Girringun Aboriginal Corporation stores and manages a cultural heritage sites database on behalf of the nine affiliated Traditional Owner groups. This information is used for land use planning and for inter-generational traditional knowledge transfer.

Site information has come from several sources including: the Qld State Government; researchers/archaeologists and anthropologists; and from the Traditional Owner Elders themselves. Traditional Owner Elders, along with Girringun staff (archaeologist and GIS) undertake field surveys on country to record new sites, record extra information on known sites and to verify the acuracy of the locations of known sites using GPS technology.

One of the challenges with cultural information from the older reports is that many of the older recorded sites were located using small scale maps and hence having a lot of error in the locations, compared with today's technology. Girringun staff along with Traditional owners are continuing to revisit many of these old sites and are using GPS to get more accurate coordinates. This accuracy helps when an activity proponent wishes to be advised whether an proposed activity will affect or be affected by a cultural place.

Currently Girringun is using a Garmin 60C GPS with an accuracy of approximately 10m to locate many of the sites. In some areas however, Girringun staff are able to utilise an external marine GPS aerial with the GPS to add a differential correction to the position, getting an accuracy down to 1m in some places. This is effective mainly along the coastal areas.   

One of the few good things to come from Tropical Cyclone Larry (category 5) which crossed the Queensland coast at Innisfail was that the Queendland Government acquired high resolution aerial photography over much of the affected coastal area. Girringun has obtained a copy of this aerial photography from Terrain Ltd. as part of a project funded jointly by Terrain and BDTNRM. This data is being used to create maps of country showing cultural places against an actual landscape background.

Another benefit of this aerial photography is that it is acurate enough to correct may site locations which are on private property or in other areas with limited access. Girringun staff are able to sit with Elders and look across the landscape and see the actual track of the rivers and stream, lagoons and patches of scrub. Many places where a name is known but access to the site is a problem, like some lagoons on private property, can be seen from the air and plotted more accurately.

One of the limiting factors of using aerial photography is that it doesn't cover the entire landscape. The State Government's data acquisition plan doesn't have geographic correction of cultyral sites as a high priority on its agenda. Where the Govt. does have georeferenced data available over an area it is usually well beyond the price range of Aboriginal organisations to afford.

Girringun is also involved in site surveys for major infrastructure projects such as the Bruce Highway re-alignment, and for property management planning. Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service makes use of this information - with permission - for national parks management, planning and maintenance, particularly as part of the controlled burning regime.

Girringun has established a geographical information system (GIS) which provides maps for Traditional Owners, showing site locations along with place names in language where these are known. The GIS staff, part of the Cultural and Natural Resource Management Unit at Girringun, are creating links between the sites database and other multi-media and photographic information which has been collected over time.

 Elders and Traditional Owners undertaking cultural surveys for a proposed development.