Reclaiming Geospatial Data and GIS Design for Indigenous-led Telecommunications Policy Advocacy: A Process Discussion of Mapping Broadband Availability in Remote and Northern Regions of Canada

Abstract

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and geospatial data are important advocacy tools adopted by a range of users, including telecommunications policy advocates. However, without the means to actively deconstruct and reshape such platforms, reclaim the geospatial data they utilize, and generate the visualizations they produce, the increasing adoption of these resources threatens to disempower some community-based user groups. In this article, we argue that the processes used to design such tools for policy advocacy must transparently reflect the socially constructed nature of the GIS systems and the geospatial data visualizations they generate, as well as the values and goals of the specific user groups they are designed to support. We ground this argument in a case study of a regulatory hearing on telecommunications infrastructure and services in Canada, and introduce a freely available online resource that documents our GIS design workflow in more detail.