Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 7, 1 July 2013 — A HIGH-TECH VIEW OF LAND CONNECTIONS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A HIGH-TECH VIEW OF LAND CONNECTIONS

ByTreenaShapiro \ative Hawaiians have traditionally embedded layers of meaning into their plaee names. In the 21 st century, this manifests in one way as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' new Klpuka Database, a geographic infonnation system that links details about land awards, history and other infonnation to specific sites throughout the Islands. Kamoa Quitevis, OHA's land, culture and history manager, describes Native Hawaiian chants as the original database. He explains that konohiki, or land managers, created chants about plaee names that often included distinguishing features, like a peak or a stream; different points of interest, such as a heiau; special events that might be connected to the site or the ruling chief, and even boundary infonnation. ' All the infonnation is tied together in one chant that is so dynamic; I really see that the GIS helps try to display that kind of thinking," he says. As such, the Klpuka Database also has muhiple layers of infonnation embedded in its searchable geographic infonnation system, allowing users to dig ever deeper as they eliek through maps and linked documents. "I really like to emphasize this eonneehon between traditional ways of knowing and this new technology," Quitevis points out. The database was built to allow users to really visualize infonnation geographically and to bridge knowledge with technology, he says. "We wanted to recreate a space for people to have new kinds of

connections with lands." Some of the infonnation might be personally relevant to users. For example, searching by name might bring up land awards going back to the early 1900s. Although the land may no longer belong to a person's family, the infonnation ean still help descendants reconnect to lands significant to their ancestors. Users ean even explore sites right from their home computers using street and aerial view maps that zoom into parcels and show what they look like today. "What's really eool about it is, it's like a Google Earth-type map that you eliek around to get more detailed infonnation," he adds.

Eventually, the database will be more interactive. "We want to see people redevelop connections with places, reconnecting, understanding what are the traditional plaee names and historic sites and be able to reciprocate and put information back into the databases, really in perpetuity," says Quitevis. Anyone ean access the database

online, dramatically simplifying some of the research that previously might have required a trip to the Bureau of Conveyances or the State Archives. For example, if you want to look at an ahupua'a, such as Wai'anae, you ean eliek on the map and access details about its 'ili, or subdivisions, view land maps and find information about historical dates and land awards going back to the Great Mahele, Quiteves describes. Along with the Native Hawaiian Data Book and the Papakilo Database, a digital library of Native Hawaiian historical and cultural documents, the Kīpuka Database represents a shift in how OHA serves its beneficiaries. Instead of primarily doing deep research and scholarly papers to release to the puhlie, Quitevis thinks providing the tools for people to do their own research is a greater service. As he points out, the database ean be used by

anyone, whether its an elementary school student working on homework or a kupuna putting together a genealogy. "This is just the beginning," he says. He hopes that users will take ownership of the data and contribute to the weahh of traditional and current knowledge. "Hawaiian culture is living, breathing. This is a plaee to recede out information, collect resources and really eonhnue on a traditional way of knowing." ■

Treena Shapi.ro, afreelance writer, is aformer reporterfor the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Advertiser.

KĪPUKA DATABASE

The mission of Kipuka is to create a repository of knowledge where information about Hawai'i's land, culture and historycan be easily accessed, to develop a virtual mo'okū'auhau (genealogy) of land tenure in Hawai'i, and to provide an opportunity for individuals to forge new relationships between themselves and the 'āina (land) that is most important tothem. — From the website, www.kipuka database.com

LAND & WATER

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Kamoa Quifevis, 0HA's land, culfure and hisfory manager, describes Nafive Hawaiian chants as the original database. - Photo: Lisa Asato; At top: lmages from www.kipukadatabase.com. - Photos: iohn Matsuzaki