SOME NEW APPLICATIONS IN THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CYBERCARTOGRAPHY: MAPPING WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN CANADA'S NORTH

摘要

There have been some fundamental changes in cartography over the last two decades and the term "cybercartography" was introduced to capture some of these. This paper describes some recent developments in the theory and practice of cybercartography. The main products of cybercartography are cybercartographic atlases. A cybercartographic atlas is a metaphor for all kinds of qualitative and quantitative information linked through their location. Location is a central organizi ng principle informed by new concepts of maps and mapping. Such atlases are multimedia, multisensory online products. This paper describes the key concepts informing cybercartography and discusses some new applications of cybercartography in mapping with indigenous people in Canada's north. These include the Kitikmeot Place Names Atlas, the Arctic Bay Place Names Atlas, the "Living" Cybercartographic Atlas of Indigenous Perspectives and Knowledge, and the Inuit Sea Ice Use and Occupanc y Atlas. Each of these atlases has been developed in collaboration with the indigenous communities involved. The Nunaliit Cybercartographic Atlas Framework (Nunaliit means community in Inuktitut) is an open source software package, which has been designed to facili tate input to these atlases by community members who have little knowledge of geographic information processing. This helps to ensure that the atlases reflect and contain information of interest and utility to the communities concerned and that the atlases are continuously updated as the communities take a strong ownership role of these products.