Interactive map blends traditional, modern knowledge in Nunavut

Aaron Brindle of Google speaks to a community gathering about how the “trekker” camera works to capture streetview images. (PHOTO COURTESY ARCTIC EIDER SOCIETY)

Collecting streetview images of the sea ice in Sanikiluaq — the Arctic Eider Society has launched an interactive map that includes photos, videos and scientific data of the southern Hudson Bay ecosystem. (PHOTO COURTESY ARCTIC EIDER SOCIETY)

Samson Tooktoo dropped a yellow plastic conductivity, temperature and depth device or CTD into the waters near Kuujjuarapik at 4:28 p.m. on Feb. 12, 2015.

That device showed that the water in southern Hudson Bay on that day was fresh at the top and didn’t get very salty until about five metres down, then maintained relatively the same salinity down to 45 metres and beyond.

We know all that thanks to Tooktoo, scores of other hunters and community members on the eastern Hudson Bay coast, and a unique interactive online platform developed by Sanikiluaq’s Arctic Eider Society and launched last week.

“We’re psyched to have this out and available to the public,” said Joel Heath, the Arctic Eider Society executive director.

Naming everyone involved in this project, and the list of financial supporters, would require an extra few pages but suffice to say it’s a partnership between the society, Google, the Hamlet of Sanikiluaq and community residents.

Heath, who made the award-winning People of a Feather documentary about Sanikiluaq’s dependence on eider ducks and the impact hydro-electric power has had on the southern Hudson Bay ecosystem, says the project grew out of a local desire to understand what was happening to their environment.

Using simple research equipment, photographs, Google streetview images and video, contributor profiles and Google maps, the Interactive Knowledge Mapping Platform for Community-Driven Research or IK-MAP was born.

Heath described the project on the phone from Vancouver Dec. 8 where he and other Arctic Eider Society members were showcasing the IK-MAP to researchers at the ArcticNet conference.

Needless to say, the project generated tremendous interest and support there.

Heath says the project brings together many of the society’s goals — empowering local people, letting them decide what to study and record, teaching them how to conduct simple research and making their findings available online for people in the Arctic and around the world.

“Even though we pay people honoraria to do the sampling, the research programs are all driven by what the community wants to see happen,” he said. “It’s directly addressing their concerns particularly around the impact of hydroelectric projects.”

But they couldn’t have done it without Google and so far, that partnership has been mutually beneficial.

Google staff were in Sanikiluaq last winter teaching students and other community members how to use the “trekker” filming device that the company uses to capture on-the-ground images for its streetview maps.

Google is sending a trekker back to Sanikiluaq this winter so the community can capture more images of the town and its surroundings.

In Sanikiluaq, population 812, the street view becomes sea-ice view. You can find stunning images of the Belcher Island town on the map including some of eider ducks in a small pool of water surrounded by sea ice and a fox who takes advantage of the entrapment to enjoy a meal.

Because of high demand for Quebec hydro-electric power in winter, freshwater is pumped through the turbines, flows into the bay and freezes more quickly than saltwater. When water freezes, the eiders can’t access the bottom-dwelling mussels and sea urchins they rely on for food.

That’s the driving force behind this research — to document across a wide swath of territory how those freshwater releases are impacting the salinity of southern Hudson Bay, its temperature and, in turn, how those changes are impacting wildlife.

The map brings together both traditional knowledge of the land with advanced technology in a unique and user-friendly way.

For example, that CTD Tooktoo used has a GPS unit in it. When hunters or researchers arrive back at their community liaison office, they can automatically upload the data onto a local computer.

Then the liaison officers can either send the files to Heath to upload to the map or they can do it themselves. Then, they just tag the hunter, upload photos or comments and it’s done. Simple.

“This winter, now that the platform is up, this will all be happening the same day or next day after the data was collected so that the hunters can see what’s going on and the stakeholders and funders can see what’s going on,” Heath said.

“We’re trying to make it very simple, like what people are used to from Facebook, say, uploading pictures and files.”

For instance, on Sept. 3, 2015, at a place near Sanikiluaq called Katuk, Johnny Kudluarok and young Simeonie Uppik collected some blue mussels for tissue analysis, something Heath says they want to do more of with different wildlife.

According to the map, Kudluarok and Uppik collected the samples at 11:41 a.m. that day at a depth of 1.7 metres and there are photos attached to the entry so you can see how they got those mussels.

Right now, the project operates in five communities — Sanikiluaq, Inukjuak, Umiujaq, Kuujjuarapik and Chisasibi — but the Arctic Eider Society hopes to expand that to other communities as well, Heath said.

More data allows them to see how widespread the impact of hydroelectric power and industrialization truly is. For example, some freshwater layers, near Sanikiluaq and Kuujjuarapik are 20 metres deep or deeper, he said.

“We knew there was freshwater layering issues but we didn’t know the extent or the timing. Now we know there was even more than we thought there was,” said Heath.

In future, they hope to add other data including hunting stories, food contaminants, weather reports and ice condition updates.

At the intersection of traditional knowledge and modern science, and with the user-friendly ease of social media, the IK-MAP has the potential to become a powerful tool in the fight to preserve a way of life and uphold Aboriginal rights to self-determination, Heath said.

“This is something that can help communities work together and see what the other communities are doing at the same time,” he said.