Indigenous Mapping: Emerging Cultures on the Geoweb

Indians in the Amazon rainforest are now using Google Earth to protect their lands from illegal logging, to plan for their future and to share their rich history and culture with the world. How will the Geoweb change and evolve as indigenous peoples begin to participate? What may we have to learn from tribes whose first contact with the modern world has been in our lifetime, and who are currently making the transition from the stone age to the Internet age?

Come see and learn how indigenous people are beginning to use online mapping and 3D visualization tools such as Google Earth, Maps and Sketchup in order to create a cultural bridge with the global community and show what’s at stake with deforestation of the Amazon… We’ll profile a collaborative project between Chief Almir Surui and the Google Earth Outreach team to train the Brazilian Amazon Surui tribe on geo-content creation. Finally we’ll see why Chief Almir believes that mapping tools and the Geoweb can empower the Surui and other tribes to “take control of their own destiny”, and even aid their very survival.