News from the GSDI Association and the International Geospatial Society

 Vol. 2, No. 5, 2012 - September 2012

This news update is for members of the GSDI Association and the International Geospatial Society.

 

ASSOCIATION NEWS

 

* Get Ready for GSDI 14 *

 

The GSDI Association, EIS-Africa, the International Geospatial Society, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) are pleased to announce a close partnership in offering the joint GSDI 14 World Conference and AfricaGIS 2013 Conference. The combined conference is planned to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 4-8 November 2013 Pre-conference and post-conference workshops, meetings and seminars will also be supported. The theme of the conference is "Spatial Enablement in Support of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction."

 

AfricaGIS is the largest regularly occurring GIS conference in Africa with participants from the whole continent. The GSDI World Conference moves to sites across the globe to offer geospatial specialists in all parts of the world opportunities to better exchange ideas and learn from peers in building spatial data infrastructure. For past conferences, see http://www.gsdi.org/gsdiConferences.

 

Flights are readily available from across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Substantial reduction in registration fees will be available for local participants, members of EIS-Africa and members of the International Geospatial Society who are from low income per capita nations. Substantial reductions in Exhibit and Sponsorship fees will be available for companies and agencies that are members of the GSDI Association.

 

Consult the web site at http://gsdi.org/gsdi14 as the Call for Papers and details about the program, facilities and sponsorship opportunities become available. Come prepared to engage, learn and enjoy! More news on the conference in our next issue!

 

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GSDI COMMITTEE NEWS

 

GSDI Standing Committees recommend programs of action to the GSDI Council and Board and carry out specific tasks as set out in the GSDI bylaws or as requested by the Council or the Board. Individuals interested in contributing to the work of committees should contact the committee chairs, via the GSDI Committees web site at http://www.gsdi.org/standingcomm. All current Committee members are encouraged to send their news to the Editor (ral@alum.mit.edu) for including in future issues of the Newsletter.

 

*Outreach & Membership Committee News*

 

In September, vice-Chairs Roger Longhorn and Joep Crompvoets worked on developing the O&M Committee work plan for the next 18 months, and participated in teleconferences with other Board members in developing new vision and mission statements for the Association, noting that the definition of ‘Spatial Data Infrastructure’ is evolving due to innovations in location-based information collection, processing and dissemination. The new work plan and associated Communications Plan will be on the GSDI O&M Committee web pages at the end of September – see http://www.gsdi.org/standingcomm.

 

In mid-August, Roger and Joep were also guests of the Government of Chinese Taipei, presenting keynote speeches at the day-long seminar launching the Chinese Taipei Geoportal One Stop (TGOS) portal. Longhorn spoke on the value of geospatial data and of spatial data infrastructures – to the economy, to businesses and to citizens. Crompvoets presented his analysis of the Chinese Taipei SDI 'state of play' using formal assessment methodologies. Chinese Taipei's SDI ranks in the top four that have been analyzed globally. Chinese Taipei has a highly advanced national SDI already under development for more than a decade, with strong government support from the Ministry of the Interior.

 

During the visit, the two Committee members met with Minister of Interior Dr Hong-Yuan Lee, and Deputy or Vice Ministers from other government departments and agencies, including the Council of Economic Planning & Development, the Min. of Foreign Affairs, Office of Science and Technology, the National Space Organization, the Chinese Taipei Geographic Information System Center in Taipei, and the GIS Research Center at Feng Chia University – all of whom have a part to play in the success of the NSDI. Special emphasis in Chinese Taipei is on disaster planning, monitoring and mitigation, due to the number of typhoons and earthquakes to which the island nation is subjected.

 

The visit was arranged and hosted by Jeremy Shen, Director of the Information Centre, Ministry of the Interior – also an active member of the GSDI Association’s Societal Impacts Committee.

 

*Legal & Socioeconomic Committee*

 

Committee member Dr Gabor Remety-Fülöpp (Secretary-general, HUNAGI) co-authored a paper on ‘Legal Aspects of Public Sector Information and Re-use’ presented at the 4^th Digital Earth Summit, held 2-4 September 2012, in Wellington, NZ.  He also presented the LAPSI project at the "World Wind Europa Challenge" the 2012 Geospatial Summer School in Como, Italy, jointly organised by Fondazione Graphitech of Trento, Politecnico di Milano and NASA, on 19-21 September (see www.graphitech.it/wweuappcamp/), and contributed the GSDI Liaison report to the 34th CEOS WGISS Meeting hosted by ISRO.

 

*Technical Committee*

 

The Technical Committee held a teleconference under direction of the new committee Chair, Eric van Praag, from CAF, and a new work plan is being prepared for actions to be carried out over the coming months, prior to GSDI 14 in Ethiopia.

 

*Societal Impacts Committee*

 

As reported in our previous issue, Committee vice-Chair, Jeremy Shen, provided a free training opportunity for three candidates from Latin America to attend the ICLPST (International Center for Land Policy Studies and Training) training seminar on GIS and Land Management, in Chinese Taipei, 12-25 September, 2012. The Committee is also responsible for managing the GSDI Small Grants Program, for which see the reports below.

 

*Small Grants Update from Africa*

 

East African SDI Initiatives - an Update

 

James Osndwa of the Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) at UNEP's Nairobi office reports on work accomplished relating to marine SDI, part-funded by the GSDI Association's Small Grants Program, from a grant allocated in the 2008-2009 programme. Much progress was made on this project beginning in 2008 when the GSDI Association Small Grants Program funding was received. In Tanzania, they held two national workshops on coastal and marine SDIs and a project report is available (see below).

 

The Africa Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) meeting (see http://www.unep.org/roa/amcen/Amcen_Events/14th_Session/default.asp) on 7-14 September 2012, in Arusha, Tanzania, is an official launch of the Portal by the Tanzania Minister of Environment, during a side-event for the Tanzania Environmental Web Portal. This is a very similar system that UNEP also helped develop for the Tanzania National Environmental Management Council (NEMC). It was seen as an appropriate platform for the launching of both of these ancillary systems together. Both provide access to Environmental information, one at a National level, and the other Coastal and Marine. As such the coastal and marine portal will serve as a node to the larger NEMC one.

 

The biggest need of the project at the moment is awareness, both nationally and regionally. AMCEN provides a perfect platform for this, and there are still national awareness activities planned. We have also been in discussion with both institutions to hold joint activities, to save on time, money, and human resources, and enhance cooperation between their stakeholders. Further, we've received funding to take the SDI full-cycle and begin tackling issues arising from data access such as addressing data gaps.

 

The GSDI Small Grant Program funding was to cover: "Africa - Southern and Eastern African Regions (7 Nations-7 proposals), convening 2-day national workshops and hands-on training leading to developing of the coastal and marine Spatial Data Infrastructure in seven nations on data quality assessment, data uploading and metadata development for the nations of Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Tanzania." Workshop reports for the activities carried out under the coastal and marine SDI project covering activities from December 2008 to January 2011 can be found here:

http://gridnairobi.unep.org/CHMPortal/jsp/progressreports.jsp.

 

Comoros:

-        Report and Launch of the Comoros Clearinghouse and Information Sharing System - January, 2011

-        Training workshop of the Members of the Comoros Clearinghouse Working Group [Participants List]

 

Kenya:

-        Terminal Report of the Kenya Clearinghouse and Information Sharing System - March, 2010

-        Report of the Members of the Kenya Working Group Training and Uploading exercise held on 30-31 July, 2009 at Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI)

 

Madagascar:

-        Final Report on the Implementation of the Madagascar Clearinghouse and Information Sharing System - February, 2010

-        Training workshop of the Madagascar Nairobi Convention CHM Working group held on 10-13 August 2009, Antananarivo, Madagascar

-        Training workshop of the Madagascar Nairobi Convention CHM Working group held on 17 – 18 June 2009 - Antananarivo, Madagascar (report and Participants list)

 

Mozambique:

-        Final Report of the Mozambique Clearinghouse and Information Sharing System - October, 2010

 

South Africa:

-        Final Report of the South Africa Clearinghouse and Information Sharing System - December, 2010

 

Seychelles:

-        National Training Workshop of the Seychelles Clearinghouse and Information Sharing System, held at Institute of Management, Seychelles from 7-9 September, 2009

 

Tanzania:

-        National Training Workshop of the Tanzania Clearinghouse Mechanism, held at University of Dar Es Salaam/IMS Conference Room, – 10 December, 2008

-        Report of the Second National Meeting of the NWT of the Tanzania Clearinghouse Mechanism, University of Dar Es Salaam/IMS Conference Room, 11– 12 December, 2008 Download [English]

 

Reported by James Osundwa, Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA), United Nations Environment Programme, P. O. Box 30552, Nairobi-00100, Kenya - Email: James.Osundwa@unep.org

 

*GSDI Small Grants Program URISA GISCorps Support*

 

For information on the support from the URISA GISCorps volunteers on behalf of the GSDI Small Grants awards, and other URISA GISCorps activities, visit the GISCorps Ongoing Projects website at:

http://www.giscorps.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=96&Ite...

 

*New Small Grants Funders Needed!*

 

The financial situation in the USA has forced the US FGDC to withdraw its financial support from the Small Grants Program for 2013. The GSDI Association Board and Members are seeking replacement funding to help ensure that this most valuable contribution to the goals of the Association can continue from next year. Anyone who can help with future financial support, please contact the Association President, Prof David Coleman, or Executive Director, Prof Harlan Onsrud.

 

To see the final reports and for more information on the Small Grants Program visit our web site at http://www.gsdi.org/sic1. As always, we express the Association’s grateful thanks for the support of the US Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and the URISA GISCorps for making the grants programme possible.

 

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The International Geospatial Society (IGS)

 

The International Geospatial Society (IGS) is the individual membership arm of the GSDI Association whose members have geospatial, SDI, GIS or related professional or specialist interests. The Society enhances communications globally among individuals that are actively involved in promoting, developing, or advancing spatial data infrastructure and related concepts. The IGS web site is at http://www.igeoss.org.

 

*IGS MEMBER PROFILES*

 

Our IGS Member Profile for September is from Ing. Villie Morocho Zurita, PhD, Research Scientist (ICT) and Chief Executive Officer of the National Research and Education Network (NREN) from Ecuador. Villie is Researcher and Founder of the Research & Development and Innovation Department of Engineering Faculty, University of Cuenca, Ecuador.

 

He received his PhD in software in 2004 from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. His PhD thesis was “Semantic-based Approach to Spatial Data Sources Integration - About Heterogeneity on Integration of Spatial Databases and Geographic Information Systems.” Villie was project leader from 2008 until 2012 for Spatial Data Infrastructure, supported by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID), developed at the University of Cuenca. From 2011, the national project on SDI was raised to international level by means of CEDIA collaboration, the NREN for Ecuador, and CLARA (Cooperación Latino Americana de Redes Avanzadas  - Latin American Cooperation of Advanced Networks -  see www.cedia.org.ec). From that time, he was a main Researcher of LATIN IDE, a Latin American Community on Spatial Data Infrastructure accredited by CLARA. Note: For more information on NRENs worldwide, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_research_and_education_network.

 

His special emphasis on SDI in the research and development group allowed the implementation of a unique development model of SDI (national and sub-national level). This model was implemented on to less than five more NREN, trying to achieve the similar goal from CEDIA.

 

The main difference in SDI implementation is that this is addressed from the academic side. It achieved the integration of geographic data generated by university institutes, departments and others, over the SDI. It also added the advantages offered by a wide bandwidth network by means of NREN. This effect is reflected in the speed to download Geographic Information inside Ecuador as well as in other Latin American countries, by means of the CLARA Network.

 

At the present time, Villie is leading one of the SDI projects in Ecuador with collaboration of the UNDP and National Secretary for Risk Management for obtaining information to manage natural disasters at municipality level.  The goal is introduce to the SDIs, from researchers and government institutions, all geospatial information from this project for the management of natural disasters or for their prevention or mitigation.

 

He is also leading the Ecuador participation in a new project on SDI with different countries from Central America, called "Mesoamerica”. This new project will try to help manage the natural disasters on Central American countries. As researcher in other branches of ICT, Villie is a main leader of the CIDI (R & D Center at the University of Cuenca). Currently he leads many projects relating to software and computational research, such as mobile applications, telemedicine, digital television and Geographic Information Systems.

 

During his professional life, Villie has been involved in different activities for contributing to develop of technology of local and national scope. During his professional life, he has been involved in various activities to contribute to the development of technology at local and national levels. He participated as a group leader in the Science Park project, when he worked as assessor to the Ministry of Industry.

 

Contact details: Dr. Villie Morocho Zurita, Director Ejecutivo del CEDIA, vmorocho@cedia.org.ec

Av. 12 de Abril y Agustín Cueva, Universidad de Cuenca, Edf. Laboratorios Tecnológicos 3er Piso, Cuenca, Ecuador. Visit www.cedia.org.ec.

 

*IGS REMINDERS*

 

Subscriptions to GIM International

 

As a member benefit of IGS, you may receive a free subscription of GIM International. GIM International carries GSDI news, including IGS news, in a monthly column. If you want to stay up to date with this column and read up on other developments in Geomatics, please follow this link and subscribe if you are not already receiving a hard copy of the magazine: http://www.gim-international.com/GSDI.

 

Subscription to SDI Magazine

 

SDI Magazine is a specialist, free, online e-zine, focusing principally on SDI issues, as opposed to general geomatics topics. Subscription is free (visit www.sdimag.com) and GSDI Association and IGS Members are encouraged to subscribe. The magazine regularly carries news from both the Association and IGS, as well as updates on what is happening with regard to SDI developments around the globe.

 

Participation in GIKNet

 

IGS members are also reminded that information is uploaded in GIKnet in the Society Web Forum:

 

• Topics of general interest (English) http://www.giknet.org/forum/post.php?topic=41,
• Topics of general interest (Spanish), http://www.giknet.org/forum/post.php?topic=42,
• Task 5. Promote the work of IGS members as a network sharing information, knowledge and publications among IGS members” http://www.giknet.org/forum/post.php?topic=12

 

Members are invited to actively participate in the Society Web Forum, as a means of sharing news, and/or to join and participate in the IGS LinkedIn sub-group (see below).

 

LinkedIn IGS Sub-Group

 

If you have not already signed up for the IGS sub-group on LinkedIn, please do so ASAP! If you are already a member of the GSDI group, then you can request to join from the Subgroups page by clicking “Groups” at the top of your home page. Then click the parent group's name (GSDI). Under the “More” dropdown menu, select Subgroups. The click “Join this subgroup.” You can view the status of your membership from the Your Groups page at http://www.linkedin.com/myGroups.

 

Joining IGS

 

Remember that individuals in low and very low income nations can apply to join the International Geospatial Society (IGS) by providing specific information of value to the global community in lieu of annual cash dues. The listing of low and very-low income nations may be found at http://www.gsdi.org/RankingTable.To join for free, simply add your professional profile to the growing interconnected network of geospatial specialists across the globe on the Geographic Information Knowledge Network (GIKNet) at http://giknet.org and then apply for membership in IGS at http://www.igeoss.org/join. To maintain your free membership, simply update your professional profile each year on or about December or January. You have the ability to view, edit, or delete your individual profile at any time. Members who joined IGS via this route, i.e. without paying the annual members fee, are reminded to update their information annually, or lose their membership of IGS.

 

*Help us reach our goal of 1000 IGS Members by November 2013 – get your friends to join today!*

 

IGS Members – submit your news, please, so that we can learn more about what our membership is doing! There are nearly 200 of you out there now, so please communicate with us. News can be sent by e-mail either to the IGS officers - President Mabel Álvarez who can be contacted via the IGS web site - or directly to me, Roger Longhorn, Editor GSDI & IGS News at roger@alum.mit.edu.

 

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ASSOCIATION MEMBER NEWS

 

This issue contains information on one of the major SDI projects supported by one of the Association’s newest member – CAF – the Development Bank of Latin America – “GeoSUR”.

 

GeroSUR – Geoinformation for the Development of Latin America and the Caribbean

 

Planning and development efforts undertaken in Latin Ame­rica and the Caribbean require appropriate access to fully integrated, geo-referenced and standardized spatial informa­tion. This information must be readily available to planners and decision-makers to allow its appropriate use and its in­corporation in the project-planning cycle.

 

The GeoSUR program, led by CAF (the Development Bank of Latin America) and PAIGH (Pan American Institute of Geography and History) and suppor­ted by USGS EROS (US Geological Survey Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science), provides geospatial information on Latin America and the Caribbean helpful for planning and analyzing development activities. The Web services develo­ped or sponsored by GeoSUR offer access to images, aerial photography and geospatial data developed by member institutions in areas such as topography, environment, and infrastructure, amongst many others.

 

Participation in GeoSUR is open to agencies that produ­ce spatial information at local, national, or regional levels. Geographic institutes, ministries of environment, minis­tries of public works, research centers, NGO’s, and private companies, among others, participate in the Program and stage on the web spatial information helpful in a myriad of development activities. Following is a brief description of the role some of these agencies play in the Program.

 

There are over 60 institutions actively participating in the Program in more than 20 countries. At first, priority was given to the participation of the region’s geogra­phic institutes and ministries of environment because of their responsibility in the production of key national base maps. Later, participation in the Program was expanded to include other national and regional agencies such as ministries of public works and planning, NGO’s, research institutes, universities and private companies. Each parti­cipating agency helps in the development of the regional network through the implementation of a map service and a spatial data catalog.

 

Some partner agencies, such as the Colombia, Spain, and the Ecuador geographic institutes, offer technical assis­tance and support the development of geoservices at other participating institutions.

 

Geoservices

 

GeoSUR develops geospatial services on the Web which enable users to locate, view, analyze, and obtain spatial in­formation. Access to these services is open and free and no special software is required to use them. All GeoSUR services are available at www.geosur.info.

 

• Geospatial Portal of Latin America and the Caribbean - This is the first portal to offer access to spatial information for all the countries of the region in one place. Spatial data and metadata generated by participating agencies can be consulted in this website.

 

• Regional Map Service - Regional maps of Latin America and the Caribbean are avai­lable for viewing and analysis through this service, on topics such as base maps, infrastructure, CAF projects, land use and land cover, protected areas, aerial imagery, and much more.

 

• Topographic Processing Service - The service allows modeling and generation of derived da­tasets such as slope, shaded-relief or elevation profiles from the 30-meter SRTM digital elevation model of the region. It is the first of its kind in the developing world due to its extensive geographic coverage and high resolution.

 

• Geoservice Network - More than 60 agencies in Latin America and the Caribbean participate in GeoSUR by implementing map services and data catalogs that become part of the first regional spatial data infrastructure. It is a decentralized network and every participating agency is responsible for the development, operation, and maintenance of its geoservices.

 

Main Uses

 

The geoservices developed by GeoSUR and its partners offer a broad range of functions for finding, viewing, analyzing, and obtaining geospatial data as it is shown in the following examples.

 

• Finding information - Geospatial information generated by partner agencies may be located through the GeoSUR portal and its availability and potential uses may be assessed.

 

• Route tracing - The Topographical Processing Service allows tracing alternative routes on a map for a future road or electrical grid line and obtaining the altitude profile for each route with great detail.

 

• Visualization of indigenous territories and pro­tected areas - Using the Regional Map Service, indigenous territories and protected areas close to a road project may be visualized to evaluate potential project impacts.

 

• Generation of critical slope maps - With the Topographical Processing Service, maps showing areas with slopes above 30 degrees and close to urban areas may be generated in support of disaster prevention efforts.

 

• Assessment of hydroelectric potential - The geospatial tools and the digital elevation models im­plemented by GeoSUR, combined with hydrological data, allow the quick and low-cost assessment of the hydroelec­tric generation potential of a country or region, and the identification of ideal locations for placing hydroelectric plants.

 

More on GeoSUR

 

GeoSUR was awarded Esri’s Presidential Award at the Esri International User Conference, in San Diego, CA, in July this year. Esri, CAF and PAIGH are all full members of the GSDI Association.

GeoSUR Metadata Workshop

The GeoSUR Program is offering a virtual workshop on metadata administration. The workshop will be conducted remotely from 17 September through 21 October 2012 and will cover 40 hours of effective training. The workshop agenda includes topics such as the use of metadata standards, introduction to SDI concepts, metadata creation and editing, implementation of metadata catalogs and registration with the GeoSUR Porta. GeoSUR's participating agencies have been invited to nominate candidates to participate and there is room for 45 students. The workshop will be offered in Spanish, and we hope to organize a similar workshop in English in the near future.

The training is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Latin American Development Bank (CAF), the administrative support of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH), technical support of the Spanish Geographic Institute (IGN Spain), and the Colombian Geographic Institute (IGAC). IGN offers the trainers, the teaching material and the technological platform that makes this training possible.

For more information on the GeoSUR Program please contact its coordinator at: +58 212 209 2111 or at geosur@caf.com.

 

*PAIGH Update – USNS Annual Report*

 

The 2012 Annual Report of the USA National Section (USNS) of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH) covers the period of 30 September 2011 through 1 October 2012. Included are reports from the Geography, History, Cartography, and Geophysics Commission representatives from within the USNS. Summaries of significant activities and meetings are included in each of the Commission reports. Also included is the USNS roster:

 

• Mr Mark DeMulder and Ms Jean Parcher continue to serve as the USNS President and Vice President, respectively.
• During this period, Ms Maria O’Brien of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) completed her assignment as the Executive Secretary of the USNS and has been replaced Mr Angel R. Santiago, also of NGA, as the new Executive Secretary.
• Dr Patricia Solís of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) continues to serve as the Principal US Representative to the Commission on Geography and a Coordinator for the Geography Research Committee.
• Dr Chris Castro of the University of Arizona continues to serve as the Principal US Representative to the Commission on Geophysics.
• Ms Leslie Armstrong has completed her assignment as the Principal US Representative to the Commission on Cartography and has been replaced by Mr John O. Gates of NGA as the USNS representative to the Commission on Cartography.
• Dr Erik Langer continues to serve as the Principal US Representative to the Commission on History.

 

The US National Section delegation to the Directing Council Meeting held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic was led by Vice President Parcher. In October, 2011, Mr DeMulder was honoured to be inducted into the National Academy of Geography of the Republic of Argentina as an Académico Correspondiente.

 

The US National Section webpage aids in promoting the US activities within PAIGH and facilitates communications both within our National Section and with the general public. The website is hosted by the Association of American Geographers. It can be found at http://www.aag.org/cs/paigh.

 

The U.S. National Section meeting occurred at the Organization of American States office in Washington D.C. on March 21, 2012. In attendance were 19 U.S. representatives from the four commissions and the Secretary General of the PAIGH, Dr Santiago Borrero, and special guest, Eric Van Praag, from GeoSUR. On the following day, March 22, the U.S. National Section hosted a Symposium of the Americas with a focus on climate change. [Note: Dr Borrero is a past-President of the GSDI Association and Eric Van Praag is the official representative to the GSDI Association from CAF, as well as the new Chair of the GSDI Technical Committee.]

 

Opening remarks by the U.S. National Section President, Mark DeMulder, were followed by a briefing of the status of the PAIGH directorship, programs and member nations by PAIGH Secretary General Dr Santiago Borrero.

 

Committee members Coleman from History; Cooper, Parcher and Armstrong from Cartography, and Castro from Geophysics provided a brief summary of the 2011 USNS projects. The projects included digital preservation of Haiti’s historical records, public and private sponsorship for the production of Electronic Bathymetric Charts, mapping of risk areas on volcanic areas, vapor pressure monitoring through GPS and its potential use on weather forecast, geographic names courses, and a workshop on construction of a regional Central American geospatial database to support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

 

On March 22 the PAIGH USNS members Erick Langer, Jean Parcher, Patricia Solis and Carmelle Terborgh (Esri) organized a Symposium of the Americas on Climate Change in Latin America. The Symposium consisted of a Roundtable discussion and select presentations from USNS members regarding their interdisciplinary work in the region. Minutes of the PAIGH USNS 2012 Annual Meeting and the Symposium of the Americas can be found at: http://www.aag.org/cs/projects_and_programs/developing_regions_programs/....

 

For further details of the activities of the different Commissions, Technical Committees and Working Groups, please refer to the annual report, available at:

http://www.aag.org/galleries/about-aag-files/PAIGH_USNS_2012_Annual_Report.pdf

 

Other workshops and events in which members were involved include:

 

• GSDI-13 in Quebec, Canada, in May 2012,
• Training in August 2011 at the USGS Eros Data Center for 25 attendees from 9 Central American and Caribbean countries and Paraguay, on the use of ArcGIS for Server, where training was done in both Spanish and English languages, on the eve of the extension of GeoSUR to cover Central American and Caribbean countries,
• Rio+20 in Brazil,
• GeoSUR was used as an exemplar for the Eye on Earth Global Network of Networks Special Initiative (meeting in Dec 2011 in Abu Dhabi),
• Facilitation of facilities and software in Costa Rica and El Salvador for data harmonization in Central America project workshops, and
• Facilitation of an ArcGIS for Server license in the cloud for Instituto Geográfico Nacional of El Salvador (CNR), to host their SDI in the cloud.

 

Learn more about PAIGH at http://www.ipgh.org/ and about the US National Section at http://www.aag.org/cs/paigh/members.

 

*Capacity Building Activities*

 

Association member Natural Resources Canada announced that the Canadian GeoConnections Program (www.geoconnections.nrcan.gc.ca) invites you to learn more about the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) by watching two videos available on the GeoConnections Website. "CGDI in Action" describes, in plain language, the infrastructure developed by GeoConnections, a program led by Natural Resources Canada. "CGDI Interoperability Pilot Project" highlights the collaboration, the concepts, the technology and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) services behind the OGC Web Feature / Web Map Service partnership network, through the demonstration of a variety of scenarios involving closest-to source update, access and use of Canadian public geospatial data. The videos are available in both English and French and offer closed captions. To watch the videos, visit the GeoConnections Website at: http://geoconnections.nrcan.gc.ca/18. If you would like more information about the videos or about the GeoConnections program, please contact us at Info@geoconnections.nrcan.gc.ca.

 

 

Don’t forget to check out the GSDI Association's Capacity Building Resources web site at http://www.gsdi.org/sic3 to view some of the videos relating to SDI implementation provided by our members. If you have any videos to contribute, please notify us by contacting either Harlan Onsrud, Executive Director (onsrud(at) spatial.maine.edu) or the editor, Roger Longhorn (ral@alum.mit.edu).

 

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The Geographic Information Knowledge Network (GIKNet)

 

The aim of the Geographic Information Knowledge Network (GIKNet) is to enhance communication and freely share knowledge among professionals in the global geographic information community. The GIKNet Community Registry permits individuals, government agencies, NGOs, companies and other institutions to record and publish details about themselves and submit relevant documents to the Spatial Documents Depot, which provides a search facility for locating information and documents submitted by GIKNetwork members. A comprehensive list of GI/SDI related discussion lists can be accessed from a single reference page. Access the GIKNetwork at this link: http://www.giknet.org/.

 

The main categories under which documents can be referenced in the GIKNetwork include: GI Science: Education & Training; GI Science: Research; and SDI/GIS: Practice and Applications. The network is promoted on the Association’s e-mail lists and the LinkedIn GSDI Group. All members of the GSDI Association and IGS are encouraged to sign up for GIKNetwork and to submit documents relevant to any aspect of SDI development and deployment, globally.

 

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PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL SDI PROJECTS

 

- Collaboration between the Eye on Earth Network (www.eyeonearth.org) and CAF.

The Latin American Development Bank (CAF), through its GeoSUR Program, has become a member of the Eye on Earth (EoE) Network, a global network initiated by the European Environment Agency (EEA). There are clear synergies between EoE and GeoSUR, as both initiatives cover wide geographic areas, have the participation of several countries and strive to make environmental and spatial data available to the public and decision makers. Since there is little participation of Latin American countries in EoE, one of the aims of this collaboration is to have CAF assist EoE in recruiting countries from the region and to invite them to share public environmental information through this platform. Another objective is to make GeoSUR and EoE more interoperable and to identify areas where CAF and EEA could undertake joint projects.

- Fourth Digital Earth Summit

Dr Gabor Remety-Fülöpp (Secretary-general, HUNAGI) presented a paper on ‘Legal Aspects of Public Sector Information and Re-use’ at the 4th Digital Earth Summit, in Wellington, NZ, from 2-4 September. A full conference report is available at http://www.digitalearth-isde.org/news/367.

- INSPIRE: pan-European regional SDI initiative.

 

Various GSDI Association members remain involved in developing the harmonisation data specifications for the 34 data themes that comprise the interoperability goals of the European Union’s INSPIRE Directive. All specifications are to be completed by mid-September and a new EC Regulation will be issued in 2013 requiring national compliance for the harmonized specifications in the 27 EU Member States for these themes.

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Various GSDI Member organisations, members of the GSDI Association Committees, Council and Board, and IGS members are involved in the many other regional and global initiatives on an on-going basis:

 

- Digital Earth (International Society for Digital Earth) – visit www.digitalearth-isde.org

- Eye on Earth – visit www.eyeonearth.org

- Group on Earth Observations (GEO) building the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) – see www.earthobservations.org/ag_partorg.shtml

- EuroGEOSS – GEOSS Project funded by the European Union – see www.eurogeoss.eu/default.aspx

- UNESCO IOC – Marine/Coastal Spatial Data Infrastructure development – visit www.iode.org.

- UNSDI – UN-GGIM (UN Global Geospatial Information Management) – visit ggim.un.org.

- UNSDI – UNGIWG (UN GI Working Group) – visit www.ungiwg.org

 

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GSDI DISCUSSION FORUMS UPDATES

 

To see the latest news from the different e-mail forums maintained by the GSDI Committees and the regional SDI Newsletters, visit the web site at http://www.gsdi.org/discussionlists, choose the forum of interest and select the ‘Archives’ option. All discussion lists are open to anyone who is interested in participating, and joining instructions are at the web site above.

 

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For more information on any of these items, visit the GSDI Association web site at www.gsdi.org.

 

GSDI and IGS Global News - News from the GSDI Association and the International Geospatial Society – is published by the GSDI Association, edited by Roger Longhorn, vice-Chair, Communications, GSDI Outreach and Membership Committee. The Editor may be contacted at ral@alum.mit.edu. Please feel free to submit news to the Editor, relevant to SDI initiatives at the global level.