Validation of three geolocation strategies for health-facility attendees for research and public health surveillance in a rural setting in western Kenya

STRESMAN, G. H.; STEVENSON, J. C.; OWAGA, C.; MARUBE, E.; ANYANGO, C.; DRAKELEY, C.; BOUSEMA, T.; COX, J.

The participatory mapping exercise also has notable limitations. It requires that a map of the study area be available and that there are personnel familiar with the area capable of interpreting satellite imagery. Key features must be identifiable on the map to help orient readers. Although the age difference here was not significant, younger generations may also be more map literate than older generations. High-resolution satellite imagery can be expensive to acquire, up to several thousand US dollars [25] ; however, free imagery with good resolution is becoming more widely available for even remote areas in rural and low-income settings and a similar exercise could be conducted using web-based platforms as is increasingly being utilized for disaster response [33] [34] [35] . Further, depending on the size of the area of interest, it may be possible to create a schematic map of the area using local knowledge [10] .