About the Indigenous
Mapping Workshop

A road map to digital capacity building.

 

The way Aboriginal people manage their lands and waters is intrinsically spatial and has been performed in culture and ritual of over 60,000 years. Communities across Australia used and continue to use songlines and traditional storytelling to map Australia’s entire landmass, water resources and sea country.

Traditional information and knowledge is now being managed in a modern context within Aboriginal ranger programs, language and cultural projects, natural resource management programs and native title organisations. These organisations all operate to protect and safeguard Aboriginal peoples rights and interests and their connection to country.

The Indigenous Mapping Workshop teaches Indigenous-led organisations to use digital and geospatial tools to collect, host, visualise, share and publish maps to support their various community objectives. We offer hands on training on a range of technologies that can be used by communities and organisations to demonstrate their connection to land and waters and manage the associated digital information.

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A global network.

The IMW and its strategic partners are dedicated to the development and advancement of culturally appropriate and inclusive geospatial technologies for Indigenous leadership, agencies, and communities to support Indigenous rights and interests.

The Indigenous Mapping Workshop brand was started by Steve DeRoy from Firelight group in Canada. Steve partnered with Google Earth Outreach for their first workshop in 2014.

The workshop was also launched in New Zealand with Moka Apiti from Digital Navigators. The Indigenous Mapping Wananga has been running since 2016.

In 2018, Australia hosted its inaugural Indigenous Mapping Workshop with Andrew Dowding of Winyama as its Australian partner. The Indigenous Mapping Workshop Australia is now in its fourth year.

Our core principles.

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Vision

We are committed to supporting best practice use of geospatial technologies that ensure Indigenous communities control the collection, analysis, analysis and visualisation of community-generated spatial data. We believe this is the best way to encourage Indigenous self-determination and to drive employment in remote Aboriginal communities.

Mandate

We strategically partner with technology providers, Indigenous leadership, Government agencies, communities and researchers to promote best practices for Indigenous geospatial programs and practices. To provide direction and allocate resources in support of the enhancement of geospatial training and capacity building for Indigenous communities.

Objective

To advocate for Indigenous-led models of geospatial practices that support Indigenous capacity development in mapping. We aim to enable and accelerate Indigenous innovations in geospatial technologies, supporting investment that translates into the advancement of Indigenous rights and interests.

An initiative that empowers Australia’s Indigenous people.

Indigenous-led training

80% of Indigenous Mapping Workshop participants are from remote regions and have little access to high-quality Indigenous-led training. We train Indigenous communities to use accessible geospatial technologies to understand their unique needs and circumstances.

Community building

Our workshop is the largest Indigenous-led mapping training event in Australia and we host the first, free, online platform for Indigenous mapping training. We are building a network of people involved in this sector and creating valuable knowledge exchanges between Indigenous communities and organisations who perform mapping roles.

Empowerment

Many of our workshop participants have never been able to establish mapping projects to record and enhance their culture. Our workshop builds confidence and knowledge so that Indigenous people can develop specialised resources in their communities to support their rights and interests.

“The whole idea around the Indigenous Mapping Workshop is about demarcating the map and being able to reclaim that space to develop maps that have Indigenous identity.”

— Steve DeRoy, Founder, Indigenous Mapping Workshop

Andrew assisting IMW attendees, Perth 2019.

Andrew assisting IMW attendees, Perth 2019.

 

Andrew Dowding, Director of the Indigenous Mapping Workshop Australia

I am from the Ngarluma community in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Working with Aboriginal corporations and the Aboriginal heritage sector for 10 years has exposed me to the power and use of mapping for the safeguarding and transmission of Aboriginal culture in our community.

With help from our strategic partners Google Earth Outreach, Firelight Group, Digital Navigators and NGIS Australia, I am proud to be the Indigenous Mapping Workshop (IMW) Australia lead and work on this amazing initiative.

The IMW is at the beginning of its journey in Australia and I am conscious to ensure the initiative is shaped by our experiences of being Indigenous in Australia, and ensure our training is tailored to the work our communities are doing across the country.

I am always interested to hear what challenges we face and in our own communities and how different mobs have used mapping technologies to solve them. My ultimate goal is to increase the amount of Indigenous people in the technology sector.

IMW plays a small role in networking Indigenous people across Australia who are working in the mapping space in their communities, from ranger programs, to heritage and language officers. These are the people at the forefront of using digital technology in Indigenous Australia.

It is an ongoing journey to ensure our communities have strong digital skills to safeguard the knowledge of our ancestors and for us to correctly manage that legacy in a sustainable, Indigenous way that prepares us all for the future.

 Do you want to start learning with the Indigenous Mapping Workshop?

Check out the IMW Australia - On Demand!