NUNAVUT - A new device developed by a team of researchers, engineers, elders and hunters may make travelling on the land safer for Nunavummiut while compiling data for scientists on weather, wildlife and sea ice conditions.

David Iqaqrialu holds the GPS/field computer he and other hunters have tested on Baffin Island trails. The unit works in English and Inuktitut. - Jeanne Gagnon/NNSL photo

The device, which combines a GPS and field computer, can be mounted on a snow machine or dog sled and will record the route taken and weather conditions automatically.

As they ride the trails with the device, hunters can note things such as different animals seen or harvested, whether the sea ice is thin or cracked, and if they saw community or federal garbage. The device also has video games that hunters can play with. All the information is in English and Inuktitut.

The Igliniit Project is a collaborative effort between six hunters, six elders/advisers, 11 engineering students from the University of Calgary, three cartographers and three project researchers/managers, who have now spent about three years working on the project.

The information collected will be used to create maps, through which scientists and the community can track changes in weather, wildlife and sea ice conditions over time.

Clyde River's David Iqaqrialu, one of the hunters participating in the project, said through an interpreter, Lazarus Arreak, that he agrees developing the device shows a positive collaboration between Inuit and non-Inuit, the traditional and the modern.

"In addition, this gadget is also allowing the Inuit's knowledge, which had not been documented or inputed into the research that takes place up here, to be available to everyone that has access to the information," he said.

By sharing the information they gather on snow and ice conditions and wildlife, others can be aware of the precise locations of hazards, for instance, and better prepare their trip.

"Everywhere you go you have hazards, and if they can be accessible before you go to that area, then it will be to your advantage for your own safety," he said.

He said the device may have helped the hunter rescued from an ice floe south of Resolute avoid that peril if sea ice conditions had been previously recorded and made available.

"If that information was documented, then it would be easier to access for anyone who is going in that area to learn beforehand what kind of conditions he will be dealing with or hunting in," he said.

Once the device is commercialized, Iqaqrialu said he'll buy one.

"Of course, I'll be the first in line," he said.

Shari Gearheard, also part of the project team, said the research team wants to test the device in other communities, such as Greenland, and add a navigation tool in the future.