Creating Sustainable Development Through Geospatial Technologies

Creating Sustainable Creating Sustainable Development Through Development Through Geospatial TechnologiesGeospatial Technologies

Jan [email protected] Independent ConsultantMiddle Tennessee State University

Sustainable DevelopmentSustainable Development

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (World Commission on Environment, 1987)

Marshall McLuhanMarshall McLuhanCanadian media scholar and pop culture Canadian media scholar and pop culture iconicon

Coined the phrase “The medium is the message,” meaning that any media or technology has an effect on its user completely independent of its content (Levinson, 2001).

McLuhan’s 4 Laws of the McLuhan’s 4 Laws of the MediaMedia

Manchester EoCManchester EoC

Manchester EoC mapping interface (Kingston, 2007, p.142).

Participatory 3D Modeling Participatory 3D Modeling (P3DM) (P3DM)

Presentation by Giacomo Rambaldi(Rambaldi, March 2007)

Ogiek Ogiek Hunter GatherersHunter GatherersFrom the Mau Forest Complex in KenyaFrom the Mau Forest Complex in Kenya

Ogiek Elders posing behind their Participatory 3D Model (Rambaldi, et al., 2007, p.125).

Ogiek comments after Ogiek comments after PGISPGIS “I felt overwhelmed to see it [our land] brought back.”

Ogiek comments after Ogiek comments after PGISPGIS “I felt overwhelmed to see it [our land] brought back.” “We are happy for we have learnt things about our land we had

forgotten.”


forgotten.” “I discovered that we can do mapping which we thought we could

not be able to do.”



not be able to do.” “I learnt that other people of different technologies can help

unearth lost information.”




unearth lost information.” “I felt proud of my clan territory being marked out and also the

entire community land.”





entire community land.” “I noticed that if there is a case, I can answer the questions of my

living area because I know my landscape better.”






living area because I know my landscape better.” “I discovered that we have potentiality of managing of our rivers

and plant trees.”







and plant trees.” “I discovered that 3D Model help solving dispute/conflicts.”







and plant trees.” “I discovered that 3D Model help solving dispute/conflicts.” “I learnt that this exercise could be of good help to the future

generation in terms of learning.”







and plant trees.” “I discovered that 3D Model help solving dispute/conflicts.” “I learnt that this exercise could be of good help to the future

generation in terms of learning.” “I feel that these maps can be used by Ogiek people to enhance

their land legal issues.” (Rambaldi et al., 2007, p.125-126)

CIA produced Map of Kenya CIA produced Map of Kenya 19741974

Ethnic map of Kenya from (Kenya Maps, 1974).

Benedict Anderson and Benedict Anderson and “Thinking the Nation”“Thinking the Nation”

Anderson argues that print capatalism, and particularly its inception through printing the Guttenburg bible, weeded out fringe language dialects creating large areas of common language that eventually solidified nation state boundaries in Europe (Anderson, 1991).

ConclusionConclusion

Natural resources do not follow nation state boundaries. Geospatial technologies’ ability to display multiple layers of data including ecoregions, make them powerful tools with respect to sustainable development.

Participatory mapping processes can utilize the universal cross-cultural language of the visual representation of one’s environment to analyze and forecast, explain, promote, and educate about environmentalism and sustainability.

This presentation is an excerpt from:

From Geography to Mass Communications: A View of Participatory GIS Through the Lens of McLuhan (Cothran, 2008).

The full thesis can be found in the virtual library at www.iapad.org

ReferencesReferences Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities. New York, NY: Verso. Cothran, J. (August, 2008). From Geography to Mass Communications: A View of

Participatory GIS Through the Lens of McLuhan. Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Middle Tennessee State University.

Kenya Maps. (1974). Retrieved June 26, 2008 from the Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection, The University of Texas at Austin Web site: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/kenya_ethnic_1974.jpg

Kingston, R. (2007). Public participation in local policy decision-making: the role of web-based mapping. The Cartographic Journal 44(2), 138-144. Retrieved January 9, 2008 from http://www.ppgis.manchester.ac.uk/downloads/caj_paper.pdf

Levinson, P. (2001). Digital McLuhan a guide to the information millennium. London and New York: Routledge.

McLuhan, M., McLuhan, E. (1988). Laws of media the new science. Toronto, Buffalo, and London. University of Toronto Press.

Rambaldi, G. (March, 2007). Participatory 3D Modelling: a method for improving grassroots management of natural resources. Presentation at the Tech for Food International Forum, Paris.

Rambaldi, G., Muchemi, J., Crawhall, N., & Monaci, L. (2007). Through the eyes of hunter-gatherers: participatory 3D modeling among Ogiek indigenous peoples in Kenya. SAGE Publications, 23(2/3), 113-128. Retrieved January 16, 2008 from http://idv.sagepub.com

Sui, D. Z., & Goodchild, M. F. (2003). A tetradic analysis of GIS and society using McLuhan’s law of the media. The Canadian Geographer, 47(1), 5-17. Retrieved December 25, 2007 from http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1541-0064.02e08

World Commission on Environment and Development (August, 1987). Our Common Future, World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987. Published as Annex to General Assembly document A/42/427, Development and International Co-operation: Environment . Retrieved November 11, 2009 from http://www.un-documents.net/wced-ocf.htm

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Creating Sustainable Development Through Geospatial Technologies