Andy Isaacson has a story in the most recent issue of Wired Magazine on how native tribes in the Amazon basin are fighting back against “developers, ranchers, loggers, miners, oilmen, and biopirates.” They’re using inexpensive GPS units provided by Amazon Conservation Team to map the extent of their lands and help fend off the legal claims of other organizations. Isaacson get’s right at the heart of why participatory mapping is so powerful:

Of course, just because the tribes have mapped the lands doesn’t mean they control all the legal rights to them. But it’s a step in that direction. Suriname now uses maps generated by the Trio and other groups as official government documents. In Ecuador, the Shuar tribe, long embroiled in a struggle with American oil companies, was recently granted title to its communal lands, as mapped by GPS. The massive sandals-on-the-ground charting campaign and delineation of once imprecise boundaries have also given the tribes greater confidence in asserting their interests — in some instances, natives have driven out illegal miners and have established settlements and guard posts on their borders.

In addition to GPS mapping, tribes are using Google Earth as a tool for territorial vigilance. The app’s satellite imagery can identify threats — an encroaching soy farm, say, or a river stained by the runoff from a gold mine. A few tribes in Brazil with Internet access are marking the coordinates of surreptitious activity they see in the images, then investigating on foot or passing the information to government enforcers.

However, Isaacson also points out an interesting twist that I had not contemplated before. Perhaps this mapping might lead these tribes to realize the natural wealth in their forests only to exploit it:

Ultimately, though, this advanced technology may just help the Indians turn on the forest to enrich themselves. (And who can blame them, really?) Carrying a carved wooden cane and wearing slacks, a plaid shirt, and a Casio watch, the Trio’s chief hints at this uncertain future when I ask whether his newfound territorial security makes him more likely to get into the business of extracting natural resources. Education and technology, he says, have helped his tribe make more-responsible decisions. He then adds, “The maps have helped us realize our assets.”

With the Help of GPS, Amazonian Tribes Reclaim the Rain Forest (Wired Magazine)

With the wildfires out of control in Southern California today, two news stations in LA and San Diego have very quickly produced two real-time updated fire maps using Google Maps (LA map and San Diego map). These are exceptionally useful especially for the folks that need news about road closures, evacuation areas, and evacuation centers. Take a look.

San Diego Fire Map (Google Lat Lon Blog)

This morning, Matt Perry (PerryGeo) wrote a how-to for loading a variety of open source GIS packages on the Ubuntu platform.  His instructions apply to the latest Ubuntu release (Gutsy Gibbon – 7.10). Woo Hoo!!!  Perry must have heard the cries from my sleep.  To access his blog entry with full instructions, go to: http://www.perrygeo.net/wordpress/?p=10

Happy Monday!

Earlier this week, I attended a GIS Career Fest at Arizona State University.  There were about 30 vendors with internship and job opportunities for students and new grads and there was a panel discussion about GIS in professional practice.

ESRI was there, of course.  As I talked to each vendor, it was clear that ESRI products are it (as expected).  However, when I listened to the message of the panel (sans the ESRI rep) and spoke to GIS professionals, the message was clear: understand data and be able to work with databases.  The panel further agreed that having a masters degree in GIS might not even get someone a foot in the door toward getting hired.  YIKES!  I even met a guy that got hired with only EXCEL experience and learned GIS (aka ESRI software) on the job.  Even more exciting was a fellow that flies helicopters and digitizes forest fires and bark beetle destruction, literally, on-the-fly!

So, to my point…academia has loads of interesting and challenging problems for students to solve, but it appears they are missing the mark on training students for practical application. GIS technology is popping up so frequently, and rapidly, that it seems like the single-software crowd is behind-the-times and they’re just leaving the gate!  I want to see GIS in every circle of society and hope that one day, a majority of staffers anywhere understand mapping and can create a map mashup as easily as they can type up a cover letter or navigate a website.

So, the next time you create a map, I challenge you to try doing it in a new software or just create it in a database and query from there.  This won’t result in an exciting user-interface, but it will surely move you forward and prepare you for the next generation of technological innovation.

Author disclosure: I am the first to whine about doing something in a new software because I feel I never have the time…that’s an issue for my time management. In the end, I am always happy that I learned something new and remind myself that my Dad still has trouble with his remote control!!

I came across this interesting project today called the San Francisco Emotion Map, which the website describes as:

“a participatory mapping project by Christian Nold and commissioned by Southern Exposure. People go for a walk around the Mission district in San Francisco with the aid of a Bio Mapping device which records the wearer’s Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), which is a simple indicator of emotional arousal in conjunction with their geographical location. This can be used to plot an ‘emotion map’ that highlights point of high and low arousal. By sharing and reflecting on this data, we can construct maps that visualize where we as a community feel stressed and excited.”

You can get a PDF copy of what the end product map looks like here, along with the Google Earth KMZ file here. The results are what you might expect – people are stimulated by commercial corridors like Valencia and Mission Streets or at stunning view points and pretty calm on the mostly residential streets. What’s interesting to me are the outlier points where people had unexpected reactions, like on 25th St. where the person says “Really nice, clean neighborhood up here with good garbage separation.” I also like that this project purposefully got particpants to walk to other parts of their neighborhood and record what they were feeling. It’s a simple idea, but I think it’s a very powerful one.

San Francisco Emotion Map

We at NiJeL have always thought that it’s ridiculous for cell service providers in the U.S. to have that ability to provide GPS services, but not to roll them out because they haven’t yet found a way to make money. So, it serves them right that Google could very well scoop them on providing free or low cost GPS navigation in their new cell software. Many cell phones already have GPS devices, but the cell phone’s software (controlled by the cell service providers in the U.S. like Verizon and AT&T) doesn’t access that GPS device. Google’s new operating system and software for mobile phones could change all that. Google is ready now to offer local navigation services for little or no cost in exchange for location-based advertising. In this case, the ad revenue model is working more efficiently than the revenue model the cell providers have attempted so far – make folks pay for their GPS. Verizon charges $9.99 a month for the software to access to the GPS that’s already on your phone.

For NiJeL, we’re cheering for Google, mostly because their operating system is likely to be open source and freely avialable, will run Google apps, and might just break though in providing GPS to the masses. That means a map-literate public, and makes our participatory mapping projects much more feasible, especially in poor countries where cell phones are ubiquitous.

Google, Mozilla, and the Open Source Phone (New York Times Bits Blog)

As we noted on the NiJeL News site, we will be presenting “What Mapping Can Do For Your Nonprofit (With Data You Already Have)” at the next NPower Arizona Tech Tuesday Brown Bag Seminar on Tuesday, October 23 at 11:30am. Come join us at the Family Involvement Center (1430 E Indian School Rd, Suite #110 Phoenix, AZ 85014; directions) to learn about the basics of geographic information systems (GIS) and maps, why mapping can be an important tool for nonprofit organizations, and how you can get started right now with your existing data. If you are interested in learning how to visualize your data like never before, answer fundamental questions, or tell compelling stories about your programs through maps, join us for the next NPower Arizona Tech Tuesday!