Using GIS Technology to Reach Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Populations

Colombian GIS Expert Carlos Julio Neisa is always looking for innovative ways to use maps and geographic data. To him, GPS coordinates can open up a world of possibilities that allow ACDI/VOCA’s Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Program (ACIP) team to design better programs. Ethnic minority populations are among the most marginalized […]

 •   •   •   •   •   •   •   • 

Backward Compatible: Cybertracker fuses ancient knowledge with cutting-edge technology

Excerpt: CyberTracker creator Louis Liebenberg, a South African scientist and author, first came up with the idea in 1996 while tracking with a group of Kalahari Bushmen. Liebenberg realized that he could help save the Bushmen’s rapidly disappearing knowledge if he could find a way to help trackers, who could […]

 •   •   •   •   • 

Technological Leap-frogging in the Congo Basin, Pygmies and Global Positioning Systems in Central Africa

Abstract It is surprising that many Pygmy hunter-gatherers in the Congo Basin, though unable to read the numbers on banknotes or write their own names, have begun to use handheld computers attached to global positioning systems (GPS). In describing this remarkable case of technological leap-frogging I will summarise the historical context that led to this […]

 •   •   • 

Indigenous communities deploy high-tech mapmaking to staunch global land grab

With governments, loggers, miners and palm oil producers poaching their lands with impunity, indigenous leaders from 17 countries gathered on a remote island in Sumatra this week to launch a global fight for their rights that will take advantage of powerful mapping tools combined with indigenous knowledge to mark traditional […]

 •   •   •   • 

Open Street Map

OpenStreetMap is a free, editable map of the whole world. Unlike proprietary datasets like Google Map Maker, the OpenStreetMap license allows free access to the full map dataset. This massive amount of data can be downloaded in full, but also is available in immediately-useful forms like maps and commercial services. […]

 •   •   •   • 

CyberTracker

CyberTracker Conservation is a South African non-profit company that develops handheld data capture solutions. Their flagship product is called CyberTracker 3 and can be downloaded free from the CyberTracker website. The software itself was first developed as a way to allow non-literate animal trackers to communicate their environmental observations. It […]

 •   •   •   •   • 

Chumpi and the Waterfall: the future of the Achuar of Chicherta

Chumpi and the Waterfall Excerpt from the Achuar movie site: Chumpi and the Waterfall (TeleAndes) was filmed in the Achuar community of Chicherta in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest, the last community on the Huasaga River before the border with Ecuador. This is a headwater area, where the forest is full […]

 •   •   •