GeoMap Computer Cartography and the Atlas

At the end of November, 1996 all Maya Mapping Project funds had been spent. Some back salaries to the GeoMap group were unpaid. This did not come as a surprise. What was surprising was how long the MMP was able to continue by stretching out the funds. Work on the project slowed down and stopped. Charles Tambiah returned to work on his dissertation. Jennie Freeman began work on other projects. Tim Norris continued to work on a volunteer, part-time basis.

Running out of funding is a common hazard in community-based mapping projects. The more participatory, democratic and collaborative a project is, the more it costs. Funding organizations will support expenses for mapping workshops and supplies, but usually will not fund salaries, expensive equipment, overhead and publishing costs. Therefore, it is very difficult for a community-mapping project to overcome funding limitations and to carry through with the original goals, which invariably involve using maps to assert rights to territory and resources. Because of funding limitations, what usually happens is the great enthusiasm from the workshops and all the work and hopes dissapate and are distilled into a couple of hundred copies of one map. The Maya Mapping Project was developed not to simply make maps, but to use mapping to organize the communities, assess the natural and human resources, provide the leadership with a blueprint for sustainable development, authenticate Maya land rights, promote a homeland, conserve one of Central America's most important centers of biodiversity, and to defend against and challenge the invasion of Maya lands by clearcut logging, citrus plantations, plans to site toxic waste disposal centers, and impending International Development Bank (IDB) loans to pave penetration roads.

So, when the money ran out at the end of 1996, we didn't just close up and let the MMP and Maya Atlas project die. By this time the project had become very visible internationally and the story of the Maya vs the Malaysian loggers had been prominently featured in newspapers and news magazines. The IDB loan to Belize to pave the Southern Highway was on hold because of the TMCC, ILRC and the Maya Mapping Project.

Five things happened within the space of five weeks In during February and March, 1997 to recharge the Maya Mapping Project and to production of the Maya Atlas:

1. The Government of Luxembourg provided a grant of $100,000 to TMCC.
2. GeoMap hired two very talented cartographers, Madison Roswell and Steve Rose, to work with Tim Norris on the Atlas.
3. Money from the Pew Charitable Trusts was used by GeoMap to purchase the best computer equipment and software to produce professional quality maps and layouts.
4. A leading alternative press, North Atlantic Books in Berkeley, agreed to publish the Maya Atlas under contractual conditions that are very favorable to TMCC and TAA.
5. The National Geographic Society provided a $25,000 grant to assist publication of the Maya Atlas.

During March through May, missing pieces of the tlas were sent by the Maya leaders and researchers by fax, mail, and DHL. GeoMap cartographers, assisted by volunteers Andrew Nystrum, Amy Moss, and Heidi Quant, worked late hours to enter the pages of text into computer files and layout.