Activities of GIS Application
Center at AIT and It's Role in Asia-Pacific Region Shanker Raj Pathak*,
Kiyoshi Honda* and shunji Murai** Abstract *AIT and **University of Tokyo GIS application Center (GAC) started functioning in September 1995. The center is aimed to train the human resources of various organizations on RS/GIS technology and its applications in different sectors and eco-zones by conducting various training programs. The centuries also conducting research project which is demonstrated as an integral part of the training course. The center has already conducted 10 training courses for 83 participants and 1 research project successfully. It is expected that the Center will play an important role in producing the manpower required in the region capable of integrating environment and development by using RS/GIS as tools for sustainable development. 1. Introduction: Environmental issues have been on the top agenda of most national governments as well as international and regional institutions since the last decade. There are varied and complex issues that are involved in environment, both human and bio-physical. An integrated approach to action is necessary. Action towards sustainable development wich will protect the environment and at the same time achieve economic development which will protect the environment and at availability of timely, relable and usable and usable data not only on environment issues but also socioeconomic variables. An integrated, multi-sectoral analysis of these data becomes imperative. Agenda 21 of UNCED noted the general lack of capacity for collecting and assessing data, and even where data are available, there is lack of finical resources and technology including trained manpower to make these data accessible. The same is the situation in the sia and the pacific regions. In particular, there is lack of advanced technical usage and application of GIS technology in the region. 2. how the center was established ? The benefits gained from the use of GIS had been recognized by most institutions including the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). Thus, responding to this need, Chair Professor Shunji Murai, Former Coordinator of Computer program, AIT and Mr. Suendra Shrestra, Director of UNEP/EAP-AP, AIT initiated the proposal of Establishment Center (GAC) at UNEP/EAP-AP, AIT initiated the proposal of Establishment of GIS Application Center (GAC) at AIT. An approval for the proposal was obtained on March 1995 with the provision that the Center should act as one of the Centers of the School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD) and operate jointly with it's Space Technology Application & Research (STAR) program. Accordingly, financial proposal for the necessary fund required initially (US $ 150,000.00) TO operate the Center was forwarded to UNEP/EAP-AP and the proposal got approved on June 1995. Finally, the Center started functioning on September 1995. 2. Objectives of the Center: The Center seek to:
4.1 Laboratory and Equipment: The first laboratory of the Center has been set up furnishing with 10 units of 486 based PCs configured with A3 sized digitizers and installed on each of them latest PC version of GIS software (ARC/INFO, IDRISI, GIST, GEOCUBE, Arc View Etc.). The laboratory is equipped with 1 calcomp Plotter, I inkjit printer, I overhead projector, I slide projector etc. it has the capacity for 20 people at a time (two people per PC) and being used as the venue for basic training on GIS technology and it's application. Resources from the Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL) of STAR program are being shared in time to time whenever there is a need arises while executing the training programs and research work from the center. Training Materials: For all kinds of training programs until the end for the year 1996, the training materials prepared by UNEP/-AP are being used. In additions to this, phtocopies of relevant case studies, book, articles from RS/GIS journals, day-to-day handouts, etc. are also being provided to the participants attending the training programs conducted from the Center. The revised training material of UNEP/EAP-AP will be used for all kind of training programs for different level of participants from the beginning of January 1997. 4.3 Training Services (as of 1996): Training services are mainly on Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and it application in the areas of natural environment such as agriculture, water resources, forestry, soil conservation, watershed management, land development, bio-diversity, etc. Provision of these services can take the following forms: International : These are programs regularly advertised and conducted at AIT with participation open to qualified applications. Their training expenses are borne by their respective organizations of sponsors (international funding agencies, non-gobernmental oranizations, foundations, etc.) These programs are conducted three times in a year tentatively in April, August, and December with duration varying from 3 to 12 weeks which includes different modules such as Introduction to GIS, GIS for Professional, GIS FOR Executives, Image Processing (IP), Global Positioning System (GPS) with necessary field tips, Photo Interpretation (both satellite image and aerial photo), Integration of RS/GIS, etc. These programs are designed targeting to three levels of officials-technical level (technicians), professional level (middle managers) and executive level (decision makers). Contractual: These are programs customized to the needs of a particular organization, with development and implementation costs borne by that organization. The program consists of course designed, developed and implemented according to the terms of reference and specifications of the requesting client organization. Program delivery makes use of any of the following or combination of intensive residential seminars/workshops /tutorials, project visits, and on-the -job training. The program may be delivered on Thailand or on-site in client's country. The program will also be in the form of tailor-made by different units of AIT as RS/GIS training may be one of the modules of their entire training program. Consultant: The technical assistance and consulting services are extended to public and private organizations of the region in such areas as: Application of RS/GIS in different eco-zones, Satellite Image Processing (Visula and Infrared), Aerial Photo and Satellite Image Interpretation, Cartographic database design, Analysis of GIG database design, Analysis of GIS database, Global Positioning System (GPS), Writing of a case-study. 4.4. Resource Person: A network of RS/GIS experts involved indifferent tasks at different international organization in the region (UNEP/EAP-AP, ICRISAT, IRRI, MEKONG, NRCT, SACEP, SPREP, etc). is being maintained and they are being contacted in different occasions and an exchange of dialogue is being taking place for their possible support and cooperation. Resource persons are drawn from these organizations in time to time to conduct different specific training programs in addition to AIT's existing pool of experts (faculty, staff, Ph.D. students, etc. ) in RS/GIS. Resource persons are also drawn from the developed counties like Japan, USA, Canda, Australia, etc. whenever the need arises. 4.5 Training Course (as of 1996): The training courses conducted from the Center are mainly on: PC Based GIS, Satellite, Image Processing (Visula & Infrared), Aerial Photo and Satellite Image Interpretation, Global Positioning System (GPS), Field Visit for Ground Truthing etc. 4.6 RS/GIS Software (as of 1996): RS/GIS software (both education and commercial) being training and research activities from the Center are PC based: GIST, IDRIST, ARC/INFO, GEOCUBE, ERDAS, IDL-INVI, ER-MAPPER, ILWIS, MAPINFO, ArcView etc., Windows and UNIX based (to be used): ER-MAPPER, PCI-EASIPACE, ERCDAS IMAGINE, ARC/INFO, IDL-ENVL, ArcView, etc. 5.Outline of Training course: The training courses are concentrated as follows. The content varies according to the level of the training course. GIS : Concept of GIS, Data Input, Spatial Data, Attribute Data, Raster and Vector way of Data Representation, Spatial Data Input, Attribute Data Input, Projection and Transformation Technique to match the Spatial Data with Real World Phenomenon, GIS Database, Database Management, Relational Database Management System, Ecpolaration of GIS Database, Spatial Analysis, Spatial Query, Modeling in GIS, Factor Combination Model, Linear Combination Model, Concept of an Expert Systems, Digital Elevation Model from Raster Data and Vector Data, Design and Execution of RS/GIS projects, Data Output, Application. RS: Fundamentals of TS, data used in RS, Image Data Characteristics of Image Data, Data Storage Media, Down loading Images, Reading Images, Digital Image Processing, Corrections, Image enhancement and feature extraction, Spatial filtering, Principle component analysis, Image Classification, Unsupervised & Supervised classification, Post classification, Moss icing techniques, Image Interpretation, Information extraction, stereoscopy, Interpretation elements keys, Generation of Thematic Maps, Integration of RSS data to GIS, Applications, Principle of Global Positioning System (GPS), How GPS works, Satellite Ranging, Differential GPS, Field Verification, etc. 6. Research Projects Combining with Training: All interested faculty of AIT irrespective of their programs and divisions are encouraged to avail of the facilities of the Center to carry out research and case studies in the application of RS/GIS technology in different sectors and eco-zones specially in the area of their expertise. 7. Approximate Cost of Training: As per the through discussion with UNEP/EAP-AP during the establishment of the Center, the cost of all international training programs were made exactly similar to the rate of the training programs conducted from UNEP/EAP-AP in time to time. The tuition fee was decided US $500.0 per week which includes training material. It was also decided to add an accommodation fee of US $280.00 per week (US $40.00 X 7 Days) as the accommodations has to be booked by the center quite earlier prior to training program. Participants have to bear al their personal expenses and food by themselves. However, the advertised course for three weeks cost US $ 2,500.00 to cover the expenses of to-and-for transportation from the airport ot AIT and the visit of different places at the weekend. In case of customized training programs, as terms of reference differs in case to case, the rate also inflects. 8. Progress Made by Center (as of August 1996) : The Center has conducted 3 international training programs by designing the training brochures and marketing them in the Asia-Pacific region and 7 customized training programs (1 ailor-made, 6 contractual) by submitting the proposal to different client organizations and donor made, 6 contractual) by submitting the proposal to different client organizations and donor agencies, 2 seminars and 1 research project, ever since the Center started functioning in September 1995. The number of officials in the region trained from the Center during this period is 83. While conducting the research project to develop GIS database, the Center conducted a contractual training for Tahi Officials to make it sure that the developed database will be full utillized at one sector of Thai Government. 9. Future Plan of the Center: To address the training needs of the different sectors and eco-zones within the region, two more laboratories are going to be set up for advanced training and research on RS/GIS in the near future. The second laboratory is going to be set up for advanced training and research on RS/GIS in the near future. The second laboratory is going to be set up for the training and research for Digital Image Processing with the capacity of 12 people at a time. This laboratory is going to be Image Processing with the capacity of 12 people at a time. This laboratory is going to be equipped with 6 Pentium-pro PCs installed on each of them latest version of Image Processing software. This laboratory is going to be used for the training program on Remote Sensing, Satellite Image Processing technology and it's applications. This laboratory will also be equipped with two set of Global Positioning System (GPS) and installation of relevant software for linking GPS data with GIS data, instruments for aerial and satellite photo interpretation (parallax bar, stereoscope, sketch master, zoom transfer, necessary air photos, satellite images, topo maps etc.). An A3 sized scanner will also be placed in this laboratory for the demonstration of scanning tecnique and the conversion method of raster to vector data both digitally and manually. The third laboratory which will be furnished with 3 networked workstations with 2 additional terminal in each with the capacity of 18 participants at time (2 participants in each terminal) will be the venue for basic and advanced training on UNIX platform. The higher version of both RS and GIS software (ARC/INFO, ERDAS IMAGINE, IDL-ENVI, etc.) will be installed in each of the stations. Training in advanced sectoral application which includes urban utility application, specific database design, cadastral, housing development, impact assessment, etc. are envisaged to be conducted from these laboratories. 10. Conclusion: The Center takes advantage of its unique location at AIT to become a good venue to train the human resources of different organizations of the region on RS/GIS who will be certainly able to take a better decision and make more reliable planning based on GIS database. It will carry out different research and case studies on various issues identified in the region that need to be addressed by applying RS/GIS as tools. It will certainly strength better ties with sub-regional institutions like ICIMOD, Mekong Secretariat, SACEP, SPREP, etc. in the process of carrying out research and case studies on various issues on environment and development. The Center will be certainly able to produce more and more manpower who will be able to integrate environment and development for sustainable development which is the main goal of United Nations Environment Program. List of Acronyms:
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