The Igliniit project: Inuit hunters document life on the trail to map and monitor arctic change Shari Gearheard National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado at Boulder Claudio Aporta Department of Anthropology, Carleton University Gary Aipellee Clyde River, Nunavut X0A 0E0 Kyle O’Keefe Department of Geomatics Engineering, University of Calgary Schulich School of Engineering The Igliniit Project brought together Inuit hunters and geomatics engineering students during the International Polar Year (IPY) to collaborate on the development and testing of a new integrated GPS/PDA/mobile weather station technology for observing and monitoring the environment. Part of the larger Inuit Sea Ice Use and Occupancy Project (ISIUOP), the Igliniit Project culminated in a tangible product that is the direct result of combined scientific and Inuit knowledge, ingenuity, and engineering. This paper describes the Igliniit Project and examines the resulting technology as (i) an artifact of Inuit knowledge, science and engineering collaboration; (ii) a tool for meaningful engagement of Inuit in environmental science and community-based monitoring; (iii) a new approach and tool in the field of indigenous mapping; and (iv) an example of one technology in the expanding ecology of technologies in everyday Inuit life. The technology requires improvements in hardware and further development of supporting systems such as data management and mapping capability, but there is potential for the Igliniit Project approach and system to have wide appeal across the North for a variety of applications including environmental monitoring, wildlife studies, land use mapping, hazards research, place names research, archaeological and cultural inventories, and search and rescue operations. Keywords: Inuit, indigenous mapping, GPS, participatory research, trails, Nunavut Le Projet Igliniit : les chasseurs inuits rendent compte de la vie nomade pour cartographier et suivre l’´ evolution des changements dans l’Arctique Le projet Igliniit rassemblait des chasseurs inuits et des ´ etudiants en g´ enie g´ eomatique au cours de l’Ann´ ee polaire internationale (API) en vue de collaborer ` a l’´ elaboration et ` a l’exp´ erimentation d’une nouvelle technologie comprenant un assistant personnel/ordinateur portable ´ equip´ e d’un syst` eme de positionnement global int´ egr´ e` a une station m´ et´ eorologique et qui est conc ¸ue pour observer et suivre l’´ evolution de l’environnement. Igliniit s’inscrit dans le cadre du Projet d’utilisation et d’occupation des glaces marines par les Inuits. Les travaux ont d´ ebouch´ e sur la r´ ealisation d’un produit concret qui r´ esulte de la compl´ ementarit´ e entre les connaissances, le savoir-faire et l’ing´ enierie des Inuits et des scientifiques. Trac ¸ant d’abord les grandes lignes du projet Igliniit, cet article aborde la technologie qui en d´ ecoule sous quatre angles: (i) un objet de connaissances, de science et d’ing´ enierie issu de la collaboration avec des Inuits; (ii) un instrument permettant la participation valable des Inuits dans les sciences environnementales et la surveillance communautaire; (iii) l’ajout d’une m´ ethode et d’un Correspondence to/Adresse de correspondance: Shari Gearheard, National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado at Boulder, Nunavut X0A 0E0. E-mail/Courriel: shari.gearheard@nsidc.org The Canadian Geographer / Le G´ eographe canadien 2011, 55(1): 42–55 DOI: 10.1111/j.1541-0064.2010.00344.x C  Canadian Association of Geographers / L’Association canadienne des g´ eographes