In the Philippines, maps and models produced for establishing Ancestral Domain Claims built public support for the passage of the Indigenous People's Rights Act in 1997. Users can see and feel the contours of every mountain range and river valley. Two-dimensional maps cannot match their impact and appeal. Compared to data appearing on a planimetric map, a relief model facilitates assimilation, interpretation and understanding. When dealing with remoter and extensive areas, P3-D models remove logistical constraints to public participation in land and resource use planning and management.
Relief models allow stakeholders to get a first time factual perception of their location.
For Collaborative Research Relief models facilitate selective pinpointing of resources, households and other features. Alone or combined with GIS, they turn local knowledge into public knowledge and conceivably out of local control. PLA Practitioners, planners, researchers and facilitators should be aware of these possible drawbacks and be careful in the application of the process. Plotting the habitats of endangered species, or the location of hardwoods, or other resources in demand on the black market, should be done with caution and behind closed doors in the course of focus groups discussions. Involving communities in developing management, zoning and resource use plans, geo-referencing their priorities, aspirations, concerns and needs.