%0 Thesis %9 Master %A Hoegg, Christine %D 2010 %F theses_frw:2380 %T Purposes and Challenges of Cultural Mapping in Australia – Possibilities and Limitations of GIS Use %U https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/2380/ %X This paper focuses on cultural mapping done by the indigenous people of Australia. Cultural mapping has become an important tool to achieve a variety of goals and purposes, mostly in land disputes, conservation and resource management or the protection of knowledge. Today, the most commonly used tool to undertake cultural mapping projects is GIS (Geographic Information System). GIS offers a large number of possibilities for mapping projects. At the same time, this technology can also have negative impacts. The basis for most of these mapping projects is traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). TEK is very different from Western scientific knowledge and GIS was not specifically made for TEK, but for Western knowledge systems. This paper will look at the possibilities and limitations of GIS use for indigenous cultural mapping projects and deal with the following question: Is GIS an adequate tool for cultural mapping in Australia?