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GISCorps volunteer on a World Vision mission in Sierra Leone

Jim Tobias, a Senior GIS Developer with Northrop Grumman in Atlanta GA, has been deployed to an onsite mission in Sierra Leone. The request for volunteer came from World Vision and was for a GIS/GPS Specialist to undertake mapping of health and education facilities in Area Development Programs (ADP)s in several districts of Sierra Leone. Jim is on his way to Sierra Leone and will stay there for three weeks.

Recruitment complete, work in progress

URISA GIS Hall of Fame inductee volunteers for a GSDI project in Russia

Professor William Huxhold, chair and professor of Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee has been deployed to a GSDI mission in Chelyabinsk, Russia. A 2011 URISA GIS Hall of Fame inductee, Prof. Huxhold will be travelling to Chelyabinsk to present at a seminar at the South Ural State University on November 1-2. His lectures will include several GIS related topics including but not limited to: the history and current status of GIS in the US (at all levels), the role of universities in the GIS industry, an overview of land record management, Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and related standards, uses of remote sensing, and the state of various GIS datasets in the US.

Recruitment complete, work in progress

A cadastral mapping specialist is recruited for a GSDI project in Uzbekistan

The National Centre of Geodesy and Cartography (NCGC) in Uzbekistan has requested the assistance of a GIS professional via the GSDI Small Grant Program. NCGC is in the process of designing and implementing activities related to GIS strategic planning and capacity development. As part of this project, a number of land record management related papers/studies have been developed and the GISCorps volunteer’s task will include reviewing these documents and making recommendations. The search for a seasoned volunteer in cadastral mapping resulted in recruiting Dr. Nancy Von Meyer, the vice president of Fairview Industries. Nancy is a GIS leader in the area of land record management and the recipient of URISA’s Horwood Distinguished Service Award in 2007. Dr. Von Meyer is currently in contact with the NCGC team.

Recruitment complete, work in progress

GISCorps volunteer assisting a non-profit organization in Bellevue, Washington

HopeLink is a Washington based non-profit organization that offers an integrated array of programs that enable families in crisis to make progress toward and achieve self-sufficiency. They asked the assistance of a volunteer to update their current GIS datsets and related maps in King County. The search for volunteer resulted in recruiting Dan Christiansen, a GIS professional from Seattle, WA who will be able to assist HopeLink both on-site and remotely. Dan is now in contact with the HopeLink team.

Recruitment complete, work in progress

Volunteers assisting the WatchTheMed mission in central Mediterranean (100th mission)

The Forensic Oceanography (FO) research project requested the assistance of three volunteers to conduct remote sensing, data mining and data conversion/creation. These volunteers are needed for a project concerning the death of migrants at sea (related to our first project with FO). Volunteers are: Rossana Padeletti from Italy, Keith McCrary from US, and Steve Etherington from Canada.

Recruitment complete, work in progress

Three more GSDI projects are launched in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Nigeria

The request for volunteers came from Zimbabwe (Savetech Solutions), South Africa (Endangered Wildlife Trust), and Nigeria (Geographical Resources for Development Centre). These are all GSDI projects and are either interested in developing a metadata Geo Portal (Zimbabwe and South Africa) or, already have one and would like to enhance it further (Nigeria). Due to similarities between these projects (all interested in an Open Source solution), we decided to form a team of four volunteers and provide assistance to them in a collaborative manner.

Following a thorough search, four volunteers were selected and we chose Karl Tiller, a Technical Advisor in the GIS Centre of Makerere University, funded by Horizont3000 as the Project Manager. The other three GIS Specialists are from: Guatemala (Raul Calderon), Pakistan (Asmat Ali), and California (Chris Nicholas). Karl has created a wiki site and the team has been collaborating via that site.

Recruitment complete, work in progress

A remote sensing scientist is recruited for a project in Sudan (GSDI project)

We are providing volunteers to several GSDI projects this year. One of those requests came from Grant Gordon, a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. Grant's current research examines how causal inference, predictive modeling, and crowd-sourced data can improve humanitarian intervention and programming. The project that Grant is seeking a volunteer for intends to advance a series of estimation procedures derived from satellite imagery analysis to determine the physical and human impact of atrocities committed in Sudan. Barry Bitters, a remote sensing scientist from Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), in Virginia has been selected for this project and is now in contact with Grant.

Recruitment complete, work in progress

GISCorps volunteer assisting in a GSDI project in Tanzania

Imroz Raihan, a remote sensing specialist from Bangladesh has been deployed to a GSDI project in Tanzania. The request for volunteer for this project came from the University of Kwazulu-Natal and Wami Ruvu Basin Office. They are interested in receiving assistance for geo-referencing, mosaicing, and classifying several Worldview imageries.

Recruitment complete, work in progress

Remote sensing specialist deployed to a project with UNOSAT

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)’s Satellite Operational Applications Program or UNOSAT requested the assistance of a remote sensing specialist for a pilot project in Somalia. The objective of this project is to implement methods for using free and low resolution imagery to identify the locations of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. The volunteer will first be asked to assist in developing the most appropriate methodology for identifying the camps and then manage additional volunteers who will be responsible for reviewing tens of thousands sq km of imagery.

The recruitment resulted in selection of Barry Bitters, a senior research scientist with the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), in Virginia. He is currently in contact with UNOSAT representatives. More volunteers may be asked to assist in this project at a later time.

Recruitment complete, work in progress

A second volunteer is recruited for NHS/UNO-PLUS mission - New Orleans, LA A second volunteer has been recruited for the University of New Orleans – Department of Planning & Urban Studies (UNO-PLUS) and Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) mission. Smitha Peethambaram, a GIS Analyst with Mactec E & C in California, is assisting UNO-PLUS/NHS in further enhancing the WhoData.org, an online application that GISCorps' first volunteer, Rafael Ferraro, developed about a year ago. To learn about the first phase and for the latest updates, click here. Recruitment complete, work in progress

Conducting GIS Needs Assessment and Training in Mozambique

The Niassa National Reserve, a non profit organization located in northern Mozambique requested a GISCorps volunteer to assist them in two capacities: 1) conducting a GIS Needs Assessment of their existing GIS (remotely), and 2) training their local staff on the use of ArcGIS software for 3 weeks. Established in 1954, Niassa is one of the oldest Reserves in Mozambique and holds the greatest abundance and variety of wildlife in the country. The recruitment resulted in selecting Marci Meixler, a visiting professor at Rutgers University and two of her students: Carly Aulicky and Mike Tanis. The team has been in contact with Madyo Couto, the Reserve’s representative for several months. The remote work began in early January and was recently concluded. Another volunteer David Smith (also a professor at Rutgers) has been recruited for this project and has committed to teaching GIS to the staff of Niassa remotely. Read more here.

Recruitment complete, work is progress

Mission with iMMAP/WFP - North Korea

The project is progressing wonderfully and more map sheets are digitized by the volunteers. The original request for volunteers came from the World Food Program (WFP) and Information Management and Mining Action Program (iMMAP). Volunteers are charged with the task of digitizing 400 map sheets and will create several data layers such as: settlement points, transportation (roads, foot path, and railroads), rivers and lakes. To see the latest status map and read more about this project, click here.

Recruitment complete, work is progress

Mission with South Luangwa Conservation Society - Zambia

GISCorps volunteer, Lisa Matthies, a GIS and Geography Instructor at Erie Community College in Williamsville, NY has been supporting SLCS’ GIS needs since spring of 2009. Recently, SLCS inquired about the possibility of being trained in GIS. After contacting Lisa, she indicated that she would be willing to provide GIS training to SLCS. More detail about the training will be posted later, for more details about Lisa's ongoing support for this project, click here.

Recruitment complete, work in progress

Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Small Grants Program's 2011-2012 Projects

The review of 2011/2012 projects has resulted in multiple recruitments and they are currently at varying stages. We hope to place a number of volunteers in this year's projects which are in several countries including Russia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Uzbekistan. Read about previous GSDI projects here.

Ongoing projects and deployments