Capturing country - GIS and cultural resource management

Unfortunately, until recently there has been little acknowledgement of the importance or value placed upon Indigenous knowledge. The historical underlying thought of Indigenous knowledge was that it was little more than 'primitive knowledge' (Nakato 2002) and as such was of little value to the modern world. As a consequence, this knowledge has been, until quite recently, ignored or suppressed by the mainstream (Nakato 2002P. Since the 1980s the interest in Indigenous knowledge has increased dramatically. This increasing interest is partially driven by the establishment of sustainable development programs in developing countries as well as the conservation of global biodiversity (Myer 1998).

Much traditional knowledge is passed on through oral traditions, including stories. There are strong possibilities that this knowledge may be lost if not recorded or captured in some way. In other words, there is a strong need to document this knowledge before it is lost so it is available for future generations.

The past two decades have seen a rapid increase in capturing and storing many forms of knowledge in digital format. This increase is in line with the rapid increase in the use of digital technology and the increases in the memory capabilitities of computers and access to the World Wide Web.