Case Studies

Solution To cost-effectively deploy GIS across its member communities, Matawa First Nations signed an Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) with Esri Canada. This centralized licensing agreement provides unlimited access to Esri GIS solutions for an affordable annual fee, allowing each community to secure its own ArcGIS license. As a next step, Esri's ArcPad was installed on Trimble devices to facilitate mobile data collection. Templates within the software were customized to standardize data collection across communities. ArcPad's powerful GIS capabilities enable data from a variety of formats to be collected and mapped including documents, photos and even videos of the community's elders. The data is then synched back to the member community's geodatabase and integrated with basemaps from Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources as well as ArcGIS Online. Matawa First Nations provided extensive GIS training to its member communities so that maps could be independently created and edited using ArcGIS for Desktop. In addition to documenting traditional values data, maps are created to monitor forest disease, observe benthic environments, identify species at risk and demarcate zones based on the sensitivities ascribed to various components of the landscape. Benefits With more natural resource development occurring in traditional territories, GIS provides Matawa's nine communities with an indispensible tool for preserving and protecting its lands. Zoning information can be quickly called upon to inform land use negotiations or to make decisions regarding resource development. Furthermore, maintaining data in a central geodatabase ensures that traditional values can be effectively preserved and carried forward for future generations. The adoption of GIS also puts mapping into the hands of the community, fostering a sense of engagement, collaboration and ownership over the process. Leveraging ArcPad enables Matawa's community members to upload and integrate data into maps within 10 minutes, representing a 95% jump in productivity. Eliminating paper maps has also reduced the margin for error and provided more flexibility, allowing almost any data format to be captured. To further generate excitement about GIS, Matawa First Nations has introduced the technology to local students who are learning to collect and map data using free basemaps available on ArcGIS Online (arcgis.com). As a next step, GIS will be used to map out the community's assets including hydro poles to inform infrastructure planning. Preserving traditional land & heritage with tomorrow's technology | Esri Canada 2 Using ArcPad, traditional values data is collected and mapped to inform land use planning initiatives. Matawa's nine member communities are mapped and visualized using ArcGIS. " With GIS, our member communities can map out territories, cultural and historical values to ensure that they are protected in the face of development. Utilizing this technology at the community level represents a giant step towards community-based natural resource management." David Paul Achneepineskum CEO, Matawa First Nations

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