James Sanovia grew up in Rapid City and earned degrees in geological engineering from Oglala Lakota College and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Today Sanovia is using his knowledge of geology and Native American history to design 3D GeoSpatial topographical maps of locations across South Dakota that are culturally significant to Lakota people.
James Sanovia is rocking the world of mapping.
Sanovia designs 3D GeoSpatial topographical maps of areas of the Black Hills. He uses scientific data gathered by sophisticated technology like satellite imagery and high-res aerial photographs.
What makes Sanovia’s maps stand out is they designate locations significant to Lakota people - like the Badlands, Wind Cave, and Bear Butte.
He uses standard mapping techniques but incorporates traditional Lakota names, language, and stories.
“So I’ll look at a photograph and I’ll draw in these stories I hear and find the place in the Black Hills - like at Angleska, Slate Prairie, Gillette, and Reynolds, they’re all by each other up there, draw in these stories that I’ve heard Lakota elders talk about or I’ve read about and you know I’ll use an aerial photograph because it’s the most detailed. And I’ll draw it in and display it,” says Sanovia.
Sanovia’s Lakota-inspired works include aerial maps with coordinates of the Black Hills that match the shape of a human heart, a buffalo, a salamander and a turtle.
Sanovia says he hopes his maps inspire others.
“Now that rock has a name and a story, it’s not just this place that you go and rumble your four-wheeler over or something. Once it has a name or a story behind it you’re less inclined to go and be destructive about it,” says Sanovia.
Sanovia says his maps educate people on an academic level, but also on a human level. He says he hopes they can be used as common ground to facilitate dialogue about race relations in South Dakota.
Sanovia completed two internships with NASA, he is a faculty researcher at OLC in Rapid City, and is pursuing his master’s degree.