In February, an SLFP team attended a two-day workshop led by Google Earth Outreach and aptly titled, “Mapping Environmental Scenarios and Solutions with Google Technology.” It was a power-packed two days where we had an introduction to topics like mobile data collection, fusion tables, storytelling and visualization, as well as an introduction to Google Earth and Google Maps.

Most impressive were the case studies offering lessons about how Google Maps have been effective tools to raise awareness and inspire action to protect the environment.

Rebecca Moore, manager of the Google Earth Outreach program, shared a powerful example of her own mapping work within her community in northern California for Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging. Moore used Google Earth to visualize a proposed logging area in the Santa Cruz Mountains near her home. The visualization proved that the logging area would be very close to schools, a daycare center, neighborhoods, landslide areas and pristine waters. Moore’s “fly-over” view of the logging area featured a three-dimensional aerial journey through Los Gatos Creek Canyon and revealed major problems with the logging plan — problems that weren’t apparent in the simple map created by Big Creek Lumber and the San Jose Water Co.

We also learned about projects like “Trading Bows and Arrows for Laptops,” where the indigenous Surui tribe of the Amazon rain forest are using Google Earth to map their sacred and cultural sites, places where they hunt and fish, along with areas of illegal logging and the site of their first contact with the outside world. This data is power, providing a means of strengthening their culture, preserving their history and sharing it with the world. (Check out the video.)

The Surui tribe’s work is an inspiring model for the Sacred Land Film Project as we seek ways to integrate the power of mapping and data visualization into our storytelling in hopes of inspiring others to take action to protect the earth’s sacred places.