Participatory GIS-Based Approach for the Demarcation of Village Boundaries and Their Utility: A Case Study of the Eastern Boundary of Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study examines spatial knowledge of the local community and the participatory resource mapping (PRM) approach to demarcate land boundaries in the eastern boundary of Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has four types of major administrative boundaries, namely, provinces, districts, divisional secretariat divisions (DSD), and Grama Niladari (GN) divisions. The smallest community segments are clustered inside each GN division. The lack of proper demarcation of these smallest community segments, called ‘villages’, has been identified as a significant issue when implementing community development plans and applications in government and non-government projects. Thus, the deliverables of community-based projects become less effective. The objective of this study was to explore means of demarcating land boundaries, to separately identify small community segments using participatory GIS (PGIS) techniques. The study was conducted covering 12 GN divisions adjoining the eastern border of Wilpattu National Park (WNP). The methods used included PGIS interviews and group discussions with PRM steps. Overall, around 100 selected community members, spread across 12 GN divisions, were chosen to participate in the study. Community society meetings were conducted in each village, and essential topographic information in the area was collected with the knowledge of local society members and GIS tools. Later, this was digitized and verified to improve the presentation and accuracy of the results. As a result, the study could identify villages in each GN division, while generating more precise digital maps. Through this study, it can be confirmed that PGIS has remarkable potential in land use planning applications. The study further shows the potential of the application of PGIS in community-based projects and their deliverables to the community, and in enhancing community education on spatial thinking and planning, while facilitating community empowerment and innovation.

Systematic Literature Review: Models of digital transformation in the public sector

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A Strategy for Delineating a Flexible Boundary for the Conservation and Development of a Village

“…One method is the delineation of village boundaries through field research measurements with the participation of local residents. For example, Chamara J. et al used PGIS interviews and group discussion methods with participatory resource mapping (PRM) steps to delineate land boundaries along the eastern boundary of Wilpattu National Park in Sri Lanka [19]. Beccy et al used circular buffers, unweighted Voronoi polygons, and multiply-weighted Voronoi polygons to delineate village boundaries in West African agricultural landscapes [11].…”

Fractal Characteristics of the Spatial Texture in Traditional Miao Villages in Qiandongnan, Guizhou, China

“…At the macro level, shape index, boundary coefficient, aspect ratio, and other indicators are usually used to characterize the morphological characteristics of village boundaries [21,22]. The structure and differentiation characteristics of villages are reflected through Geographic Information Systems, spatial syntax, and geographic weighted regression [23][24][25]. At the micro level, the methods to describe the building plane combination and land use mainly include building density, dispersion coefficient, spatial gene, land use Stochastic matrix, etc.…”