This guide outlines resource mapping using the Community Information Platform (CIP) method, focusing on creating referral maps that help individuals access community resources. It highlights the importance of understanding community strengths and provides a structured approach to cataloging these resources through taxonomies for better navigation and accessibility. By mapping resources effectively, communities can empower their members and streamline the process of finding necessary services.

1. Better Information By Design
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Draft

2. Introduction
This guide explains the process of resource mapping with the CIP method.
Resource mapping is one of many techniques used in community engagement
and development.
In this guide we will focus on the making of referral maps: these are maps that
signpost users to resources. In order to refer people to services it is necessary
to first map the resources you want to signpost them too. A CIP resource map
is immediately useful as a referral map.
The terms ‘services’ and ‘resources’ may be used interchangeably.
The Purpose of Resource Mapping
Resource mapping provides information about the strengths and assets of a
community and can help uncover solutions. Once community strengths and
resources are inventoried and depicted in a map, you can more easily think
about how to build on these assets to address community needs. Also resource
mapping promotes community involvement, ownership, and empowerment.
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3. Reasons to make resource referral maps
Because it can help people find what they need.
Referral maps enable the non-expert to point
people to the right resources.
Referral maps cut down the 'run-around' from pillar
to post looking for information.
Referral maps enable people to find information
without computers or having to ask someone,
which discloses personal information.
Maps make providers of information more
effective.
To audit provision of services.
The promise and delivery of services don't always
match. What is supposed to be available
somewhere is sometimes not. Those responsible
for commissioning and assuring the quality of those
services need to know.
Information about services is often out of date.
Services distribute leaflets, posters and information
when they launch but don't take them back when
they close down.
The distribution of information, posters, leaflets
very often doesn't match the service area.
Resource mapping combines people's knowledge
from different perspectives so they learn from each
other.
To uncover the relationship or potential between
services.
To uncover the potential of combining resources.
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4. What is a community resource?
A community resource or asset is anything that improves the quality of
community life. They include:
The capacities and abilities of people in the community.
A physical structure or place. For example, a school, village hall, church, library,
recreation centre or social club.
Physical features within the community. For example, fields, woodland, streams,
rivers.
A business that provides jobs and supports the local economy.
Associations of citizens. For example, a Good Neighbour Scheme, or Parent
Teacher Association or sports club.
Local private, public, and voluntary and community sector organizations.
Resources in the community such as shops, banks, post boxes, bus shelters and
noticeboards.
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5. When starting a resource referral mapping project, these things should be
agreed:
1. What is the boundary of the map?
The parish boundary or the postcode work well.
2. Who will do the work?
Expect more people to join when you’ve mapped their skills.
3. How much time will you spend?
One to four weeks should be enough.
4. What financial resources can you count on?
You will need tea and biscuits for volunteers and money for printing and
distributing the map.
5. What will you do with the results?
Is the map for referral, auditing or development or all three?
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6. Most maps we are familiar with are a two dimensional
geographic map of three dimensional spaces but maps don't
have to represent geography and can still be useful; such as
maps of networks
The Tube Map is a 'network' map that shows the rail lines and
their connections to each with very little regard to the actual
geography of London.
Another way to represent the relationships of things to each
other is the 'mind-map' where broader concepts lead to other
concepts which explains or otherwise dissects an issue.
Map types
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7. Similar to a mind-map in format but closer to a
'network' map is 'structured referral' map. They
show you what resources you are looking for.
Every map user starts from a common point
and by identifying the features of their needs,
they can identify the resource that matches
their need.
The essential concept to understand on how
they work is a referral map has a 'Taxonomy', a
set of rules for classifying things and
distinguishing them from another. When one
feature of the resource matches what the user
wants, the user moves forward to find another
feature until they reach the end; the resources
they want.
In a taxonomy we identify what features of a
resource are the same as other resources and
what features make that resource different
from others. When the feature matches what
the user wants, the user moves forward to look
at another feature which distinguishes the
resource from other resources, while it has a
feature in common with all of them.
You can also imagine information as a family
tree. Every feature that separates one type of
resource from another resource has a common
ancestor, though these subsequent feature
may be very different from the ancestor.
Structured referral mapping
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8. Structured referral map as poster
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9. The Dewey taxonomy In the Dewey system every taxon has only ten branches and every
branch beneath that another ten. Instead of names, each taxon is a
number with a decimal place. By classifying a place in the taxonomy
with a decimal number, every number indicates its taxonomic hierarchy.
Thus we know that every taxon 6 ?? is the subject of technology, 63? is
agriculture and so on.
This very useful for sorting books back onto a shelf or directing
someone to a shelf in a library.
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10. The different branches in a taxonomy are called the
Taxons. The branches have names and remain in a fixed
order.
Of Life forms there are 3 Domains: Archaea, Bacteria,
and Eukarya.
In each of the Domains are Kingdoms. Eukarya has 6
Kingdoms: Archaebacteria, Eubacteria, Protista, Fungi,
Plantae, and Animalia. The other Domains have two
other Kingdoms each.
In every Kingdom there are the Phlya. In the Plantae
Kingdom there are 12 types of Phyla. In the Animalia
Kingdom there 35 types of Phyla. Of these, nine include
over 96% of animal species.
In each of those Phyla there are types of Class.
In those Classes are Orders.
In those Orders are Families.
In those Families are types of Genera.
In all the Genera are estimated to be around 600
million Species.
Around 6% of existing Species on land and 91% of
Species in the ocean still await classification.
There's a lot still to do!
A living thing can only belong to one branch of each
taxonomic classification. And the classification that
determines each branch only exists under another.
For example, we haven't yet found a mammal that
is a plant.
In some genera there are many species and in
some genera there are very few species.
Taxonomy of life sciences
eol.org
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11. USA Taxonomy of resources and services
A taxonomy of service classifications in wide use in the USA and
Canada is the AIRS211 Taxonomy of Human Services in which
every service is defined in ever more inclusive categories with in a
numerical system. It combines the benefits of the Dewey system
in naming the Taxon.
Then each section branches into up to six increasingly narrow classification levels:
B Basic Needs
BD Food
BD-1800 Emergency Food
BD-1800.2000 Food Banks
BD-1800.2000-620 Ongoing Emergency Food Assistance
Each term has a unique identification number – its taxonomy code – that represents its exact
placement in the hierarchy
There are 9 overall categories of service:
B Basic Needs
D Consumer Services
F Criminal Justice and Legal Services
H Education
J Environmental Quality
L Health Care
N Income Support and Employment
P Individual and Family Life
R Mental Health Care and Counselling
T Organizational/Community/International Services 11

12. CIP taxonomy of community resources
The CIP method combines taxonomic classification with
descriptive data, e.g. the organisation’s name is not a taxon nor is
the description of the service. The ‘category’ taxon can have a
‘sub-category’ taxon as well. Both these taxon however are
usually descriptions of users’ need.
Taxon in a structured vocabulary Data in a unstructured vocabulary
Taxonomy
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13. TYPE - what kind of user (who the map is for)
LOCATION - where (accessible from) This can be combined with TYPE
CATEGORY - what need
SUB-CATEGORY (optional)
BASIS - why or how
ORGANISATION - who
DELIVERY - when/how
SERVICE - what help
DETAIL – (IPSV)
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14. what and where of the
users can be combined
The general
classification of
service /needs
A specialism in the
master category that
makes it different to
the others
The basis of
provision
The name of
the provider
Where or how
of user access
The actual
service that
meets a need
detail to
distinguish
further
can have more
or less
categories
CIP taxonomy of community resources
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15. Subject &
location of
map The general
classification of
the service
A sub-category by a
specialism
The basis of
provision
The name of
the provider
how delivered
The actual
service that
meets a need
Taxon in a structured vocabulary
Data in a
unstructured
vocabulary
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16. name
basis
category
organisation
sub category
delivery
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17. freemind.sourceforge.net
To begin mapping you need to install Freemind on a computer
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18. Launch Freemind.
Under File in the top menu bar select
'new'
Or use Control+N on your keyboard.
The screen opens with 'new mindmap'
within a circle. This first 'node' is the
centre of your map.
Select with the left button of your mouse
the 'new mindmap' circle and you can
edit the name of the circle.
To add nodes, select 'insert' from the top
left menu. Click on this drop down menu
to 'new child'
Or just use the 'insert' key on your
keyboard
Or select the circle and click the right
button of your mouse and then select
'new child node' from the pop up menu.
Any new node will be added as a child of
the last node selected.
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19. Maps can be created from any text list.
Just remember “Root, Child, Child”
Every ‘child’ needs to have a ‘tab’ before it and a ‘return’ after it.
<Root> return
tab <Child> return
tab, tab <Child> return
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20. Make a mind-map with ‘FOOD’ at the
centre.
Then write a list in a simple word
processer (like Notepad) with a tab
before every subcategory and a return
after each.
Fruit <return>
<tab> apple <return>
orange
tomato
Vegetable
broccoli
cabbage
cauliflower
Dairy
milk
cream
butter
cheese
Copy+Paste the list onto FOOD
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21. You can add a map of a
point/address to a node in a
Freemind map.
In the "Tools" menu under
"Show Map" (Ctrl+Alt+M) to
open the map viewer and
double click on a location of the
Open Street Map. You can
search for the name of the
location using the geographical
find Ctrl+F.
You can navigate to the map
and double click the cross hairs.
The node edit window appears
where you can enter its
description. Close the OSM.
On the mind map a new child
with this location will have been
created with the earth icon. You
can move the child to the
appropriate place on the tree.
Geographic Tagging
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22. SCIE
1. benefits and personal finance
2. criminal justice, law and rights
3. education, training and employment
4. families, children and young people
5. government and social policy
6. health and health care
7. housing and environment
8. living and life events
9. management and organisational
development
10. mental health & care
11. people, groups and communities
12. physical and learning disabilities
13. research and evaluation
14. social care services
15. social work and social workers
IPSV
Education and skills (439)
Housing (460)
Environment (499)
Transport and infrastructure (521)
Health, well-being and care (557)
Public order, justice and rights (564)
Leisure and culture (616)
Life in the community (642)
Science, technology and innovation (652)
Business and industry (692)
Economics and finance (726)
Information and communication (758)
Govt, politics & public admin (760)
International affairs and defence (911)
Employment, jobs and careers (981)
People and organisations (6999)
AIRS 211
B Basic Needs
D Consumer Services
F Criminal Justice and Legal Services
H Education
J Environmental Quality
L Health Care
P Individual and Family Life
N Income Support and Employment
R Mental Health Care and Counselling
T Organizational/Community/International
Services
Y Target Populations
Taxonomies
The master categories of these taxonomies can guide you in deciding where a ‘service’ belongs
and a structured vocabulary to use. Just be consistent and only use one.
The Cabinet Office no longer supports
IPSV and often more specific vocabularies
are used in different parts of
government.
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23. IPSV categories
Each of the 16 master categories in
the IPSV taxonomy have many sub-
categories.
The 16 top level terms leads to
another 3080 ‘preferred’ drilling
down to a maximum of eight sub-
categories.
The numbers assigned to each
category are not structured like
Dewey or AIRS 211 but the headings
can be used as a guide to
structuring the referral path.
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24. http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/ipsv/2.00/
From this website you can download the IPSV in various formats
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25. Every service or resource has different
‘modalities’ which influence whether that service
or resource is appropriate for the users needs.
When classifying a service and putting it onto a
resource map, you should try to identify these
modalities as well as capture the information of
where it is and how to contact it.
services - what an organisation does
type - what an organisation is
format - how a service is delivered
target - who the organisation serves
location - where the service is delivered
time - when the service is available
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26. Location
The key criteria for inclusion of a resource on a map is
whether the resource is accessible to the user in the
map’s defined boundaries.
A resource that is not readily accessible from the user’s
location (such as the town that the map covers) is not a
resource of that community.
If there is an access criteria or restriction, such as
requiring independent transport, then that should that
should be recorded on in the ‘delivery’ category and so
distinguished from other services of the same type and
basis.
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27. If there are a large number of potential entries,
you can use MS Excel to set up a columnar
spreadsheet of the classification system and
the sort functions of MS Excel to order them.
While you are compiling data it is likely that
every entry will fall under the A column 'type &
location' but if you are making several maps at
once, you may need to enter it under different
headings.
The B column category would vary often as an
organisation could offer several different
services in different classifications but there
will likely be several entries that have the same
classification.
Similarly the C column will vary according to
the classification but there may be multiple
entries with this classification.
The D heading will typically be 'charity' or
'statutory' or 'community' even 'informal'
depending on the status of the organisation or
provider.
Heading E will be very variable as it is the
providers name.
Similarly F will be 'telephone' or 'in-home' or
the default (blank) at the premises of the
organisation.
Heading G will describe the service and H will
describe times, place and so forth.
You can use the sort function of MS Excel to
arrange the entries under their Taxons, the first
4 is usually sufficient.
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28. When lists are sorted by the taxonomy, it is easier then to cut and paste them into
Freemind.
Or you can paste from MS Excel into a text editor to manually add tabs to establish the
parent – child relationships and then paste into Freemind
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29. 29
This is an example of a CIP map showing
the resources of the Going Green
Transport Partnership.
The organisation’s aim are to influence
transport provision so it needs to know
who has influence on provision and who
can provides the resources it needs.
Each useful contact or resource is first
categorised by the geographic size or
range of their influence.
Under that area of influence, each person
is listed by the role that is useful to the
partnership.
The map is never complete. Where there
are gaps can indicate the priority areas
for development.
Funders can have wide footprints for eligibility so
they might be placed according to their areas of
interest but their grants are rarely delivered over a
wide area so should be placed according where
they impact.

30. Planning with taxonomy
Besides the simplicity in explaining options
or signposting to services, the CIP method
has other advantages: for a map produced
in this structured way of one locality is
easily compared to a map of another if their
taxonomy is the same.
Not only does this mapping method show
where there are knowledge gaps, if similar
information from another locality is
mapped with the same structure; the
difference in provision types and their
access routes are graphically and
numerically obvious. Real insight comes
with being able to
compare one place to another with exacting
specificity.
The taxonomy structure allows the analysis
to both roll-up and drill down the provision
categories, be it the broad category of
health, or the subsets
of mental health, elder care and so on.
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31. Publishing maps
Freemind maps can be printed onto paper or hosted on the web or on a computer in their native formats.
Web map users can open and close branches as they can in the native programme.
To make a paper map; under the file menu, set the print scaling to one page, open all branches of the map and export as a PDF.
For web use, go to file > export > as java applet. Further instructions are in Freemind’s help menu depending on version used.
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