The Stream : Balancing science and culture with Māori technology

Background

Communities, kaitiaki and resource users currently face multiple challenges working to manage Aotearoa’s diverse and valuable taonga, our resources. This frequently sees decisions being made without access to all available data and without the ability to contribute effectively in resource management processes. Having access to data and information about our resources is a critical component for making decisions about what is best for our land, air and waters.

Challenge

Tangata whenua, the people of the land, had limited access to information from which to make decisions about when and where to plant, fish, and hunt following kaitiakitanga or traditional Māori environmental practices. Integral to those decisions was the ability to share data stories about the land with the community through visualisations and storytelling.

Solution

With the ever increasing demand on Aotearoa’s environmental resources, there are diverse layers of knowledge and data currently being used to sustainably manage our resources. The Stream’s environmental decision-making tools uniquely visualise new and existing environmental data alongside mātauranga Maori to enable tangata whenua and resource users to make data-driven decisions about the environment around them.

Results

StreamDASH

An environmental data dashboard that gives users an overview of public data alongside their own.

StreamMAP

A spatial view of all connected environmental datasets, with simple layers and filters that relate to users by location.

Rongo

A customisable app designed to capture on site observations, connecting and funnelling all text, image, video or audio data collected from the site, into the digital tool platform and accessible through StreamMAP, StreamDASH, or Tūhono.

Tūhono

In the Tūhono, environmental data is integrated within the traditional Māori maramataka calendar, offering users a comprehensive temporal view. This integration includes key indicators such as:

• Tides
• Sunrise and sunset times
• Lunar phases
• Significant astronomical events
• Tohu – cultural indicators relevant to specific times of the month or year, as per Māori mātauranga (knowledge)

Tūhono empowers users to contribute their personal mātauranga related to specific locations, aligning these insights with the maramataka framework. This feature is complemented by real-time observations from kaitiaki (guardians) on the ground, enriching the platform with localized and current environmental data.

Tūhono is a great example of the marriage between traditional knowledge and modern tech. It’s a unique environmental analysis platform provides a cultural lens for users to gain deeper insights into environmental patterns and changes with leading security technology for storing and sharing information.