You're welcome Suchith. Best,
- Enock twitter: @Enock4seth enockseth.github.io | [[User:Enock4seth]] On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 7:25 PM, Suchith Anand < [email protected]> wrote: > Colleagues, > > It is really sad to see two earthquakes (in less than a fortnight) > hitting Nepal . I thank all colleagues who have been contributing to the > Humanitarian Open Street Map's http://hotosm.org/ relief efforts for > this. The Humanitarian Open Street Map Team applies the principles of open > source and open data sharing for humanitarian response and economic > development. These efforts are greatly helping relief efforts in Nepal > http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32603870 > > I am especially grateful for the work and relief efforts being done by our > colleagues in Open Source Geospatial Lab at Kathmandu University in these > challenging circumstances and may God help them to help others in need. > > https://sites.google.com/a/ku.edu.np/opensourcegeospatial/ > https://geospatiallab.wordpress.com > > Two earthquakes in just over a fortnight in Nepal is a time for all of us > to think on how we all can contribute to better capacity building in > national/regional/local levels globally to help with not only relief > efforts but also be better prepared for combating natural disasters from > earthquakes to flooding to landslides . Especially there is very limited > capacity in geospatial technologies in developing countries as many of the > developing countries do not even have local capacity or ability to buy > expensive properitory GIS software tools needed. That is why is it very > important that there is local capacity build in all countries using free > and open technologies and principles. So making geospatial education > opportunities assessible to all is key long term aim that we all should > work together. > > Preparedness is key for managing these kind of disasters and capacity > building at national, regional and local level is important and we need to > more engage with United Nations community for this. In 2012 and 2014 we > have organised hands on workshop "Open Source GIS & WebMapping for UN > staff" in Vienna, Austria . It was organized on behalf of the Commission on > Open Source Geospatial Technologies of the International Cartographic > Association (ICA). Barend Kobben (University of Twente) was the course > organisor for this. > > http://kartoweb.itc.nl/kobben/SOMAP-OSGEO-workshop/ (2014 Workshop ) > http://kartoweb.itc.nl/kobben/SOMAP-OSGEO-workshop/report2012.html (2012 > Workshop ) > > So i suggest as a community we plan the following actions: > > 1. We will need to expand these Open GIS and Open Data training programs > for UN staff globally. We should build upon ideas from International Map > Year (IMY) http://internationalmapyear.org activities led by the > International Cartographic Association (ICA) and supported by the United > Nations with the aim to provide opportunities to making and using maps > and geographic information to actually focus on this aspect of capacity > building also. It is important the capacity building is there at the local > level to make this effective. > > 2. Planning ideas of getting students doing GIS programs in universities > worldwide to contribute to the Missing Maps projects of Humanitarian Open > Street Map Team http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Missing_Maps_Project > to help map the most vulnerable places in the developing world, in order > that international and local NGOs, and individuals can use the maps and > data to better respond to crises affecting the areas. It can be a hands on > exercise (one session minimum) as part of the GIS curriculum. > > I got so many emails from lot of faculty worldwide who contributed to the > Nepal mapping efforts. A lecturer in Southern Methodist University, USA > (Jessie Zarazaga) emailed "Thank you for sharing the opportunity to > participate. It pushed me into action, and we held a very successful Map-In > on Friday at the school of engineering.My students were proud to be able to > do even something small to help.And next time they will be even better > positioned to play their part." > > Thank you Jessie Zarazaga for your mail . Your mail has inspired me to > think of actions for the long term and to ensure that we will be able to > train and develop a new generation of cartographers and geographic > information scientists with the skills needed to take action globally. > > All colleagues and volunteers who have contributed for the Humanitarian > Open Street Map Team's efforts are our "Geo for All" Heros. > > Best wishes, > > Suchith > > > > > This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee > and may contain confidential information. If you have received this > message in error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it. > > Please do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this > message or in any attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the > author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the > University of Nottingham. > > This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an > attachment may still contain software viruses which could damage your > computer system, you are advised to perform your own checks. Email > communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as > permitted by UK legislation. > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >
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