COMMUNITY MATTERS: Mapping Communities, Sharing knowledge for the benefit of the whole community

In Lawrencetown and Middleton, we have two ‘mapping’ communities. After the Second World War, Major Church established the ‘survey school’ in his home village of Lawrencetown. Over the years it has seen several transformations, giving us today one site of the Annapolis Valley campus. This, in turn, is one of the 13 campuses of the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC). Unlike other provinces, west of Atlantic Canada, this province has a single community college system with campuses in both rural and urban Nova Scotia.

Since 2000, the Applied Geomatics Research Group (AGRG) was established at the Middleton site of the Annapolis Valley campus. This was the first attempt by the NSCC to conduct applied research. In this case, because of the specialist mapping, surveying and planning skills in Lawrencetown, AGRG was able to recruit both scientists and COGS (Centre of Geographic Sciences aka the survey school) graduates to undertake research relevant to our regional environment. Today AGRG employs over 20 staff and works across Canada as well as overseas.

The availability of students (165 at last count in Lawrencetown) from Nova Scotia and elsewhere in Canada, from high school to post-graduate, is a potential resource for mapping our communities. The availability of faculty and researchers offers a remarkable mentoring capacity.

At a recent workshop, Rachel Brighton (Bridgetown) expressed the need for evidence-based planning in these times of economic uncertainty. One of the best resources is to map the characteristics of our social, economic, cultural, and environmental landscape. Maps are a wonderful communication tool as we attempt to understand current issues, whether it is as local as the Paradise trail debate or the availability of the Irving lands in Digby County.

Fortunately, we have the potential to be the most ‘mapped’ part of Canada. What is required?

We need the communities to identify their needs. Recently at AGRG, we have started discussions with the communities represented by the Fundy Communities Development Association and the residents surrounding Annapolis Royal.

We need the community college, in particular, the Annapolis Valley campus, to adopt the philosophy of ‘service learning’ where researchers, faculty, and students are encouraged to give back to their community in the form of maps.

Thirdly, it would be excellent if we saw more maps or aerial photographs of our landscape in The Spectator. This would help us better see the changes that are affecting our livelihood.

As a geographic scientist, I can use fancy terms like ‘cultural mapping’ or ‘community mapping’ but the essential ingredient is local knowledge, who owns that knowledge and has the willingness to share it for the benefit of the whole community.

Given a single community college in the province, the NSCC has a significant role to play in economic and rural development. At the Annapolis Valley campus, with our mapping resources, we can become a significant player in community development.

By working on the mapping challenges of rural Nova Scotia, we are forced to address issues of community engagement, custom map design, and use of the new Internet technologies. Our solutions will not only be good for the Annapolis Valley but can be promoted to other parts of rural Canada, as well as globally. This leads to new employment opportunities in the region, whether in community development, cartography, or software development. *****

Bob Maher heads up the Applied Geomatics Research Group at the NSCC in Middleton.

Community Matters is a weekly column which invites individuals intimately connected to issues of local import to share their ideas and insights. Please send any questions or feedback to editor@annapolisspectator.ca