Gran Canaria’s Sacred Sounds Find a Global Home on Google Earth
The innovative project, Voices and Sounds of the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria, will host all its content on the global geolocation tool Google Earth Outreach. This digital platform by the tech giant is specifically designed to contain and disseminate scientific, educational, outreach, and cultural content from non-profit entities.
Building a Virtual Library of Island Heritage
This initiative allows the sounds, recorded and geolocated by the local residents themselves, to be accompanied by videos, photographs, website articles, local press news, and bibliographies. Together, these elements will create a comprehensive virtual library dedicated to the Cultural Landscape of the Gran Canaria Biosphere Reserve and the people who inhabit it. It offers travelers a profound, authentic insight into the island’s living culture.
Empowering Local Communities
A key strategic goal of this project, which is funded by the World Heritage and Biosphere Reserve Institute of Gran Canaria, is to showcase the work of the civil society associations and groups operating within the territory. The members of the Union of Associations of the Biosphere Reserve are already hard at work on this endeavor.
By being included in Google’s interactive map—the first project of its kind in Spain to do so—Voices and Sounds of the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria opens the door to reaching millions of people worldwide, thanks to the tool’s global reach and powerful digital resources.
A Project By the People, For the People
It’s important to highlight that all the documentation, production, recording, and post-production work originates from the 26 associations that make up the Union of Associations of the Biosphere Reserve of Gran Canaria. With support from technical staff, it will be the residents of this cultural landscape who carry out the bulk of the research, pre-production, and production of the materials, ensuring an genuinely local perspective.
Understanding a Cultural Landscape
For the Union of Associations, it is paramount that the population understands the territory’s nature as a cultural landscape. The island of Gran Canaria is a highly anthropized space; its landscape cannot be understood without recognizing the work humans have performed upon it for over two millennia.
This project emphasizes this very concept of a cultural landscape. As defined by UNESCO’s World Heritage Institute, it is a complex heritage object with diverse values resulting from the combination of physical, ecological, and human factors. For visitors, this means the scenery tells a story of centuries of human endeavor.
The Heart of the Cultural Landscape
It is the agricultural, livestock, and fishing activities that give meaning to this cultural character of the territory. The Voices and Sounds project aspires for everyone to understand this human dimension of the landscape and comprehend the necessity of maintaining the labors and customs that have shaped it for centuries, offering a unique window into the island’s soul for those who explore it.
