The Aboriginal Mapping Network has four main activity areas:
- www.nativemaps.org is the AMN web site which hosts a wealth of information where mappers can find information that includes data sources, training resources, funding, and relevant, timely news stories. Please note, we no longer send out a newsletter. In order to keep interested parties up to date on the AMN, we have a Twitter account, LinkedIN group and Facebook page. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed for when new articles are posted on the website.
- The AMN periodically hosts an international GIS conference, where First Nations organize and present mapping issues on First Nations terms. The agendas for large mapping and GIS conferences are usually set by industry or government, and rarely address issues from a local or First Nations’ perspective. To help change this, the AMN is committed to hosting an annual international mapping conference where First Nations organize and host a world-class conference on First Nations terms. A First Nations committee oversees the conference planning.
- A publication series of “best practices” is designed to help meet the demand of information requests from the web site and to help fill the information vacuum in this field. We have joined together with the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs to co-produce a publication series relating to cultural mapping and land use and occupancy research.
- The informal roundtable workshops are on topics that are selected in response to common themes that surface from the AMN web site feedback and from direct discussions with First Nations. To date, the AMN has hosted four roundtable workshops: Moving Traditional Use Study Information Into a GIS: Challenges and Methods, co-hosted with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, July 26-27,1999, Crown Land Referrals: A First Nations’ Approach, co-hosted with the Sliammon First Nation, November 29-30, 1999 and in 2002, Provincial Data for Landscape Analysis: Limitations and Applications, co-hosted with the Heiltsuk Nation, April 11, 2000. The AMN also hosts specialized project-based workshops such as the 3-day Referrals Web-based Geospatial Tool development workshop, co-hosted with the Haida Nation and Lil’wat Nation, September 2007.