Abstract

Building an Enterprise GIS for the Bishop Paiute Tribe
Track: Tribal/Indigenous GIS programs
Authors: Bryanna Vaughan, Juliette Nabahe, Thomas Gustie

The Bishop Paiute Tribe is the fifth largest California tribe situated on a small land base of 875 acres. Current GIS users consist of four Environmental Management Office (EMO) staff, although none are full-time GIS professionals. After approximately fifteen years of using GIS with no set protocol, EMO recognized a need for reorganization and standardization of overall data management. Our GIS overhaul started with a grant task to efficiently organize EMO GIS data files with standardized projections, scales and metadata updates. Communication with the Public Works Department and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer spurred EMO to gauge interest from other departments and suggest advantages of utilizing GIS. Building an Enterprise GIS, converting CAD data and expanding scales to encompass ancestral lands eventually became part of the overhaul. During the overhaul we realized that EMO's scenario was similar to that of many smaller municipalities and water districts.