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Appreciating Difference -- Indigenous Mapping With Google Earth and MyMaps

Brian Thom, Anthropology, University of Victoria

Raleigh Seamster, Google

IGU-CAG-NCGE Meetings, Québec, 07-08 August 2018

Link to this presentation:

https://goo.gl/J1E4wd

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Coast Salish peoples of southwest British Columbia, Canada

Cowichan Tribes

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Itelmen Peoples, Kamchatka (Russia)

Cowichan Tribes

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Vital Indigenous landscapes ...

Roe Islet

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...are challenged by ongoing land and resource development

Hul’qumi’num peoples at the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (2007)

Stz’uminus First Nation challenge state licensing of geoduck fishery

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Historic land grants alienated territorial lands to private interests

E&N Railway Grant, 1884

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non-recognition of Indigenous peoples land rights at root of social problems

Ongoing housing crisis on Cowichan Reserve lands

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Indigenous knowledge holders continue to shape territorial decisions

Halalt First Nation leaders at Chemainus River estuary

Hul’qumi’num Elders guide Indigenous decision-making

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...and make powerful maps

Straits Salish Territories in Google Earth

Stz’uminus Elder Manny Sampson mapping with UVic EML’s Amy Becker

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Place Names & Storied Places Mapping

Archaeological Site Mapping

non-Western spatial expressions

Remote Sensing (Satellite) Mapping

Land Use

Plan

Mapping

Educational Mapping

Ethno-historic Record Mapping

Territory & Land Tenure Mapping

Land Use and Occupancy Mapping

Indigenous Mapping in

Practice

Life

Projects

Property & and Tenure

Protected Areas

Local Livelihoods & Food

Politics of

Resource Extraction

Cultural Heritage

Inter- legalities

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Map Biographies in Google Earth

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Elders guiding Direct-to-Digital mapping in Google Earth

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digital mapping of indigenous land use & occupancy in Kamchatka, Russia

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https://sites.google.com/site/kamchatkamapping/karty---maps

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Coast Salish Land Use & Occupancy on Saltspring Island

Anth 460 project by Britney Oswell

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Significant Places mapping projects in Google Earth

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Grad student Amy Becker and Danny Elliott working on Stz’uminus Storied Places

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Stz’uminus Stories Places Project (https://goo.gl/ppaZ3a)

UVic Anth MA Student

Amy Becker &

Stz’uminus Youth

Coordinator

Shirley Louie

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Ethnographic Mapping in the Archives:

Two Houses Half-Buried in Sand

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Indigenous Place Names

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detail of Hul’q’umi’num’ Place Names map, courtesy of HTG�

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SENĆOŦEN Place Names by Dave Elliott, WSÁNEĆ

Anth 460 map by James Rogers

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Hul’qumi’num Placenames (for Grade 4, SD68)

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Putting historic and ongoing land alienation in context

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clear-cutting on private lands held by forest companies

Clearcut on private forest lands, Stz’uminus territories (Ladysmith)

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Industrial softwood lumber extraction of private forest lands

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Private mining, oil and gas interests without free, prior & informed consent

State-regulated mineral extraction limit territorial access

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Extensive urban development in culturally vital coastal and valley lands

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Ongoing conflicts desecration and destruction of ancestral and sacred sites

Cowichan protest to protect Ye’yumnuts ancestral site

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Major projects triggering environmental assessment demand Indigenous action

Crofton Pulp Mill,

Chemainus Estuary

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Extensive wild marine harvesting closures from contaminants and private tenures

Contaminated shellfish harvest area at Sunuwnets

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freshwater licence & tenures without free, prior & informed consent

Halalt First Nation protest of groundwater extraction, 2010

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More MyMaps illustrating indigenous territorial challenges!

https://sites.google.com/view/htgcasestudy

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Legacies of colonial mapping...

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Legacies of ethnographic mapping...

Boas 1887

Rozen 1985

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Addressing privacy, sharing sensitively

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Protective sensitive locations through imprecise mapping

https://sites.google.com/view/htgcasestudy/ancestral-site-conflicts

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Keeping data off-line: KML files in Google Earth Pro

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Keeping data obscure: network links in Google Earth Pro

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Keeping data obscure: network links in Google Earth Pro

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Keeping detailed Use and Occupancy data private

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Keeping detailed Use and Occupancy data private

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Stz’uminus elders sharing their stories of the cultural landscape

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Other UVic Projects: Innovations in Ethnographic Mapping

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Re-storying the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve

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Examples of other ongoing projects (continued…)

Tla’amin Nation Contemporary Use Survey�

Using SurveyMonkey, Fusion Tables and Google Earth Pro to share & enhance community practice of modern-day treaty rights

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Using maps, video, audio podcasts, interactive digital timelines and storybook to accompany a landscaped archaeological park area, this project provides resources for school teachers to ignite place-based learning.

Commemorating Ye’yumnuts: A curriculum development

project at a Cowichan Tribes ancestral site

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School curriculum using web maps

UVic JCURA scholar

Aviva Lessard

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Remote Sensing Lhuq’us (red laver): seaweed, bitumen, and Hul’q’umi’num’ knowledge

In the face of increased marine tanker traffic, climate change, and other forces on their territories, Indigenous communities in the Salish Sea are working to document culturally significant species and monitor the effects of these developments on them.

Using drone flights and satellite imagery to automate the mapping of these species in Google Earth Engine, our project works to reinvigorate and recirculate Indigenous knowledges about culturally significant species and places, and build local technical expertise for long-term environmental monitoring.

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Examples of other projects by Ethnographic Mapping Lab Faculty & Graduate students

ČaɁak (Islands): Visitor Experience in PacRimNPR

UVic MA Student

Kelda Larsen

Toronto Zoo Turtle Island Conservation�

Wikwemikong First Nation

Dokis First Nation

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Coast Salish Cultural Landscapes Street View Gallery

http://www.google.com/maps/streetview/#coast-salish-cultural-landscapes

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