Africamap features : Mali

Throughout the process of using Africamap to discover my area of interest, Mali, I found the "Map Layers" function to be the most useful one to grasp the overall, and broader division of the area. I am not sure if we could edit the transparency or opacity of these Map Layers on Africamap, so I found it easier and more productive to download the 3D Map onto Google Earth, since I could easily manipulate multiple layers' opacities and priorities there.

The first feature that I wanted to learn about Mali was its political freedom / level of democracy, and conveniently, Map Layers has a layer on Index of African Governance. Here is a screenshot of how the Africamap "Map Layers" look on Google Earth for Mali, while zooming into the Mali area:

Mali, IAG Map Layers on Google Earth.

Refer back to the Legend link of IAG on Africamap, I see that Mali receives a score of 51-60 out of the 18-85 scale, positioning itself on the middle range level. Another useful feature here is the "Reference" link which allows me to read more about the indices and measurement methods. From here, I was able to look up the particular score of Mali, which is 55.9, ranked 23 out of 48 countries listed. By viewing the historical development of the IAG indices, I was also able to detect the trend of its political situation: It received a score of 49.6 in 2000 to the most recent score 55.9 in 2008, proving a promising development. This report was so detailed that I could view the components of this IAG index, which shows that Mali excels itself in Safety and Security (77.8) while lacking in Sustainable Economic Develpment (31.4). While haven't dwelled into Mali's landscape/art scenes, these indices make me wonder if the slow economic development would help Mali's art to preserve its nativity.

Following the procedures that I used above, I continued to play around with other Map Layers functions available and combine the few interesting ones together on Google Earth; here is one that is of very different nature and time period from the IAG that I listed above - Inheritance rule for real property:

Inheritance for Real Property, Mali, Google Earth

This was interesting because of two reasons: firstly, it was from data based on 1959; I thought it could become handy in the future when I had to explore some landscape or artifacts in a much older period. Secondly, I was very intrigued by the data itself : I was expecting some pretty much unified data on Mali. I.e. I thought that the Inheritance rules would be pretty much the same all over the country, and was expecting deviance only across countries. This shows me that Mali is actually such a diverse country with countless groups, and changed my original thought of thinking that landscape/artifacts would be similar as long as they are from the same birth place. This was a useful experience with Africa Map and I am confident that it will help me to stratify and narrow down my studies in the future.