[SDI-Africa] RE : SDI-Africa Digest, Vol 22, Issue 7

[David Erickson]

Hi All,
Just thought I would mention one grass roots GIS group in Tanzania is the
Tanzania GIS Users Group.

We have an active listserve with about 150 people subscribed and even have a
community run web site (uses wiki technology).

As with all information resources, the biggest problem is time to be able to
contribute which is one thing we find which is a constraint to adding new
information for the web site.

Web Site
http://tzgisug.or.tz

ListServ:
http://habari.co.tz/mailman/listinfo/tzgisug

Cheers,
David


On 9/24/06, iapad <iapad at iapad.org> wrote:
>
>  Dear John,
>
>
>
> Yes, there are examples of community-based GIS applications in Africa, and
> these are rapidly increasing.
>
> To know more on the topic you may want to join specific discussion groups
> www.ppgis.net and http://www.dgroups.org/groups/cta/cmn-eca/index.cfm and
> have a look at these resources:
>
> ERMIS-Africa www.ermisafrica.org
>
> IAPAD: http://www.iapad.org/applications/ich/mauforest.htm
>
> PGIS2005 – Mapping 4 Change: http://pgis2005.cta.int/
>
>
>
> Best regards
>
>
>
> Giacomo Rambaldi
>
>
>  ------------------------------
>
> *From:* sdi-africa-bounces at lists.gsdi.org [mailto:
> sdi-africa-bounces at lists.gsdi.org] *On Behalf Of *Kate Lance
> *Sent:* Sunday, September 24, 2006 4:41 PM
> *To:* John Walkey; sdi-africa at lists.gsdi.org
> *Subject:* Re: [SDI-Africa] RE : SDI-Africa Digest, Vol 22, Issue 7
>
>
>
> John, regarding projects promoting the use of the technology at a more
> grass-roots or local level in Africa....  yes, it would be nice to hear some
> first-hand accounts....   would be nice is someone could/would chime in.....
>
>
>
> Off-hand, no reports come to mind on 'lessons learned' from university
> efforts in strengthening local geospatial communities.... but I suspect
> they're out there.  There are quite a few examples from Asia and Latin
> America/Caribbean in which universities are playing a coordination and/or
> awareness raising significant role..... (e.g., though an example at the
> regional level, rather than national, the Asia GIS Association has strong
> university involvement.  http://www.hku.hk/cupem/asiagis/  ; in Latin
> America, GILA is a network of Latin American research groups and
> laboratories involved in geographic information research, but the website
> does not appear to have been updated recently.  http://www.gilanet.org/ ;
> in Trindad and Tobago, the University of the West Indies has been
> contributing to geospatial awareness raising and support to the geospatial
> community (both the Centre for Geospatial Studies, Engineering Institute and
> the Centre for Caribbean Land and Environmental Appraisal Research)
>
> http://www.eng.uwi.tt/units/GIS/index.htm,
> http://www.sta.uwi.edu/clear/index.asp.
>
>
>
> I forgot to mention in my previous message re universities in Africa and
> GI coordination....  CGIS at the National University of Rwanda, an
> inter-faculty unit aimed at developing a GIS and RS curriculum for
> instruction and assisting national institutions by providing training in the
> application of GIS tools to current problems in Rwanda,
> http://www.cgisnur.org/.  They are also establishing links between
> universities, research institutes, government and non-government
> organizations to improve data sharing and the coordination of activities...
> and part of their effort is to establish a geospatial metadata/data portal.
>
>
>
>
> *John Walkey <jawalkey at hotmail.com>* wrote:
>
> Kate, et al,
>
> In regards to the question of Universities taking a lead in the promotion
> of
> SDI and general Geospatial tech use/knowledge in Africa, I was wondering
> if
> you (or anyone else on the list) knew of any lessons to be learned from
> experiences in Latin America, Asia, or other regions where spatial
> technologies are developing under somewhat similar conditions.
>
> Secondly, it seems to me, from the perspective of someone in the U.S. with
>
> no real first-hand GIS experience in Africa, that the development of the
> spatial technology "community" in Africa might be characterized as
> concentrated in centralized universities, national government agencies,
> international research centres, UN bodies and the like. Obviously the
> scarcity of resources (human and financial) and realistic priorities are
> part of this. Over the years, local government (state and town-level) has
> been quite critical in places like the U.S. and Canada for developing and
> populating the spatial "community" as well as creating the private sector
> demand for commerical aspects of this all. Are there projects promoting
> the use of the technology at a more grass-roots or local level in Africa?
> It would be nice to hear some of them recount their experiences, lessons
> learned, etc., here on the list.
>
> Thanks,
> ~John
>
> P.S. I'll also add my congratulations on your (nearly single-handedly)
> maintaining a very good list.
>
> John Walkey
> Boston, MA
>
> >From: Kate Lance
> >Reply-To: lancekt at aya.yale.edu
> >To: Sewelo Sewelo
> >CC: sdi-africa at lists.gsdi.org
> >Subject: Re: [SDI-Africa] RE : SDI-Africa Digest, Vol 22, Issue 7
> >Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 07:21:38 -0700 (PDT)
> >
> >Sewelo... in answer to your question whether Universities and/or Colleges
>
> >should be the leaders in this.... (a little long-winded, but bear with
> >me....)
> > If DFID's new Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DELPHE,
> >
> http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/files/pressreleases/pr-15m-higher-education.asp)
>
> >initiative is any indication.... then yes.... universities have a central
>
> >role to play in stimulating research, faciltating dialogue, promoting
> >science and technology..... "Universities across Africa and Asia are the
> >engine rooms of the fight against global poverty."
> > Also, Calestous Juma argues that addressing Africa's development
> >challenges requires the creation of a new generation of universities that
>
> >focuses on solving community problems,
> >
> http://www.scidev.net/opinions/index.cfm?fuseaction=printarticle&itemid=397&language=1
> >
> > ISNAR did some interesting work some years back on the role of
> >universities...
> > "In an increasingly competitive world, universities cannot afford to be
> >seen as purely academic institutions only; they are also expected to
> >organize their considerable human and material resources in order to
> >contribute materially to national research and development objectives."
> > http://www.isnar.cgiar.org/publications/briefing/bp59.htm
> >
> > This isn't to say that universities should be the leaders of GIS
> >associations.... there are any number of
> >leadership/coordination/communication options.... but
> universities/colleges
> >could do a lot more towards building more cohesion amongst their local
> >geospatial community members. For instance, fairly recently, Makerere
> >University initiated an effort to form a GIS association in Uganda, 7
> June
> >2006 (see SDI-Africa, Vol. 5, No. 7).
> > http://www.gsdi.org/SDIA/docs2006/jul06links/nat_sdi_uganda.html. In
> > And the Polytechnic of Namibia hosted the 1st Namibian GIS User
> >Conference, 14 October 2005 (see SDI-Africa, Vol. 4, No. 11). The
> >organizers anticipated that the conference would rekindle the Namibian
> GIS
> >User group, but I can't comment on whether they were successful.
> >
> > I'd like to think there are more examples out there... but just came to
> >mind (since I included something about these in the SDI-Africa
> >newsletters).
> >
> >
> >Sewelo Sewelo wrote:
> > I agree that things seem one sided here and it is unfortunate because
> >there are so many people on this list. The idea of forming associations
> is
> >great. Should the Universities and/or Colleges be the leaders in this?
> >
> > Sewelo
> >
> >Kate Lance wrote:
> > Hi Heinz, thanks for the words of encouragement... it's nice to hear
> >that the information is valued / appreciated.
> >
> > This list does tend to seem like a one-sided affair... with me sending
> >message.... with hardly any inputs from others.
> >
> > More than just serving as a medium for job information... I really like
> >to see this list as a forum for some dialogue about SDI issues in Africa.
> >
> > Robert, what is your reaction to the idea of a GIS association in your
> >country.... is there one.... and what role does it play... and if there
> >isn't one, what do you think of the possibility of forming one... and
> >sustaining it?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Kate
>
>
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