Field Papers

Target SDGs

Target Users (Target Impact Group)

Household, Community, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Public Sector Agencies

Distributors / Implementing Organizations

Anyone who has a computer, internet access, and a printer can create an atlas and print it off. Visit the Field Papers website, make an atlas, make take notes and observations and upload the photo of your atlas.

Manufacturing/Building Method

Field Papers is built on Python, Javascript and Ruby on Rails. It utilizes Devise for managing users and Leaflet for it's interactive maps. More details available on their GitHub page

Intellectural Property Type

Open-source

User Provision Model

Users obtain the tool by accessing it online and downloading the resulting atlas and uploading the image with the notations.

Distributions to Date Status

The first version of Field Papers was launched in May 2012, in partnership with Caerus Associates. In June of 2013, Stamen Design relaunched the site in collaboration with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with major improvements to site performance, new metrics on atlas creation, as well as a general usability upgrade. There have been over 100,000 atlases created on the Field papers site.

Design Specifications

These photographs are called "snapshots" on the site. When a user uploads a snapshot, it's connected automatically to the atlas from whence it came. Users can transcribe any notes they made in the field into Field Papers (as points or areas) and share the results or download their notes for later analysis.

Product Schematics

Technical Support

For step by step instructions for how to use Field Papers users can refer to the OpenStreetMap Wiki page Contributors or users can report bugs on their GitHub page

Replacement Components

Not Applicable

Lifecycle

Not Applicable

Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters

Field Papers is designed to print out custom maps and enable users to capture data that has been collected in the field. The tool was designed to be easy to use, and compatible with OpenStreetMap and offline OpenStreetMap editors.

Vetted Performance Status

Over 100,000 atlases have been created on the site

Safety

Not applicable

Complementary Technical Systems

OpenStreetMap, OSMAnd

Academic Research and References

Compliance with regulations

Not applicable

Evaluation methods

Field trials

Other Information

• - USAID - Field Papers Overview
• - USAID - How to Make an Atlas
• - USAID - How to Upload a Snapshot