March 9, 2006 (PARK RIDGE, IL) – URISA’s GISCorps volunteers recently began six new missions as a result of its partnership with the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association.
Juna Papajorgji, the Co-chair and Co-founder of URISA’s GISCorps, led the effort to identify projects and volunteers to contribute to the global effort of building a Common National Spatial Data Infrastructure. Most of these projects – in Armenia, Hungary, Kenya, Mali, Marshall Islands, and Namibia – will make use of open source development environments and will use products built with OpenGIS specifications. All of the projects will be conducted remotely in support of major research and academic institutions in these countries.
Following is a list of projects and assigned GISCorps volunteers.
Country
Institution
Project
GISCorps Volunteer
Armenia
Institute of Geological Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences.
Collecting and web publishing known volcanoes as they relate to geo-referenced topographic maps and DEM.
Ramasawamy Hariharan, University of California, Irvine, PhD Candidate
Hungary
Institute of Ecology and Botany, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Develop a spatial web portal to serve natural vegetation and landscape ecological maps.
Philippe Duchesne, Ionic Software, Belgium, GIS Programmer
Kenya
Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI)
Web publishing of Kenya’s Oil Spill Contingency sensitivity atlas.
Dan Carey, Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky, Hydrologist
Mali
World Food Program
Technical and policy support for the National Committee of Geographical Information (CNIG), in their effort to strengthen the country’s SDI.
Sarah Williams, Columbia University, Director of Geospatial Analysis and Remote Sensing
Marshall Islands
Environmental Protection Authority
Develop a geospatial web application for GIS data/metadata clearinghouse.
Yasser Ayad, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Associate Professor
Namibia
National Botanical Research Institute
Server side programming to enhance Namibia’s Biodiversity Database (NADIB)
Sean Montague, ATS-Denver, Inc, Lead GIS/Web Programmer
The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) is considered to be the premier organization for the use and integration of spatial information technology to improve the quality of life in our urban and regional environments.
Operating under the auspices of URISA, GISCorps coordinates short term, volunteer based GIS services to underprivileged communities.
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