Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Development: Experiences from the Field

Wikipedia defines Geographical Information System (GIS) as "an information system for capturing, storing, analyzing, managing and presenting data which are spatially referenced (linked to location)." From participatory mapping for community development to monitoring illegal logging, from determining spatial distribution of landmines to targeted outbreak response to control avian influenza, GIS has found variety of fascinating uses in the development field.

Listen to four GIS experts -- Silvia Petrova Winrock International, Andrew Ross Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), Carmen Tedesco AED, and Carrie Stokes USAID -- share their knowledge, projects, and experiences from the field at this month's ICT4D meetup. The panel will be moderated by Carmen Tedesco.

This month’s panel discussion is co-hosted by Academy for Educational Development and Appropriate IT.

Thursday Aug 28, 2008, 4:30 pm

AED’s North Building @ 1875 Connecticut Ave, NW (behind the main building). Since this is an access controlled building, we will meet at the lobby before heading out to the conference room.

Agenda
4:30 – 5:00 pm: Networking
5:00 – 5:40 pm: Panel Presentations
5:40 – 7:00 pm: Q & A

Carmen Tedesco, Program Officer and Geospatial Coordinator at AED, will present Community YouthMapping, an evolving community-based participatory strategy that involves youth and adults in the collection, organization, spatial analysis and dissemination of information. Carmen has over 8 years experience and training as a geographer. As the geospatial/GIS coordinator, she develops Geographic Information Systems (GIS) capacity at AED by bridging the gap between social scientists and technicians to better implement spatial thinking on AED projects. As part of this role, she implements a place-based approach to capacity building, and youth development and engagement.

Silvia Petrova, GIS Analyst at Winrock International, will discuss GIS applications in the field of international development and sustainable natural resources management. She has over seven years of experience in applying GIS to variety of projects related to ecosystem monitoring, environmental modeling and urban planning as well as processing and analyzing remotely sensed data. Her expertise includes developing and managing spatial information, performing spatial analysis, land use/ land cover classification from satellite images and estimation of deforestation impact on the forest carbon stock.

Andrew Ross, Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), is a geographic information system (GIS) professional with ten years of GIS experience in developing countries. As a Senior Development Specialist in DAI's GIS unit, he has worked on technology applications that enable users to link, view, and then manipulate their data through universally available geospatial platforms. He is also involved in DAI's efforts to develop a GIS application built on open source technologies, an approach that promises to revolutionize the economics and hence the possibilities of GIS-enabled knowledge management in the international development field.

Carrie Stokes, Geospatial Information Technology Advisor at USAID, has worked for 20 years in natural resource management and geography. She currently manages the Geographic Information for Sustainable Development (GISD) program for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), promoting the use of geospatial information technologies as an information management tool for USAID missions, and as a spatial analysis tool for application in developing countries. She has expertise in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), global climate change, and development of indicator reporting programs.

ICT for International Development meetup (ICT4ID) is a learning network of and for practitioners to share knowledge, information, experiences, and projects in this field.

Event co-hosted by Academy for Educational Development and Appropriate IT.