine, Oceans and Coastal Information (EUR 2,000).
- Land Degradation, Wetlands and Conservation (EUR 2,000).
- People’s Choice Overall Winner (EUR 4,000). The winner will be voted by people based on the five best entries identified by the judges.
In addition, all the four winners will receive a one-year Esri ArcGIS for Personal use licence.
Judging Criteria
- Map Centric – Exploration, analysis, and presentation of a geographic phenomenon with a clear focus on a specific topic, question, storyline, awareness or problem solution (20 marks)
- Design Layout – logical organisation and visual flow of maps, text and graphics. Legibility of text font, text size, figures, tables, pop-ups, videos & graphics (20 marks)
- Visual Appeal – colour coordination, symbolism, grammar, punctuation, spelling and good cartography. (20 marks)
- Effective communication – understandable, concise and effectively presented, creative and original (20 marks)
- Effective use of Geographic Information – appropriate use and portrayal of spatial data from at least two data sources listed below with complete documentation (20 marks)
Data Sources
The following sources of Spatial Dataset may be used:
- RCMRD Open Data, Africa Geoportal Page and Geoportal
- Protected Planet and Ocean Data Viewer
- Africa Geoportal and Living Atlas
- OFESA Geoportal
- GMES & Africa Geoportal
All submitted entries must use at least two datasets from any of the data sources named above. Other data sources may be used as well.
Submission Formats
Applicants can submit as many entries as they want, and the final outputs are expected to be submitted in any of the four submission formats indicated below i.e
- Web Map;
- Story Map;
- Data Dashboard or
- Map Application.
Tutorials
Click on the icons below to get tutorial resources for each submission format.
Three online webinars will be held to explain how to use the various data sources and showcase examples of the different submission formats that can be used. The webinars are scheduled to run on 24-Aug-2022, 14-Sep-2022 and 28-Sep-2022, all starting at 11:00 East African Time.
Important Dates and Link
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- Physical launch and registration open on 21 July 2022
- Online competition launch – 3 Aug 2022 at 11:00hrs East Africa Time (+3 GMT); register to attend
- Registration ends, and submissions open on 30 September 2022
- Winners are announced on 22 November 2022
For more information about the competition, visit the portal here.
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