Doing a research paper / poster without much available data? I know, why would somebody choose a topic for a research paper or a poster that doesn't really have much data or literature available? But here it goes...

Without much consideration, I chose a topic for a presentation at a Geographu scientific conference that doesn't have a lot of digitised data available. When I think of it, there are no existing databases on which a digital / computer approaches and methodologies could be applied.

My question is, how do you manage this kind of situation? Do you just write a theoretical paper that just gives similar case studies from other geographic regions where this methods were applied, or?

Also, I think it is now a bit late to change topics.
The fact that there isn't much data available sounds like a fantastic opportunity to collect lots of data in that field, setting yourself apart from other folk and carving out a nice niche for yourself.

The fact that there isn't much data available in the field shouldn't hold you back from just doing it yourself. Science is the pursuit of knowledge, after all.