Technology without borders: case studies of successful technology transfer

Technology Without Borders presents case studies of successful transfer of climate-friendly technology and practices. It explores the causes for success and draws the lessons learned. Key messages are presented for the fight against climate destabilisation. The terms “climate-friendly technology” and “climate technology” used here refer to technologies, practices or techniques, which reduce greenhouse-gas emissions or assist countries in adapting to climate change

Developing a spatial data infrastructure for Rwanda : case study of land administration sector.

Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.Governments all over the world are being challenged to develop Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), to improve the access and use of spatial data for decision support and sustainable development. Therefore, SDI is part of the basic infrastructure that needs to be efficiently implemented and managed in the interest of any nation. The aim of this study, therefore, is to assess the feasibility of SDI implementation in Rwanda, using the Land administration geospatial data sector as a case study, given time constraints of the research. To achieve this, the concept of SDI is firstly explained in order to provide a common understanding of the concept. The new trends in the new Land Administration System of Rwanda, with emphasis on spatial data management are also presented. This information is generated from various written materials. Field work was also conducted by means of questionnaires, interviews and observation in attempt to assess Land Administration geospatial data, related assets and gaps with reference to SDI framework requirements. A situational analysis is carried out from the field work results. The research sets the scene providing the major findings. The main spatial data providers are public and based on national level. Land use and cadastral related spatial data are the least developed, and Land Administration application data are quiet non-existent. Various users, mainly decision makers, exist but lack effective access to data. A number of challenges, such as a high duplication of data collection and maintenance, lack of appropriate ways of data sharing, a shortage of human resources in Geo-information, absence of policies and regulations, are also found in the Land Administration spatial data sector. Nevertheless, the new Land Administration System orientations and national priorities in terms of information technology, offer a favourable environment for the implementation of SDI. Having considered this, the research proceeds to propose a Land Administration SDI prototype with its main application of Spatial Data discovery Facility, and then highlights its benefits. The research ends with a conclusion and recommendations for future research

From SpaceStat to CyberGIS: Twenty Years of Spatial Data Analysis Software

This essay assesses the evolution of the way in which spatial data analytical methods have been incorporated into software tools over the past two decades. It is part retrospective and prospective, going beyond a historical review to outline some ideas about important factors that drove the software development, such as methodological advances, the open source movement and the advent of the internet and cyberinfrastructure. The review highlights activities carried out by the author and his collaborators and uses SpaceStat, GeoDa, PySAL and recent spatial analytical web services developed at the ASU GeoDa Center as illustrative examples. It outlines a vision for a spatial econometrics workbench as an example of the incorporation of spatial analytical functionality in a cyberGIS.

An Overview of the EOS Data Dissemination Systems

The Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) is the primary data system serving the broad-scope of NASA s Earth Observing System (EOS) program and a significant portion of the "heritage" Earth science data. EOSDIS was designed to support the Earth sciences within NASA s Science Mission Directorate (previously the Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) and Mission to Planet Earth). The EOS Program was NASA s contribution to the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) enacted by Congress in 1990 as part of the Global Change Act. ESE s objective was to launch a series of missions to help answer fundamental global change questions such as "How is Earth changing?" and "What are the consequences for life on Earth?" resulting support of this objective, EOSDIS distributes a wide variety of data to a diverse community

Public Commons for Geospatial Data: A Conceptual Model

A wide variety of spatial data collection efforts are ongoing throughout local, state and federal agencies, private firms and non-profit organizations. Each effort is established for a different purpose but organizations and individuals often collect and maintain the same or similar information. The United States federal government has undertaken many initiatives such as the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, the National Map and Geospatial One-Stop to reduce duplicative spatial data collection and promote the coordinated use, sharing, and dissemination of spatial data nationwide. A key premise in most of these initiatives is that no national government will be able to gather and maintain more than a small percentage of the geographic data that users want and desire. Thus, national initiatives depend typically on the cooperation of those already gathering spatial data and those using GIs to meet specific needs to help construct and maintain these spatial data infrastructures and geo-libraries for their nations (Onsrud 2001). Some of the impediments to widespread spatial data sharing are well known from directly asking GIs data producers why they are not currently involved in creating datasets that are of common or compatible formats, documenting their datasets in a standardized metadata format or making their datasets more readily available to others through Data Clearinghouses or geo-libraries. The research described in this thesis addresses the impediments to wide-scale spatial data sharing faced by GIs data producers and explores a new conceptual data-sharing approach, the Public Commons for Geospatial Data, that supports user-friendly metadata creation, open access licenses, archival services and documentation of parent lineage of the contributors and value- adders of digital spatial data sets