[MUSIC PLAYING]
RALEIGH SEAMSTER: Hi, everyone.
I'm Raleigh, and I'd like to welcome you all to our live Q&A
today.
I'm here with Alta, Nosi, Steve, Moka, Vasco,
Joseph, and Michaela, who you all probably already know
from the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities panel
earlier today.
Thanks for coming back, everyone,
to take some questions from our audience.
So over the past hour or so, the Geo for Good community
has been watching and asking some great questions
for you all.
We're really excited to answer these questions.
If you're watching and you still have more questions,
it's not too late.
You can submit your questions right below the video.
So with that, let's start out.
One thing that I was really impressed
by after hearing from all of you on the panel
is really hearing from you how important it
is that when these mapping projects happen,
it's not just about consulting Indigenous
and local communities or engaging with them,
but how critical it is that the communities themselves
are really holding the pen, or the ones
driving Google Earth and really in the driver's seat.
And so maybe, Michaela, I'll start with you.
But I'm just curious if you could talk a little bit more
about why it's so important that the community
members themselves are really driving this map making.
MICHAELA SHIRLEY: Awesome.
Thank you, Raleigh.
So it's really important for communities
to possess the information that they're
generating about themselves for themselves
because oftentimes they get mapped out of maps
where territories are erased.
And that's because there's probably
some political intentions behind that,
why they're not being captured in that particular map.
And also on the other side, they're
probably mapping some really important data related to areas
that they want to protect, or areas
that they're foraging or gathering
different medicinal herbs, which then could be translated
for generations to come.
And so we're very visual learners
when it comes to our ability to learn and understand
our landscapes a little bit better.
And maps definitely help us do that.
And so it's really critical for us
to be able to author our own maps
and become the experts in those map making skills.
Because it's critical for just the salvation of our peoples,
but then also to keep that knowledge to ourselves.
RALEIGH SEAMSTER: Thank you, Michaela.
Thanks.
So we have another question from the audience.
This question actually is for Andrew, from Lil.
And Andrew wasn't able to join us
on the panel today because of this
being not a great time for Australia,
but I'm going to ask it anyways.
So Lil says, ""[INAUDIBLE] everyone.
Being remote, no reception, and rural
is challenging in some of the places we live and are mapping.
And I'm interested to know what people
are using in terms of on-site field monitoring
tools such as ODK, and which ones they found
are most effective and easy to use with communities."
And she asked a bit about Fulcrum, which I know
is quite a popular tool in Australia.
Maybe we'll try to get Andrew to address that later in writing.
But maybe, Nosi, if I could toss this question to you.
I know that ODK was a huge part of your mapping work
alongside Google Earth with the Tsitsa project.
And I'm curious if you can kind of tell us a little bit more
about how you used ODK with Google Earth
and with the communities.
NOSISEKO MTATI: OK, I'll try my best.
So for us, ODK is working better when there's no connectivity
because you can still get an accurate geolocation point
and collect your data without losing
the information on the form.
And then you just save that on your device that you're using,
whether it's a tablet or your phone.
And then when you do have connectivity--
so you have to know a spot where there's better connectivity--
and then you can send the form, and then
it be on the online database.
Otherwise, we also have people that
go out into the field that link up with those people that
have those forms on their phones in case
they didn't have data at all, because sometimes that's
unpredictable-- connectivity, that is.
Then that person just downloads those forms directly
onto a computer, and it doesn't need any network.
And then those forms are then saved and stored
in a safe place.
So that's how we use it.
We don't directly use the ODK platform to collect, to map,
because it is mostly used, in our case, to collect data,
but suspended sediment in our catchment,
so in our tributaries.
So yeah, that's how we use it.
RALEIGH SEAMSTER: Wonderful.
And a kind of related comment from Robin A. in the Q&A,
who says, "Google Earth Pro is great for my project
because it can be used when you're in remote areas
and have no internet connection."
And so Steve, actually I was wondering
if you could comment a little bit more
on how you use Google Earth Pro in remote communities
where there is no internet connection.
Firelight-- and I know others on the panel
have a lot of experience with this, but Steve,
could you kind of add anything about that?
STEVE DEROY: Yeah.
So what we've found is a really good way
to work in a remote setting is that you
can download the cache.
You pre-fly your area of interest
that you might be doing mapping in.
And what we typically do is we try to understand, OK,
where is the study area that we're going to be focusing on.
And then we build a number of paths
that cover the entire study area that we want to focus on.
And we'll clear the cache out of Google Earth,
and then we'll set the settings so
that we can maximize the amount of cache that
gets stored on your laptop of the imagery,
maximize the amount of RAM.
And then we literally press play--
we create a folder of all the paths in the folder,
and then we press play, and it literally
flies across those paths.
It goes in order from one path to the next.
And you can preset the flight speed,
depending on what your internet connection is.
And what it does allow you to do is
be able to then gather that area of interest imagery,
close your laptop, go to the community
where there's no internet, open up your laptop,
and be able to then do the mapping in that area
where you might not have internet.
So that's a feature that we've managed to work around
without having the internet connection, and that
seems to work really, really well for us, because then we
can still have that really rich imagery,
have a really nice picture to work on, and then still carry
out the mapping and putting the place marks, paths,
and polygons onto the map.
RALEIGH SEAMSTER: Amazing.
Thank you, Steve.
So now we have another question from the Q&A
from David A. And Moka, I might direct this to you.
So David wants to know, when you're
doing this type of mapping work, has it
been done in a large public meeting setting?
And if so, how does your process change
from when you're talking to a single person in an interview,
very intimate, to trying to do this mapping
work in a large, more public meeting setting?
MOKA APITI: It's a lot of fun, to be honest.
Well, it can be quite stressful.
Generally, you'll have a facilitator.
So in a collective setting, you still
set up similar to what Steve's done in the direct
to digital process.
You just have someone at the front facilitating
that process, and you've just got community engagement.
So the community collectively agrees around
what these places are that you're identifying,
what you want to look at doing, how
do you want to visualize the different sites, what
do you want to put on a map.
So rather than an individual interview,
where you're actually mapping each individual point,
when you've got collective engagement
and you're in a large setting, you're
pretty much validating that process straight there,
and you can go through.
So when we've done kids engagement,
all the kids have been able to go out, click the sites,
put them up onto a map, and then I've been able to arrange them.
And it just takes a little bit more time,
but it's actually quite rewarding
when you're doing that.
RALEIGH SEAMSTER: Amazing.
Thank you.
So then we have a comment from Scott H. in the Q&A,
who wants to ask Steve, "Will Isabel
be the moderator for the Geo for Good Summit 2031?
Survey says, "yes."
I've been showing my daughters a lot of the functionality."
So Steve, is Isabel going to be joining Firelight as a mapper?
STEVE DEROY: I hope so.
If you watch the video--
as I was doing the video with her and the mapping with her,
I noticed the change in her face.
And I think we've all had that experience with Google Earth
or with Google mapping tools, is that you look at the map
and you find your house.
In that case, she found her cabin.
And she was able to--
what it did was it opened up this whole world
that she knew of that place, and all these memories.
And you could actually see it on her face,
which was really exciting.
And so I hope that that's inspired
her to become a mapper.
I'd love, I mean, for her to walk
in my footsteps, which would be fun, and then run way past me.
She's phenomenal.
So hopefully she's at a future Geo for Good.
RALEIGH SEAMSTER: Amazing.
On a similar note, Joseph, I actually
wanted to ask you-- because a lot of the projects you talked
about were really about engaging the younger
generation and their culture, in history, in the mapping work.
And I'm just curious if you could say a little bit more
about how maps can be helpful with that intergenerational
knowledge transfer.
JOSEPH ERB: Yeah.
So one of the things that I think
that's been so beneficial for us when we're making maps
is to take information and have the students and our youth
be involved in not only utilizing the information,
but being a part of putting extra stuff on there.
Some of the programs that we do, like the Remember
the Removal Ride, having that--
allowing extra editors and people to stick on this,
we allow the students to add additional information
and content.
And so you find really historical events
that the students are learning throughout the six months
before the training, and they're able to allow that on there.
And so when we geolocate that stuff
and we actually travel to those sites,
they can read about these historical events
that others have put on and that they've put on.
And it really makes that location stuff exciting
that they've been involved in.
And it's easy tools to use.
That's the thing that's really nice, is
there's not-- it's a low bar of skill set,
but a high delivery of ability of putting content
in for a community person.
So it's been really beneficial for our programs.
RALEIGH SEAMSTER: Thank you, Joseph.
So we have another question for Vasco from Tanya.
Tanya says, "Yesterday "The New York Times" published
an article exposing illegal land clearing of rainforest
in Rondonia, and how not only beef goes to China,
but hides go to car seats in American luxury vehicles.
Companies claim they don't contribute to deforestation,
but they don't have a complete picture of their supply chains.
How do you see technology helping here?"
VASCO VAN ROOSMALEN: That's a great article,
and I really recommend anybody who can to read it.
It was really well researched, really well done.
And it shows some of the challenges that we have,
that everyone has in being able to really track
what's happening on the ground and how
what's happening on the ground impacts us,
and also how our consumer decisions affect what's
happening in these regions.
And so technology is actually really well placed
as a really important tool for exactly these types
of tracing tools.
But it's really important to understand
that it can't just be done with information from satellite.
They're really important as a complement as well,
but we really need to work with information from the ground.
And that's where communities come in,
that's where local people come in,
is the ability to use these tools, these inclusive tools,
technology tools, such as ODK, the newly being developed
[? Ground, ?] and other applications
so that they can provide the information that's
necessary to really show the origin of these projects.
And so there's some really great programs
happening in the Amazon today.
One of them is Origins, which actually
tells the story of each rainforest product that
comes out and the person who collected
those seeds or those products.
And then people can follow that on the good side.
And now, on the other side, when you
have products that come from illegality,
it's really important that we are
able to trace that to understand where they come from
and what's happening on the ground.
And again, it's so important that this
is done with community information
and with the people who are actually there.
The satellites, they provide a complement,
and they're really important, but by themselves they
don't provide us enough information
to really be able to do anything about it.
So again, the involvement of the youth, the involvement
of the communities who are actually there,
getting to hear their voices of what's happening in these tools
and with what these tools provide
is really the key to making a difference there.
RALEIGH SEAMSTER: Thank you so much, Vasco.
And I think we could have had an hour for this panel,
because there's so many more questions from the audience we
haven't even gotten a chance to get to yet,
and haven't gotten a chance to get to all of our panelists.
But I do have to wrap up because the next session is
going to be starting very soon.
I just want to say a huge thank you
to all of our panelists for sharing stories, engaging
with communities to share stories with us
and recording those messages, and to our audience
for watching.
And so now we're going to be taking a short break.
Next up is the accessibility panel, as well as the Social
Inclusion Lightning Talks, and Michaela
will be making another appearance there.
So please stay tuned.
Have a great summit.