What We Do

Mapping is a critical foundation of our work with Nations, especially in our Indigenous knowledge research, planning, and ecology studies. We work closely with community members to map out the locations they and their families rely on for teaching, hunting, trapping, fishing and other important activities. Using state-of-the-art software, we analyze this information and use multi-media approaches to clearly and visually display a Nation’s rights and interests on the land, and how these could be affected by industrial development or land management policies.

Experience

Firelight’s mapping and GIS team includes professional cartographers and GIS developers with decades of experience working with Indigenous Nations to map their knowledge and land use in culturally appropriate ways. This includes operating drones and processing imagery and lidar data, as well as modelling and evaluating Cumulative Effects. Further, we have developed strategies, frameworks, protocols, and infrastructures around the governance and management of data. We also have extensive experience providing training and workshops to Nations related to desktop, web, and remote mapping.

Training

We provide one-on-one and small group mapping training and on-going support to enhance Nation's research and data collection, both in interview settings and out on the ground using GPS. We also co-host large-scale Indigenous Mapping Workshops, during which we deliver technical training on mapping tools (Google, QGIS, ESRI) so participants can collect, manage, share, and publish their own map data.