Welcome to URISA's GISCorps
GIS = Giving International Service?
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Welcome to URISA's GISCorps
GIS = Giving International Service? |
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Information for Volunteers:
Information about Where you are Going There are several places to get information about travel to a foreign country. The first site is the U.S. Department of State site, at http://www.state.gov/. There is a page for Travel Advisories and Warnings, which covers areas for which the State Department is concerned about potential political, health, or other types of situations. There is also a country summary for every country in the world, outlining the current environment in each country. The Canadian Government, the British Foreign Office, and the Australians also maintain sites similar to this for their citizens. The CIA World Fact Book provides a country fact sheet for every country in the world. The Fact Book has significant information on the current political, economic and demographic environment for each country, the name of the U.S. Ambassador, location of the Embassy, name of the country's ambassador to the US, and location of the Embassy in the US, visa requirements, etc. Again, extremely useful stuff. Various commercial guide books often have information on cultural, historical, and social aspects of a country, or cities and regions within countries. Among those that I have found helpful in the past are: Lonely Planet, and Rough Guide series books. These are particularly useful in that they list inexpensive options for food and lodging, and getting around (by bus, train, boat, as well as by car and airplane). They also have significant health and safety information. You can get a pretty good idea of what it might be like to be in a given place by reading these guides. |