What’s Unique About the GMP?

Several agencies, groups, and individuals are involved in mission research.

So what does the Global Mapping Project add that these other groups do not already have?
A unified database (an information bank with data from many sources) that can be updated on an on going basis. The information you want will always be the latest available.

Instant accessibility. No matter where you are in the world, the data can be at your fingertips in a moment,

The ability, through networking, to share data back and forth rapidly and cilicienhly. If information is not already in the Global Database, it may be obtainable directly from the research organization closest to the source.
Technical assistance for those who am starting their own research organizations.

How the GMP Will Make Mission Research More Understandable

Bob Wayrnire says that information collected by mission researchers will become more understandable once the Mapping Project is fully functional because, "besides merely having columns of numbers, now people will be able to see those numbers in graphic form." As manufacturers of digital watches are now discovering, most human beings think analogicatly (visually), not digitally (conceptually). We respond much better to pictures than we do to numbers. We "understand" pictures better.

"Rather than looking at a piece of paper and seeing columns of figures: how many churches they have this year. how many churches they had last year and how many they had five years ago; now they will have it all graphed out in forms when it's very, very easyto make associations and comparisons much easier than with mere columns of figures.

'And not only will they be able to see themselves by themselves, but they will be able to see themselves in the context of the rest of the body of Christ in that nation, or the rest of the body of Christ in the world. They'll be able to compare their current growth rate with their growth rate at other times, or with the growth rate of other groups in other harvests."

The advantage of having all of this information on computer, of course, is that any number of these comparisons, maps, charts and graphs can be created almost instantaneously.