content introduction - universiteit twente · and student exchange. on the practical level it would...

contentMain features53rd Dies Natalis 2Workshop Joint EducationPartnership Network 625 years ITC – China 9

AnnouncementsCollaborative Implementation Guide for SDI in Africa 12Bob Moses Fellowship Fund 13Refresher Courses 2004 14IALE African Chapter 19ILWIS 3.2 Released 20Donation for Lake Naivasha Riparian Association 21Staff News 21

Research NewsPhD Day 22The Geopark Concept 24

Project NewsClosing Workshop RAP-CA 25

Education NewsGraduation Ceremony GFM diploma course 27Graduation Ceremony IIRS Master’s course 28

Staff newsHenk Scholten Award 2003 29EOS department creates 30

Life after ITCAlumni Meet Ethiopia 31Refresher Course South Africa 32Refresher Course Indonesia 34Refresher Course Etiopia 36News from Ninik Suryanti 37News from Shyam K. Paudel 38Letter to the Editor 38

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 39

CONFERENCE CALENDAR 40

“Looking back, looking forward”, the title chosen by ITC’s rector, ProfessorMartien Molenaar, for his opening address at the Institute’s 53rd Dies Natalis(pages 2-5), sets the tone to some extent for ITC News 2003-4.Anniversaries and awards (pages 29-30) by their very nature reflect on pastachievements, but these achievements, whether by example or in more con-crete form, lay the foundations for the future. And we too seem to have afoot in both camps, with articles streaming in through December and pro-duction and dispatch spilling over into the New Year. Certainly January ismost aptly named after Janus, the Roman god of gateways, with his twofaces gazing in opposite directions.

One of life’s simple pleasures is the new diary that lands on your desk at theend of the year. Clean and in pristine condition - what will the future bring?Still, the diaries of those who participated in the workshop “Joint EducationPartnership Network” are already filling up at an alarming rate. During theworkshop it was decided to establish a network of international partnerscalled the “Geo-information Network for Education and Training” (see pages6-8), an exciting initiative that throws up many challenges. This may well bethe first time you read about GI-NET, but it definitely won’t be the last!

Refresher courses enjoy great popularity on many levels with our alumniaround the world, as three reports will duly testify (see pages 32-36). Sowhile diaries and dates are uppermost in our minds, it might be a good ideato turn to pages 14-18 to see what courses are on the ITC agenda for 2004.They make interesting reading, and you may find just what you’re looking for.

ITC’s scientific expertise has long enjoyed international recognition, but per-haps the artistic gifts of its staff members will come as something of a reve-lation. Painting (page 30) and music (pages 9-11) are among theiraccomplishments, with the singing of the “ITC Tall Men Choir” bringing“tears to the eyes of many” - a somewhat ambiguous remark, don’t youthink? Be that as it may, we have no cause for complaint over the writingabilities or enthusiasm of our contributors. The last issue of ITC News ran to41 pages, and such is your support that 2003-4 is repeating this feat. Notart for art’s sake in this instance, but art for the sake of keeping our readersposted!

Janneke Kalf, Acting Managing Editor

1ITC News 2003-4

I N T R O

introduction

Acting Managing Editor: Janneke Kalf

Editing: Janice CollinsDesign&PrePress: Henk Scharrenborg

(Composer DTP service)Andries Menning

Printing: PlantijnCasparie Zwolle

Correspondence to: Managing EditorITC NEWSP.O.Box 6

7500 AA EnschedePhone: +31 (0)53 487 42 11Fax: +31 (0)53 487 42 00E-mail: [email protected]

colofonITC NEWS is published quarterly, by ITC, Enschede, the Netherlands

The views expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect those of ITC2003number 4

On Wednesday,

17 December, staff,

students and guests

congregated in the

ITC auditorium to

celebrate the

Institute’s 53rd Dies

Natalis.

Rector Professor Martien Molenaar openedthe proceedings, welcoming colleagues andclose friends alike who had come from nearand far to attend the ceremony. The pastyear had not been without its sadness and afew moments of silence were held in mem-ory of those colleagues who had passedaway during 2003.

“Looking back, looking forward”In his address entitled “Looking back, look-ing forward”, Professor Molenaar said thatthe past year had been one of continuouschange and development, and this had hadfar-reaching effects on ITC’s organisation.The new scientific departments had been in-stalled and efforts had been made to imple-ment the new professor plan. So far fournew professors had been appointed:Professor Douglas Webster for urban and re-gional planning (also with an assignment atUtrecht University), Professor Zorica Nedovicfor geo-information management (also withan assignment at Twente University),Professor Freek van der Meer for earth sub-surface systems analysis (also with an assign-ment at Delft University) and visitingProfessor Rien Bos for irrigation manage-ment (also with an assignment atWageningen University). Two had already

taken up their positions; two would be com-ing next year. In addition, procedures wereunderway regarding the appointment ofthree professors in the fields of water re-source management, geo-information ex-traction with sensor systems, and geodatamanagement and engineering.

Professor Molenaar went on to say that theSupervisory Board was now at full strength.Dr. J-P.R.A. Sweets, the most recent member,hailed from the banking world and wouldmake a valuable contribution to the work ofthe Board, while simultaneously promotingthe “green face” of Rabo Bank. Mr FredPaats had been confirmed as head of educa-tional affairs and Professor Martin Hale ashead of research. The revised research pro-gramme had been running two to threeyears now and had attracted a large numberof project proposals. Currently some 15 proj-ects were up and running, which had sub-stantially increased ITC’s research output.Not only that, the output was better focusedon areas in which the Institute was seekingto profile itself. The balance between outputcriteria and staff input, however, requiredsome further attention. Moreover, the con-tributions of the different departments wereas yet uneven, but efforts would be made tostimulate those lagging behind.

Turning to the subject of the Dutch highereducation system, which was being re-formed to accommodate the BaMa struc-ture, Professor Molenaar said there had beena delay in the proceedings owing to legal as-pects. Deadlines had been extended from 1January 2006 to 1 January 2008. In effect,this extension would be beneficial, as itwould allow more time for preparationwithin the context of offering programmesfor accreditation. ITC would be working

2 ITC News 2003-4

ITC Celebrates 53rd Dies Natalis

ITC News [email protected]

M A I N F E A T U R E S

In his address entitled “Lookingback, looking forward”,

Professor Molenaar said thatthe past year had been one ofcontinuous change and devel-opment, and this had had far-

reaching effects on ITC’sorganisation

closely with its SAIL partners, and the estab-lishment of a joint coordinated workgroupwould afford the opportunity to learn fromeach other.

The new fellowship programme would applyin 2004 and this would mean a drop in NFPfellowships. Consequently, it was importantto find the right market approach in order tostimulate applications and guide the appli-cants themselves through the completeprocess. On a positive note, short courseshad met with a keen response, and a grow-ing interest in the flexible modular structurewas also evident. In fact, there had been anoticeable shift in market demand - fromlong-term to short-term options.

Professor Molenaar said that ITC’s strategicplan would expire in 2004 and, althoughtotal success could not be claimed quantita-tively speaking, significant achievements hadbeen booked on the policy level. Very likely,a Boekelo meeting would be called in thecoming year, bringing senior staff togetherto review the situation. Within the rapidlydeveloping landscape of national higher ed-ucation, it was particularly important to aimfor synergism and avoid the risk of isolation.Greater communication and structural coop-eration with Dutch partners such as universi-ties and professional organisations openedthe way for ITC students to access additionalknowledge resources. Good-quality research,theme programmes, curricula development,transfer of knowledge - a lot had beendone, a lot remained to be done.

In conclusion, Professor Molenaar thankedall staff members for their extremely hardwork over the last twelve months, but addedthat the present high pressure was set tocontinue. Stability was a thing of the past;the future promised permanent change.However, ITC was well received in othercountries and encountered great willingnessto cooperate. “We must harvest this; we arewelcome and we should nourish this.”

Workshop “Joint EducationPartnership Network”By the afternoon of 17 December it couldhardly have escaped the notice of anyonewith business at ITC over the past few daysthat a workshop had been in progress. It fellto Dr Wilbur Ottichillo of RCMRD, Nairobi,and himself a participant, to explain the pur-pose behind this workshop, and the out-come. The central aim was the developmentof an international network of partners of-fering university-level courses on geo-infor-mation science and earth observation, anetwork in which all partners would con-tribute from their own position of strength.

Such a network would promote knowledgemanagement and new cultural and techno-logical values. It would also promote themarketing of partner institution pro-grammes, and simultaneously enhance staffand student exchange. On the practical levelit would not only facilitate access to funding,but also afford partner institutions the op-portunity to benefit from ITC’s long experi-ence in the geo-information market.

It will come as no surprise that this centraltheme gave the workshop participantsplenty of food for thought and discussion.What were the strengths and weaknesses ofeach of the partners? How could thesestrengths contribute to the partnership andhow could other partners compensate forthe weaknesses? How did the various part-ners view the network and their own roles

3ITC News 2003-4


Dr Wilbur Ottichillo of RCMRD, Nairobi, explainingthe purpose behind the workshop “Joint EducationPartnership Network”, and the outcome

Die

s N

atal

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within it? An exciting initiative had beenproposed and it had met with a positive andenergetic response. At the same time, how-ever, it had raised many thorny issues. DrOttichillo said that the exertions of the pastfew days had borne fruit: working groupshad been established that would report backin June with solid proposals. Moreover, re-sponsibilities had been designed, as well as atimeframe. ITC was entering a new phase inits collaboration with partners - moving to-wards a relationship where the partnerswere willing to co-finance activities and thefocus was on research and resource sharing.He added that most staff in the relevant in-stitutes had been trained in various scientificfields, but now it was necessary to build upmanaging and budgeting skills.

He concluded by saying that it was highlyimportant that the impetus generated bythis workshop should be maintained overthe coming months. Indeed, the workgroupproposals would be on the agenda at thenext meeting, which was scheduled for July2004 to coincide with the ISPRS conferencein Istanbul. (See also pages 6-8.)

Official Presentation of the MaceITC was very happy to welcome back Dr JideKufoniye, director of the Regional Center forTraining in Aerospace Surveys (RECTAS),Nigeria. Dr Kufoniye said that, as he had leftthe Institute with three degrees, it was niceto be here today to give something back.RECTAS had commissioned the carving of aspecial ITC mace - the bedel’s staff of office,which is a sight always welcomed by anyPhD candidate in the throes a thesis de-fence. Dr Kufoniye said he well remembered

talking more slowly as he waited expectantlyfor the raps of the mace that would signalthe end of the inquisition. He was sure thiswas an experience recognised by others!

A slide presentation traced the creation ofthe mace and introduced the carvers, MrHassan and his son-cum-apprentice. Bothwere descendants of Oduduwa and thispartnership combined the indigenous knowl-edge of the father with the scientific knowl-edge of the son. (Legends concerning theorigin and ancestry of Oduduwa abound inYoruba and Benin mythology. Yorubas be-lieve he is the father of the Yoruba and pro-genitor of all Yoruba Oba’s and the Oba ofBenin.) Fortunately the carver had ebony ofsuitable width and height already in stock -an auspicious beginning - but then of courseprevious carvings had to be checked, costsnegotiated, and the specifications andmodel approved.

But now it only remained for Dr Kufoniye toofficially present the mace to ITC’s rector,Professor Martien Molenaar (although in factit had already enjoyed the occasional out-ing). Thanking Dr Kufoniye for “this expres-sion of our academic status”, ProfessorMolenaar formally handed it over to ITCbedel Loes Colenbrander, duly attired in herceremonial cap and gown, who would beregularly using it in the performance of herduties.

ITC Education Award 2003The ITC Education Award, which is pre-sented once every two years, was estab-lished in 1997 by the Stichting ITC Fonds atthe request of the Directorate. The aim wasto stimulate the quality of education andrecognise creativity and innovation in thisfield. This year seven names were submittedto the committee composed of GraceNangenbo and John Ballesteros representingthe student body, and the previous winnersChris Paresi, Sherif Amer and Rolf de By. Adifficult choice but a decision had to bemade, and the pleasant task of announcingthe winner went to Committee ChairmanFred Paats:

“The winner is an excellent and dedicatedteacher, as can be derived from student eval-uations. She is well liked by staff and stu-

4 ITC News 2003-4


Dr Jide Kufoniye, director of theRegional Center for Training in

Aerospace Surveys (RECTAS),Nigeria officially presents the

mace to ITC’s rector, Professor Martien Molenaar

Die

s N

atal

is

dents alike. She is not only a lecturer, butalso a very good coach for students workingon assignments. The response of the partici-pants of the recent special course forUganda is a case in point. She has developedmodules and courses in the field of environ-mental studies both for courses at ITC, aswell as abroad. Teaching is not a routine jobfor her. She is always busy updating herteaching and teaching skills and preparingnew teaching materials. She is innovative infinding new forms of education and materi-als.

But most important are comments by agroup of students who supported her nomi-nation. They stated: ‘Many of us have beenfortunate to have her as a teacher and su-pervisor during fieldwork. Additionaltouches made by her make her lectures justthat much better to listen to and participatein. She knows how to impart knowledgewith dedication and sincerity. She makes theclassroom a comfortable place.’”

With this Mr Paats presented Joan Looijen,the deserving recipient of the 2003 ITCEducation Award, with a diploma and acheque for euro 1,000. Nor was she allowed to leave the platform without a beautiful bou-quet of flowers. Accepting the award, whichshe considered a great honour, Ms Looijensaid that the motivation and inspirationcame from the ITC participants themselvesand she was greatly looking forward to thefuture exchange of staff, students andknowledge.

Henk Scholten Award 2003Every year the presentation of the HenkScholten Award reminds us of the impor-tance of doing our work in teams - teamscomposed of staff and students alike. As anygood football manager knows, teams needtheir midfielders and sweepers as well astheir strikers. Although both staff and stu-dents can be nominated for the award, nostudent was among the 15 nominations sub-mitted this year - a situation the SAB and thecommittee will seek to avoid in the future.However, the winner of the 2003 award wasfully supported by both staff and studentsand, as Professor Molenaar pointed out, hadalready been compared to Santa Claus. Noprizes for guessing, then, that the winnerwas Sjef van der Steen. The announcementwas greeted with enthusiastic applause, al-though the actual presentation had to bepostponed until the end-of-year party thatwas to be held the following day, as familymatters had prevented Sjef from attendingthe Dies that afternoon.

This final award brought the official cere-mony to a close and the assembly began tofile out of the auditorium en route for therestaurant - the rector’s invitation to thosepresent to join him at the reception had notfallen on deaf ears!

5ITC News 2003-4


Ms Joan Looijen said that themotivation and inspiration

came from the ITC participantsthemselves and she was greatly

looking forward to the futureexchange of staff, students and

knowledge

Professor Molenaar formally handed over the Maceto ITC bedel Loes Colenbrander

In this context a workshop was held from 13 to 17 December 2003, attracting partici-pants from many countries around theworld. The objective of the workshop was tostrengthen the relationships within the part-nership, not only between ITC and the or-ganisations involved, but also among thepartners themselves. This article covers theclosing session.

Closing SessionAs the participants filtered into the ITC audi-torium for the closing session of the work-shop “Joint Education Partnership Network”,they were in buoyant mood. The generalopinion was that the hard work of the pastfew days, although demanding and oftendraining, had been thoroughly worthwhile.The working groups had spent a great dealof time thrashing out the different view-points, and this had proved a highly prof-itable and beneficial exercise. Now it was tobe hoped that concrete results would beswift in coming - if this were the case, theworkshop would have achieved great things. Opening this final session, Professor MartienMolenaar, ITC’s rector, thanked the partici-pants for being prepared to take time outfrom their busy schedules to meet together.The warm response signalled a good start to

the project. He went on to say that theInstitute had operated initially within a spi-der structure, with ITC in the centre and link-ages abroad. Although great importancewas attached to this network, it was nowtime to move on and develop a clear educa-tion network where all partners would shareboth ownership and responsibility. Thismeant, in fact, a shift from a bilateral to amultilateral network, where hopefully ITCwould be a significant node.

Presentation of Workshop ResultsIt was then the turn of Dr E.G. Mtalo fromthe University College of Lands andArchitectural Studies, Dar es Salaam, to sum-marise the outcome of the past few days.No easy task as there was much ground tocover. He began by tracing the transitions inpartnership format: • from dependent partnerships, where ITC

acted as provider and as the engine fortechno-scientific development, with theaim of building capacity in developingcountries

• to bilateral equi-partnerships, whereknowledge and experience were trans-ferred from ITC to partners in developingcountries, and joint training, research andconsulting were undertaken

• and finally to multilateral equi-partner-ships - a geo-information network of in-ternational partners.

With an eye fixed firmly on sustainability, thekey building blocks in creating this new net-work of partners could be summed up asfollows:• respect and trust (for example, to foster

cultural enrichment; to build confidence,goodwill and friendship; to promote

6 ITC News 2003-4


ITC is aiming to

develop an

international

network of

university-level

courses on geo-

information science

and earth

observation in

which all partners

contribute from

their own position

of strength.

Building a geo-informationcommunity for sustainable

development: from bilateralto multilateral partnerships


The participants of the workshop "Joint Education

Partnership Network" and ITC staff

knowledge and technology sharing andexchange)

• quality assurance standards• capacity building (including such compo-

nents as facilities, infrastructure, curricu-lum development, human resources,geo-information policy and implementa-tion strategies)

• resource sharing (a significant key to sur-vival in a highly competitive world).

Having given a short description of the build-ing blocks needed, Dr Mtalo then explainednot only why they were needed but also howto acquire or create them. While embracingthe principle of the network, Dr Mtalo saidthere was no doubt that it posed far-reachingchallenges. Could ITC accommodate chang-ing demands from the partnership by chang-ing its education programmes andphilosophy? Would ITC be willing to act asthe fulcrum of the new initiative? Would the

partners be willing and able to co-finance thenew initiative? The workshop had indicatedan affirmative response on all counts.Working groups had been established todeal with specific areas identified in relationto the network, such as education, research,consulting, and cross-cutting issues. The mo-mentum and enthusiasm generated in thecourse of the workshop must definitely notbe lost!

DiscussionThe session was then thrown open for reac-tions and general discussion under the guid-ance of Ms Eveline Bolt (who had shared theduties of facilitator with Ms Cornélie vanWaegeningh during the workshop). Thisgave the participants the right of reply be-fore the final presentation during the cere-mony celebrating ITC’s 53rd Dies Natalis tobe held that afternoon. (see also pages 2-5)

The first questions from the floor were “Whoare the partners?” and “What are the criteriato be a partner?” - showing that the work-shop had aroused considerable outside inter-est and attracted many “independentobservers” to the closing session. By way ofreply, the participants introduced themselves.Key criteria for becoming a partner includelongstanding cooperative links, sustainability,market opportunities, and the proven qualityof both staff and the programmes provided.The initiative is still at an early stage andthere is room for new criteria to be set alongthe way, all the while bearing in mind thatmaintaining quality across the board is of theessence. Setting criteria - not only betweenITC and partner, and between partner andITC, but also between partner and partner -requires great care. Although partners willcome with different strengths, a quality sys-tem will have to be built that is equal notonly on paper but also in substance.

7ITC News 2003-4


Country Representative OrganisationChina Drs D. Ningrui School of Urban Studies, WuhanChina Dr Liu Yaolin School of Resources & Environmental Studies, WuhanGhana Dr B.E. Kwesi Prah Kumasi University of Science & TechnologyGhana Dr W. Oduro Kumasi University of Science & TechnologyGuatemala Dr E. Franco San Carlos University, Faculdad AgronomiaGuatemala Dr A.A. Ortiz Lopez San Carlos University, Faculdad AgronomiaHungary Dr B. Markus University of West HungaryIndia Mr P.L.N. Raju Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehra DunIndia Dr P.S. Roy Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehra DunIndonesia Dr H.A. Sudibyakto Faculty of Geography, UGM, YogyakartaIndonesia Prof. H. Sutikno Disaster Research Centre, UGM, YogyakartaIran Dr Ali-Akbar Abkar KN Toosi University, TeheranIran Dr M.R. Mobasheri KN Toosi University, TeheranKenya Dr W. Ottichillo RCMRD, NairobiMexico Dr N. Barrera-Bassols Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoNamibia Dr W. Jankowitz Polytechnic of Namibia, WindhoekNamibia Ms C. Steenkamp Polytechnic of Namibia, WindhoekNepal Mr B. Birendra Menris, ICIMOD, KathmanduNepal Mr S. Pradhan Menris, ICIMOD, KathmanduNigeria Dr Jide Kufoniyi RECTAS, Ile-IfeNigeria Mr R.O. Oyinloye RECTAS, Ile-IfePhilippines Dr C. Alfiler University of Philippines (NCPAG), ManillaPhilippines Dr R.B. Ocampo University of Philippines (NCPAG), ManillaSouth Africa Dr P. Dirks University of WitwatersrandSouth Africa Dr D. Rugege University of Natal/CEASTanzania Dr C.K. Msemakweli University College of Lands, Dar es SalaamTanzania Dr E.G. Mtalo University College of Lands, Dar es Salaam

The workshop participants during the social excursion to Utrecht and Amelisweerd

The partnership is not yet closed, and willalso be open to other European andAmerican partners. After all, ITC cannot beisolated from Europe and, moreover, such anetwork will be crucial to developed coun-tries as well as to developing countries. It isimportant to tap into geo-information re-sources and expertise in other centres, andalso to harness local capacity.

Education is a commodity and in selling thiscommodity quality assurance plays a criticalrole. Consequently, this aspect figured promi-nently in the debate. The possibility to con-tinue modules with different partners, sharingfacilities and tapping into indigenous capabil-ity, means control issues must be rigorously ex-amined and, of necessity, partners will requirethe flexibility to accept criticism. Funding andfunding routes also came under scrutiny andit was considered that a central workinggroup would be needed to handle this keyarea. So far the provisional figures regardingdecentralisation look highly promising, andmore detailed calculations are keenly awaited.

And the date and venue of the next GI-NETmeeting? Yes, the network has acquired aworking title: Geo-Information Network forEducation and Training. With the reportsfrom the working groups scheduled forJune, the ISPRS conference in Istanbul in July2004 seems to be an opportune occasion.Many of the workshop participants will beattending so perhaps some extra time canbe made available for this particular purposeduring their visit.

ConclusionThe lively debate revealed that the workinggroups certainly have their work cut out andwill have plenty to consider and report backon. Moreover, participants were urged touse Blackboard as a forum for discussionand reach out to a wider audience. Be thatas it may, the months of June and July are al-ready highlighted on the 2004 calendar andreaders of ITC News will no doubt await theoutcome with interest.

8 ITC News 2003-4


GI-NET: Geo-information Network forEducation and Training

To address the increasing demand forflexibility in academic degree pro-grammes, and to respond to the needfor more demand-driven and tailor-made training, ITC has adopted a policythat is internally known as “decentralisa-tion”. As part of this policy, educationalprogrammes will be developed and im-plemented jointly with partner institu-tions abroad.

For many years, the individual partnerinstitutes have been engaged in bilateralrelations with ITC. During the workshopthat was held at ITC in December, it was

decided to establish a network of inter-national partners called the “Geo-Information Network for Education andTraining”, GI-NET for short.

The main aim of the network is to pro-mote the use of spatial information andearth observation through capacitybuilding and institutional development.The network will be active in researchand development, as well as in educa-tion, training and advisory services. Inorder to further develop the network, anumber of working groups have beenestablished that will each deal with cer-tain aspects of the network (i.e. the set-up and functioning of the network itself,but also issues such as capacity building,education, accreditation, research andconsulting).

Now that all workshop participants havereturned home, much of the real work isstill ahead of us. It was agreed that theindividual working groups would de-velop discussion papers for their subjectsto keep the discussions alive.

The next meeting is scheduled to takeplace during the coming ISPRSConference in Istanbul, Turkey, wheremany of the partner institutes will berepresented.

An address for the website of the net-work has already been secured, and inthe very near future information on GI-NET and its activities will be publishedon this website (http://www.gi-net.org).

The objective of the workshop wasto strengthen the relationships

within the partnership, not onlybetween ITC and the organisationsinvolved, but also among the part-

ners themselves

The end of the year

is traditionally a

time for reflection,

as well as for

merrymaking. What

better way to get in

the mood for both

than by festively

commemorating the

fact that ITC began

cooperating with

China 25 years ago?

A big celebration took place in Beijing on 25 November 2003. More than 200 partici-pants and a large ITC delegation attendedthe ceremony, which opened with a series ofspeeches and closed with a splendid ban-quet. The participants were alumni, and rep-resentatives from the Chinese government,research institutes, universities, the privatesector, scholarship organisations and theRoyal Netherlands Embassy. The ITC delega-tion consisted of our present rector ProfessorMartien Molenaar, our former rectorProfessor Klaas Jan Beek, Head EducationAffairs Fred Paats, Head Project ServicesMark Noort, Professor John van Genderenand Paul Schoonackers. The event was or-ganised by Marjan Kreijns, our representativein China.

Ms Shou Jiahua, the vice-minister of theMinistry of Land and Resources, did us thehonour of giving the opening speech, inwhich she praised ITC for the work it does inChina. There were also speeches by MrChen Bangzhu, the director-general of theState Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, andby Mr Karel van Oosterom, the chargé d’af-faires at the Royal Netherlands Embassy inBeijing. Professor John van Genderen then

gave a presentation entitled “25 years of ITCactivities in China: looking back, looking for-ward”. This gave an interesting overview ofhow our activities in China have steadilygrown over the years - from humble begin-nings to the current substantial and very di-versified programme.

There were also presentations by ProfessorHu Dekun, the vice-president of WuhanUniversity, and Professor Liu Chuang of theInstitute of Geographical Sciences andNatural Resources Research. These were re-spectively entitled “International exchangewithout the boundary of countries” and“Enhancing capacity building for under-standing the living earth”. A speech byProfessor Molenaar, outlining his strategy forfuture partnerships, concluded the after-noon session.

The event generated considerable publicity,and articles appeared in several newspapersand magazines. It was highly appreciated byeveryone and created a great deal of good-will. It was an excellent opportunity for thelarge group of ITC alumni to meet oldfriends and make new interesting contacts.The reactions of some alumni accompanythis article.

The ITC delegation then continued on toWuhan to participate in the celebration ofthe 110th anniversary of Wuhan University.This was a two-day event of typical Chineseproportions. More than 30,000 people at-tended the official celebration ceremony! Inthe margin of this celebration, we organisedour own party - a reprise of the Beijing cele-bration, albeit on a smaller scale. We did thisbecause we have so many alumni in Wuhanand because Wuhan University is our maineducation partner. Again, this was hugelyappreciated. But perhaps what made the

9ITC News 2003-4


25 Years of Cooperationbetween ITC and China

Marjan Kreijns [email protected]

More than 30,000 people attended the official ceremony in celebration of the 110thanniversary of Wuhan University

deepest and most lasting impression on ourhosts was a heartfelt rendition of “HappyBirthday”, performed during the receptiondinner by the “ITC Tall Men Choir”, consist-ing of Mark Noort, Fred Paats, RichardSliuzas and Paul Schoonackers. It broughttears to the eyes of many!

10 ITC News 2003-4


Wu ChaojunMy name is Wu Chaojun and I was a pro-fessor at the Chinese University ofGeosciences (Wuhan). I studied geophysi-cal exploration at ITC in Delft fromSeptember 1985 to August 1986 andfrom October 1988 to November 1989,first as a postgraduate diploma coursestudent and then as an MSc student.

ILWIS was the software that introducedme to GIS and some practical applica-tions in geophysical data interpretation.It is owing to the GIS concepts andknowledge acquired during my MScstudies that I am a GIS consultant special-ist today. I have been involved as a tech-nical assistant in several urbanenvironment projects and river floodcontrol projects in China. These projectswere supported by loans from the WorldBank or the Asia Development Bank.

I always expected to have opportunitiesto meet ITC alumni in the spirit of friend-ship and cooperation. The party celebrat-ing 25 years of ITC in China, which washeld on 25 November 2003 in Beijing,was just such an occasion. I was so sur-prised by the number of ITC alumni at-tending. Many came from various othercities to Beijing - and China is a largecountry - especially for the celebrationparty. At this well-organised party Iheard more about the achievements ofITC alumni and the current situation atITC. These are the results of the hardwork and great efforts made by ITCalumni and the Institute. I hope that thesolid cooperation between China and ITCwill be further strengthened in future,and more contributions can be made byITC and ITC alumni.

Xuehua Liu, Tsinghua UniversityI am Dr Xuehua Liu. I obtained my MSc degree in environmental sys-tem analysis and modelling in 1997 at ITC, and my PhD in conserva-tion ecology in 2001, also at ITC.

Since graduating from ITC, I have worked for the Department ofEnvironmental Science and Engineering at Tsinghua University, oneof the most famous universities in China. My task is to transfer myknowledge on ecological principles to students, and apply ecologi-cal knowledge in research projects. I still maintain my interest in thegiant panda habitat and have several projects in this context. Here, Iteach undergraduate students and do research, as well as superviseMSc students. The great thing is that I still meet many ITC staffmembers because ITC is working together with our department.

I am so glad to be attending the 25th anniversary of the start ofITC’s cooperation with China. There were two reasons for me tocome to this great anniversary. First, as an ITC graduate I wanted tocongratulate ITC, my fourth home (after Xinyu, Nanjing andBeijing), on its 25th anniversary. Second, I wished to meet thefriends I had made during my studies at ITC.

When my friends and I were shaking hands or hugging each other -well to be honest, words can hardly describe my feelings. Let’s hopethat ITC will remain forever a cradle of friendship, uniting peoplewho come from different places and different cultures on Earth.

Best regards,Xuehua

Dr Xuehua Liu and ITC’s former rector

Prof.dr.ir. Klaas Jan Beek

11ITC News 2003-4


I am the first student from China thatwent to study at ITC. I entered ITC at thebeginning of 1979 as the first studentfrom mainland China, together with MrHu. After two and a half years of study, wewent back to our country with MSc de-grees. Now I am a professor at the ChineseAcademy of Surveying and Mapping.

Looking back on those days at ITC, I wouldsay that I refreshed my knowledge in cer-tain new fields, such as GIS and remote

sensing, and I became acquainted with thewider photogrammetry and remote sens-ing community, which has helped me a lotin research and teaching activities. I wouldalso say: “Keep up long-term contacts withalumni - it’s a good tradition that benefitsboth ITC and the alumni.”

It was a pleasure to be at the celebrationof ITC’s 25 years in China and to meetmany old friends. I wish ITC a bright andfruitful future.

Ch Liangcai, Academy of Surveying and Mapping

Mr Chen Bangzhu, the director-general of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mappinggiving his speech during the opening ceremony

Mr. Chu Lancai ITC alumnus 1979/1980 and his wifeattended the celebrations

(From left to right) Mr Karel van Oosterom, the chargéd’affaires at the Royal Netherlands Embassy inBeijing, Ms Shou Jiahua, the vice-minister of theMinistry of Land and Resources and ITC’s rectorProf.dr.ir. Martien Molenaar

Government agencies have tendedto act separately for the collection,storage and dissemination of dataand information. Efforts and atti-tudes have been agency-focused,and the provision of integrated dataproducts and services to the geospa-tial data and decision-making com-munity typically has been inefficientin terms of timeliness and cost. Countless workshops over the pastdecade have resulted in recommen-dations for adopting data standards,improving data policies and accessmechanisms, and better communica-tion to avoid duplication. The need iswell recognised. However, what ap-pears to be lacking is practical infor-mation on “how to proceed” …“how to change the way of doingbusiness”. Talk is easy.

SDI Africa: An Implementation Guideaims to provide a blue print for SDIimplementation. The authors releaseda first CD version of the guide inNovember 2003 at AFRICAGIS ’03 inDakar, Senegal. An interactive web-site is currently being prepared aswell. This publication is compiled asan ongoing collaborative effort of ge-ographical information managementspecialists from African countries, theEconomic Commission for Africa(ECA), the Global Spatial DataInfrastructure Association (GSDI), EIS-Africa and ITC. An expert group ofAfrican and international reviewersalso provided constructive input todraft chapters during an Ad HocMeeting convened at ECA in February2003 (see Chapter 1 – Introduction:The Guide Approach for a list of con-tributors).

Real experiences, examples and docu-ments were presented from Africancountries and other countries aroundthe world (e.g. policy statements, rel-evant legislation, protocols, MoUs be-tween data providers and users/datasharing agreements between institu-tions, freedom to information legisla-tion, copyright law, standardsdeveloped, training materials pro-duced, workshop proceedings, equip-ment procurement procedures andpolicies, geospatial projects inventory,charters and constitutions of coordi-nating bodies or structures, and ideasfor funding SDI development). Theguide also includes links to otherguides that, while not necessarily fo-cusing on SDI development, provideinsights into organisational change,policy development, e-readiness, fi-nancing, etc. (see Existing RelatedGuides).

SDI Africa: An Implementation Guideis meant as a “virtual referencekiosk” for information managers,data technicians and technology in-novators who are interested in build-

ing information infrastructure in theircountry. It is important to note,though, that SDI development is notformulaic - at least not the institu-tional, policy and financial aspects. Itis more like chess, where one has op-tions as to which piece to move, andduring the course of the game, cer-tain moves are more strategic thanothers.

The technical aspects of SDI compo-nents are much more straightforwardand lend themselves to a model forimplementation, as the SDICookbook lays out. It’s more difficultfrom an institutional standpoint tosay, “Step 1, step 2, step 3, do this …and, thus, you’ll have SDI.” Formingan inter-institutional committee or or-ganisation, developing a work plan,identifying working groups and tasks,holding workshops to raise aware-ness and build support, developingdata policy, drafting a decree or lawin support of the inter-institutionalcommittee or organisation, etc. - allof these are important steps. But theyaren’t necessarily sequential. One can

12 ITC News 2003-4

A N N O U N C E M E N T S

announcements

A Collaborative Implementation Guide for Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) in Africa

Kate Lance [email protected]

United States Geological Survey

Ad Hoc Experts Meeting, February 2003, UNECA

13ITC News 2003-4


start on one aspect and get stymied.So, one tries another tactic. The insti-tutional elements in part depend onthe status of the technical steps, sincethe technical steps are the more tan-gible (show-able) products.

SDI champions have often advocatedgetting a clearinghouse up and run-ning as a means to demonstrate thebenefits of SDI, and thus “breed”support for the institutional aspects.However, this does not mean thatclearinghouse development must beinitiated before the establishment ofa national committee or the draftingof a framework document. These canbe parallel activities. In fact, it’s a jug-

Since 1999, ILWIS software has beencommercially distributed by PCIGeomatics (Toronto, Canada) underan agreement with ITC. As ILWIS hasevolved from commercial into scien-tific software over the years, ITC andPCI have reached an amicable deci-sion to terminate this agreementwith effect from 31 December 2003.

During the term of the agreement,royalties have been accumulated anddeposited in a fund for fellowships tostudy at ITC. This fund has been

called the “Bob Moses FellowshipFund” after Dr Robert Moses, thepresident and CEO of PCI Geomatics.These fellowships will be used toallow a number of suitable candi-dates identified by PCI to participatein ITC’s short courses in the comingthree years.

gling act of parallel activities in aphased approach (see Chapter 6 –Getting Started). Moreover, one mustbe opportunistic, taking into accountwhat projects, and hence funding,one can leverage for SDI develop-ment. SDI development, in effect, is atactical challenge.

The different conditions and person-alities in one’s country form uniquedynamics, and these influence the SDIapproach that emerges. A first step inSDI implementation is assessing thecurrent conditions (see Chapter 3 –Assessment of the Current Status andEnvironment of the Geospatial Sector).Some countries spend longer on theplanning stage, developing a coher-ent conceptual model of the SDI andits components before starting imple-mentation. Others are more prag-matic and start with whatever isalready available and develop as theygo along. Some institutions have aneasier time obtaining funding fromthe central government for activities,or some countries have large externalprojects that support environmentalmanagement (see Chapter 7 – Funding

Mechanisms for Implementation). OneSDI model does not fit all. Data managers are encouraged toread through SDI Africa: AnImplementation Guide, review thedifferent suggestions, documents andlinks, and then assemble them in away that makes sense to their ownsituation and course of action. Andall are welcome to contribute to thenext version. Ideally, the guide willenable data managers to “leapfrog”through the SDI developmentprocess.

References- GSDI, 2001. Developing Spatial

Data Infrastructures: The SDICookbook. Version 1.1. Editor, D.Nebert. http://www.gsdi.org/pubs/cookbook/cookbook0515.pdf

- To obtain SDI Africa: An Implemen-tation Guide on CD, contact DozieEzigbalike (UNECA),[email protected]. The onlineversion is still in development, butthe chapters can be accessed forthe time being from the followinglink: http://www.uneca.org/disd/geoinfo/SDIAfrica

source:http://www.ahajokes.com/crt213.html

Bob Moses Fellowship Fund

Sjaak Beerens [email protected]

Dr Robert Moses, the president and CEO of PCI Geomatics

In 2004 no less than 14(!) refresher courses will be or-ganised. They form one of the more important types ofservices to our alumni.

Refresher courses are short courses (mostly two weekslong) that are organised for alumni in their home countriesor in their region and are intended to increase the impactand prolong the effects of earlier training. These refreshercourses are funded mainly by the Netherlands FellowshipProgramme (NFP). In principle, the target group of suchcourses consists of alumni who have completed any NFP-funded training or education at least two years before theplanned starting date of the refresher course.

Colleagues and supervisors of alumni are also allowed toparticipate in (part of) a refresher course, as are alumni offormer DGIS and SAIL projects.

In 2004, the following refresher courses will be organised:

GuatemalaGeospatial Data Infrastructure for Central America(GDICA)

In most countries the mapping authorities/surveys are themain custodians when it comes to developing the nationalspatial data infrastructure. Managing this process, how-ever, requires the involvement of other organisations thatdevelop or produce maps or other spatial data.

Objectives• To transfer knowledge of GDI concepts, critical success

factors and available technology• Regional networking among ITC alumni • Capacity building.

LocationGuatemala City, Faculty of Agronomy of University of SanCarlos (FAUSAC)

Course period18 October – 1 November 2004

ITC contact personIr W.T. de Vries (e-mail: [email protected])

MozambiqueThe Potential of Geoinformatics to Combat Drought,Desertification and Food Insecurity in Southeast Africa

Objectives• To familiarise and update the course participants regard-

ing the various steps involved in the disaster manage-ment process

• To strengthen the capacity of representatives of regionaland local governmental and non-governmental organi-sations to apply geo-information in hazard and disastermanagement related especially to drought, desertifica-tion, crop growth monitoring and food security

• To demonstrate the potential of both currently opera-tional and forthcoming earth observation systems anddata analysis techniques, as well their effective adapta-tion and integration into existing activities

• To provide a contribution to implementing the UNConvention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), ratifiedby Mozambique in 1996

• To reinforce the positions of CENACARTA and RCMRDin subsequent regional training in disaster management

• To serve as a tangible follow-on activity to the UN-or-ganised workshop “Use of space technology in disastermanagement” held in Addis Ababa in 2002, where apressing need for further training in earth observationand geodata processing was identified.

LocationMaputo, Technical Secretariat for Food Security andNutrition (SETSAN)

Course periodJune 2004 (tentative)

ITC contact personDr N. Kerle (e-mail: [email protected])

MozambiqueRemote Sensing and GIS Applications for IntegratedWater Resources Management in Sub-Saharan Africa(Flood Analysis)

The course deals with an integrated assessment of water-related hazards, the application of hydrological models forwater quantity and quality assessment, remote sensingtechniques for image analysis, and the use of GIS forwater security. Participants will learn how to generate hy-drological data and information from aerial photographs

14 ITC News 2003-4


Refresher Courses 2004


and satellite images, and how to handle the data by usingGIS and generate input into hydrological models. They willbe exposed to hydrological modelling using GIS environ-ments. Local case studies dealing with the generation ofspatial and hydrological databases for the vulnerability as-sessment will be used to demonstrate the relevant tech-niques. The course includes lectures; field visits; groupdiscussions; extensive hands-on digital exercises using GIS,remote sensing software, hydrological models and environ-mental assessment techniques.

Objective• To give an overview of remote sensing and GIS tech-

niques for integrated water resources management. Theemphasis will be on methods that can be used to evalu-ate the vulnerability of water systems to natural andhuman-induced risks such as extreme rainfall, floodingand contamination.

LocationMaputo, Centro de Cartografia e Teledectecção (CE-NACARTA)

Course periodOctober – November 2004

ITC contact personDr R.O. Strobl (e-mail: [email protected])

MozambiqueGeospatial Information Management and Visualisationfor Decision Making in Environmental Impact Assessment

ObjectivesAd hoc and uncontrolled developments in many develop-ing countries require effective policies, plans and imple-mentation procedures. Environmental impact assessment(EIA) is a legalised process to improve decision making andensure that proposed development options are ecologi-cally, socially and economically sound. The demand for(training in) EIA is growing rapidly worldwide, and tech-niques to visually illustrate the implications of spatial deci-sions are much in demand. GIS can offer effectiveinformation and communication instruments, and can beapplied in all EIA stages: from the acquisition, storage anddisplay of thematic information relative to the vulnerabilityof the affected resources, to impact prediction, qualifica-tion and evaluation, and finally to cartographic liable pres-entation.

The focus of this refresher course is on both improving andcritically examining the potential of spatial informationtechnologies (remote sensing and GIS) for the whole EIAprocess, including credible cartographic visualisation for

decision makers and other stakeholders. Examples from re-alistic EIA projects will provide a framework for short com-puter practicals dealing with analysis and presentation.

LocationMaputo, University Eduardo Mondlane (UEM)

Course periodTo be determined

ITC contact personMr A.M. Mank (e-mail: [email protected])

NamibiaControl Points Densification Used in Surveying andCadastral Applications

Objectives• To strengthen the capacity of staff members of the rele-

vant organisations in point determination techniques• To familiarise course participants, by means of guided

practicals, with the various steps involved in controlpoint densification using either GPS or aerotriangulation

• To examine methods of aerotriangulation with GPS sup-port, automation in aerotriangulation and space trian-gulation

• To demonstrate the potential of current and forthcom-ing systems on data analysis techniques, as well as itseffective adaptation and integration into existingprocesses

• To draw product specifications and explain quality pa-rameters.

LocationWindhoek, Directorate of Surveying & Mapping of theMinistry of Lands or The Polytechnic of Namibia


ITC contact personDr M. Sharif (e-mail: [email protected])

PhilippinesFlood Risk Management in the Philippines

ObjectivesThis course centres on the methods that can be applied toreduce the vulnerability of population, buildings and infra-structure to flooding. It is designed for disaster managerswith flood hazard as their sphere of responsibility or con-cern. The course especially encourages the participation ofelected and appointed national and local (city/town) ad-

15ITC News 2003-4


ministrators, development and planning authorities, waterengineers and flood control professionals, national agencyofficials and staff in urban planning, housing, publicworks, and water resource development and manage-ment. The course is certain to benefit private land and set-tlement developers, officials and personnel of relief andrehabilitation agencies, UN and similar international bod-ies, and non-governmental organisations involved in disas-ter mitigation.

PartnersThe course will be given with the following partners:• Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)

(http://www.adpc.net)• Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), GIS Application

Center (http://www.ait.ac.th)• Naga City Government

LocationNaga, Naga City Government

Course periodAugust – September 2004

ITC contact personDr C.J. van Westen (e-mail: [email protected])

South AfricaWebGIS and WebMapping

Students will be introduced to general computer network-ing theories and Internet concepts, as well as several toolswith which Internet mapping applications and web data-bases can be built. They will learn how to discover, use andserve geodata on the Internet in order to integrate thistechnology in existing and future applications.

Objectives• Setting the stage: possibilities and pitfalls of websites

for spatial data dissemination• Internet concepts: overview of Internet concepts and

features, Internet protocol, domain name system,Internet services, World Wide Web, web servers, webclients

• Website content: information analysis, composing web-site content for specific user groups

• Website construction and publishing: using HTML au-thoring tools, optimising graphics and maps, web serveraccess, website maintenance

• Web application development: web page design princi-ples, HTML, data formats, helper applications, Java, CGI,databases and the Web

• Internet GIS: application of Internet services to GIS,Internet GIS

• Website design: design principles applied to the Web(scheme, hierarchy, balance, colours, typography), userinterface design

• Doing it: publishing your own website using either yourown data or materials provided, or a combination ofboth.

LocationPietermaritzburg, Faculty of Geography of the University ofNatal


ITC contact personDrs B.J. Köbben (e-mail: [email protected])

TanzaniaUsing Remote Sensing and GIS to Combat and ManageForest Fire Disasters

General objective• To give participants an overview of the methods that

can be implemented to manage fire, monitor forest firesand identify burnt areas.

Short-term objectives• To train participants in state-of-the-art satellite remote

sensing for fire management• To provide up-to-date insight into the methods of forest

fire detection using remotely sensed data• To provide a platform for the exchange of experiences in

field forest fire monitoring• To provide training in forest fire spread and growth

modelling• To provide training in forest fire hazard modelling and to

discuss methods of fire prevention• To apply GIS in the context of fire prevention• To familiarise participants with practical fire detection

methods• To use remotely sensed data for the purposes of burnt

forest detection and damage assessment • To strengthen the ties with alumni.

Long-term objectives• To increase the capacity of Tanzanian governmental or-

ganisations responsible for seismic hazard and risk as-sessment

• To increase the awareness and capacity of municipal au-thorities in the field of risk management

• To secure new networks and strengthen existing net-works, aiming at the successful completion of theselonger-term objectives.

16 ITC News 2003-4


LocationDar es Salaam, University of Dar es Salaam, UniversityCollege of Lands and Architectural Studies (UCLAS)

Course periodOctober – November 2004

ITC contact personDr Y.A. Hussin (e-mail: [email protected])

TanzaniaActive Sensors – Principles and Capabilities

Objectives• To foster awareness of new methods of geo-information

provision based on sound technical knowledge of thecapabilities and operational aspects of modern sensortechnology

• To strengthen the capacity of university staff and repre-sentatives of national and local governmental organisa-tions to select and utilise the most adequate technology

• To familiarise course participants with the processes ofgenerating core data

• To demonstrate the potential of currently operationalsystems and data analysis techniques for urban planningand disaster management.


Course periodSeptember 2004

ITC contact personDr K. Tempfli (e-mail: [email protected])

TanzaniaSpatial Information for District Planning in the Contextof Decentralisation

There is the need to build capacity in sub-national or dis-trict planning with a particular emphasis on developingskills in collecting, analysing, presenting and managingdata of a geographical nature. Decentralisation and devo-lution processes necessitate building competencies for thenew district responsibilities, one of which is implementingdistrict spatial planning.

Objectives• To build capacity in staff involved in district spatial plan-

ning (DSP) processes with a focus on the fields of natu-ral resources management and environmental planning

and management• To provoke systematic analyses of problems facing dis-

trict planners dealing with DSP and environmental plan-ning when decentralisation policies are beingimplemented

• To develop an appropriate framework for analysing spa-tial information issues within DSP

• To enhance knowledge of, and skills in, collecting,analysing and managing geospatial data

• To develop knowledge of, and skills in, effectively visual-ising and presenting spatial data for district-level plan-ning.


Course periodJune/July 2004

ITC contact personDr M.K. McCall (e-mail: [email protected])

UgandaGeoinformatics for Watershed Management

Objectives• To provide insight into recent and contemporary issues

in water and watershed management in the EastAfrican region

• To build capacity in using Geo(IT) tools for hydrologicaldata extraction, data preparation and data exchange

• To build capacity in using GIS and remote sensing in thecontext of water management issues

• To apply a hydrological model.

LocationKampala, Geography Department of the MakarereUniversity

Course periodSummer 2004

ITC contact personDr B.H.P. Maathuis (e-mail: [email protected])

VietnamGeo-information for Management and Planning ofCoastal Lagoon Systems

Objectives• To strengthen the capacity of representatives of regional

and local governmental and non-governmental organi-

17ITC News 2003-4


sations to apply geo-information in managing and plan-ning coastal lagoon systems

• To support the exchange of available expertise oncoastal lagoon management in the region between ITCalumni from the entire Southeast Asian region, Dutchteaching staff and Vietnamese professionals

• To improve understanding of the internal dynamics andcarrying capacity of the coastal lagoon system and its re-lationships with river, coastal and marine systems inVietnam

• To demonstrate the state of the art in (applications of)earth observation and geo-information science for man-aging and planning coastal lagoon systems

• To operationalise the available geo-information in a pol-icy analysis within the context of integrated coastal zonemanagement, natural resource management and water-shed management strategies

• To stimulate cooperation between various research,training and consulting activities in coastal zone man-agement undertaken by Dutch and Vietnamese institu-tions in TT Hue Province

• To establish a link between the ITC-FSIV joint researchproject within the Tropenbos Vietnam programme andthe VN-ICZM programme.

LocationHue City

Course periodOctober 2004

ITC contact personDr T.W. Hobma (e-mail: [email protected])

VietnamGIS for Environmental and Land Use Planning inSoutheast Asia

Objectives• To familiarise participants with the environmental and

land use planning practices in various countries inSoutheast Asia and of different departments and organ-isations

• To familiarise participants with the different aspects in-volved in applying GIS to environmental and land useplanning, and train them to deal with these in their ownwork situation

• To enable participants to determine the requirements toallow them and/or their organisations to apply GIS toenvironmental and land use planning

• To familiarise participants with the extent to which co-operation and coordination between different depart-ments and organisations is required to solve the

numerous environmental and land use planning prob-lems in their countries.

LocationHanoi, Vietnam Research Institute of Land Administration(VIRILA)


ITC contact personDr D. van der Zee (e-mail: [email protected])

VietnamGeosystem Exploration and Engineering: A System Approach to Integrating Earth Observationand Geoscience Information

The course centres on the state of the art in geological re-mote sensing, in combination with geo-engineering di-rected towards sustainable exploration, in anenvironmentally conscious manner. It combines specialistknowledge in the earth science fields with the latest in-sights into geo-information management and earth obser-vation methods.

Objectives• To create an expert body of earth scientists capable of

independently finding and using earth observationmethodologies to address issues of managing and moni-toring earth processes in relation to (mineral and petro-leum) geo-exploration

• To communicate the current state of the art in systemscience approaches in the fields of geo-engineering andearth observation

• To develop a conceptual framework for understandingthe potential new sources of information from earth ob-servation techniques and their applicability in earth sci-ences

• To assist in developing strategies for data acquisition di-rected towards the specific needs of earth scientists

• To provide insight into where data can be retrieved andhow (field-based and earth observation) data can be in-tegrated.

LocationHanoi, Vietnam National University


ITC contact personProf.Dr F.D. van der Meer (e-mail: [email protected])

18 ITC News 2003-4


For African students and alumni in-terested or involved practically in is-sues that relate to landscapeplanning and management and thuscould be related to landscape ecol-ogy, the following information maybe of interest.

The IALE African chapter haslaunched its new website and is an-nouncing its plans for a first confer-ence in Ghana.

At the world IALE congress inAustralia, a new African chapter wasformed (IALE-Africa). It takes only afew minutes to join via a recentlyconstructed website(http://calmit.unl.edu/africa-iale), sowhy not visit this address and read allabout it.

The first IALE-Africa conference willbe held in Ghana in 2005, and in thenot-too-distance future the organis-ers of the African chapter are hopingto approach those of you directly in-volved in African conservation andlandscape ecology for thoughts andideas. Those who wish to react imme-diately can send an e-mail via thewebsite.

What Is IALE?IALE stands for the InternationalAssociation for Landscape Ecology. Itencourages landscape ecologists totranscend boundaries and work to-gether in building theory and devel-oping knowledge of landscapepattern and process, in developing in-tegrative tools, and in applying thesetools to real landscape situations andusing them to solve problems.

Throughout the world, landscapes arebeing altered more rapidly, more ex-tensively and more profoundly thanat any other point in human history.

Comprehensive land use planningand sound land use policy are still theexceptions but should become therule. IALE members have a critical roleto play. Applying landscape ecologystimulates the integration of variousdisciplines. Therefore, landscape ecol-ogy should always look for opportu-nities to act. Landscape ecologistsmake assumptions and uncertaintiesexplicit whenever relevant, identifyrisks for the decision maker, and al-ways strive to improve the applicabil-ity and accuracy of their tools.

Landscape Ecology: The Vision Looking ahead, IALE envisions a fu-ture characterised by: • widespread recognition within the

scientific community of the contri-butions made by landscape ecolo-gists

• rigorous research and scholarshipresulting from the active collabora-tion and interdisciplinary synergismamong diverse fields encompassedby biophysical sciences, social sci-ences, humanities and the land-scape professions

• natural resource management,land planning and design, conser-vation, and land use policywidely, routinely and creativelybased on the principles oflandscape ecology.

How Does IALE Achieve Its Aims? • As a worldwide organisation of

landscape ecologists, IALE providesan infrastructure that serves as adiscussion platform and stimulatesinteraction across the disciplines.IALE will create an infrastructurethat makes it easy for landscapeecologists to contact each otherand stay abreast of current devel-opments in landscape ecologyaround the world.

• IALE brings together expertise fromdifferent disciplines to solve prob-lems and continue research pro-gramming.

19ITC News 2003-4


IALE African Chapter

Rob Jongman [email protected]

For more information on IALE,please visit its website:http://www.iale.ws. IALE also publishes a bulletin,digitally available at:http://www.wsl.ch/land/iale/bulletin.htm.

For information regardingmembership, please contacttreasurer Dr Rob Jongman([email protected]).

ILWIS 3.2 was released on 1 January2004. The new version includessome new functionalities and somebug fixes.

Spatial Multiple Criteria Evaluation(SMCE)This application assists and guides theuser in multicriteria evaluation in aspatial way, using raster maps of acertain area as criteria. The user canbuild his or her own criterion tree;can standardise and weigh thegroups, factors and constraints; andcan compare various alternatives.

Hydrological Flow Operations• New Hydrological Flow operations

are implemented: Fill Sinks, DEMOptimisation, Flow Direction andFlow Accumulation.

• The Fill Sinks operation removeslocal depressions from a digital ele-vation model.

• The DEM Optimisation operationenables you to “burn” existingdrainage features into a digital ele-vation model.

• The Flow Direction operation deter-mines the neighbouring pixel into

which any water in a central pixelwill flow.

• The Flow Accumulation operationdetermines the number of pixelsthat naturally drain into outlet pix-els; this operation can be used tofind the drainage pattern of a ter-rain.

Find Datum Parameters WizardWith this wizard, you can find geo-detic datum transformation parame-ters between the coordinate systemsof two point maps. The coordinatesystem of the first point map is sup-posed to use a local (unknown) geo-detic datum, and the coordinatesystem of the second point map issupposed to use a global geodeticdatum (preferably WGS 84).

GARtrip ImportMap Import allows the import ofGARtrip text files with GPS data.GARtrip is PC shareware software forGarmin and Magellan GPS receivers.

Distribution Policy as of 1 January2004As of 1 January 2004, the ILWIS 3.2software will be distributed solely byITC as shareware to all users, irrespec-tive of their relationship with ITC. • New users, irrespective of their re-

lationship with ITC, are entitled totry out ILWIS software for an evalu-ation period of one month free ofcharge. Subsequently, new userscan obtain a permanent licenceafter payment of one hundred euros.

• Existing users of version 3.0/3.1 orlater, both ITC and PCI customers,are entitled to upgrade patches toversion 3.2 free of charge.

• ILWIS Academic software will bereleased without guaranteed sup-port services.

• Users with questions can use theILWIS discussion list, the FAQ andthe user documentation availableon the ILWIS website.

As from January 2004, ILWISAcademic 3.2 can be obtained onlyby downloading from ITC’s website(http://www.itc.nl/ilwis/downloads) oron a CD-ROM from ITC’s bookshop.ILWIS will not be distributed by regu-lar mail.

20 ITC News 2003-4


ILWIS 3.2 Released!

Every year Intergraph sponsors theOpen GIS Golf Tournament in theNetherlands. The proceeds are usedfor charity.

In 2003 the organisers wanted tosponsor a water project in Africa bydonating GIS hardware and software.After consultation with ITC’sDepartment of Water Resources, theLake Naivasha Riparian Association(LNRA) was selected to receive thedonation. Since 1997 more than 60MSc students have carried out theirfieldwork around Lake Naivasha andthe donation will help the local stake-holder organisation to use the manyGIS and earth observation productsmade by ITC students. ITC played therole of intermediary between the do-nating and receiving organisations.

In November 2003 ITC was invited toparticipate in the African RegionalReview Workshop for Lake BasinManagement in Nairobi, Kenya. Thisfour-day workshop was part of aWorld Bank-implemented GEF-

funded (Global Environment Facility)Lake Basin Management Initiativethat is being executed by theInternational Lake EnvironmentCommittee (ILEC), a non-governmen-tal organisation based in Japan. ILECis in partnership with a USA-basednon-governmental organisation calledLakeNet. The Lake BasinManagement Initiative is co-financedby USAID, the World BankNetherlands Water PartnershipProgram (BNWPP), the Shiga

Prefectural Government of Japan andILEC.

This occasion was a good moment tohand over the laptop equipped withILWIS and Intergraph GeomediaSoftware to Sarah Higgins, HonorarySecretary of LNRA, in the presence ofProfessor Odada of the Pan AfricanSTART Secretariat, Dr Nakamura ofILEC in Japan and Dr Baker ofLakeNet in the USA (see photo).

21ITC News 2003-4


Donation for Lake Naivasha Riparian Association

Robert Becht [email protected]

staff news

Drs Willem Kruijer Project Assistant, Department of Earth Observation Science (per 15 October 2003)Dr Mark van der Meijde Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Systems Analysis (per 1 November 2003)Prof.dr.ir. Rien Bos Visiting Professor in irrigation water management, Department of Water Resources

(per 1 November 2003)Monika Kuffer Lecturer, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information

Management (per 1 November 2003)

Jannie Broelman-Heutink Housekeeping, Facility Management (per 1 October 2003)Emerson Howard Instructor, Department of Earth Observation Science (per 1 October 2003)Karen Buchanan Lecturer, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information

Management (per 1 October 2003)Barbara Casentini Research Assistant, Department of Water Resources (per 1 October 2003)Marcia van Doeselaar Receptionist, Facility Management (per 28 October 2003)Jannie Wolters-Voogd Housekeeping, Facility Management (per 1 December 2003)Ir Edwin Keizer Lecturer, Department of Natural Resources (per 7 December 2003)

Welcometo ITC

Staffleaving

On 31 October 2003 the PhD com-munity at ITC organised the “PhDday”. This full-day event takes theform of a scientific conference andoffers the opportunity for scientificexchange and social contact amongthe ITC PhD student community, itsguest speakers and fellow PhD stu-dents from universities and researchschools.

The conference gathered togetherPhD researchers working in a widerange of scientific fields related togeo-information science, for the pur-pose of exchanging scientific knowl-edge and experience. It was also anoccasion to establish direct contactsand improve social relationships be-tween PhD researchers inside andoutside ITC.

The idea of organising the PhD Dayoriginated in January 2002, duringone of the monthly get-togetherswhen ITC PhD students discuss issuesrelated to their research and stay atthe Institute. The idea was warmly re-ceived. Shortly afterwards, an organ-ising committee was put in place toplan and organise the event. This or-ganisation had the benefit of supportfrom ITC’s Research Coordination and

Directorate, as well as from a numberof ITC academic staff members.

The theme of the first edition was“Remote sensing and spatial dataanalysis”. The conference was struc-tured to incorporate oral presenta-tions from guest speakers andselected ITC PhD candidates, andposter presentations from PhD candi-dates inside and outside ITC. On thisoccasion, the ITC PhD student com-munity had the privilege of welcom-ing two leaders in GIScience researchas guest speakers: Professor PeterFisher from the Department ofGeography, University of Leicester,UK, and Professor Peter Burroughfrom the Department of PhysicalGeography, Utrecht University, theNetherlands. The conference at-tracted a goodly number of partici-pants from ITC and other universitiesin the Netherlands. In total, twokeynote presentations, eight oral pre-sentations by ITC PhD students, and14 posters from PhD students fromITC and other Dutch universities wereon the programme. A booklet of ab-stracts of all the oral presentationsand posters was distributed at theconference, and made available onthe Internet.

The presentations were selected tocover most areas of research under-taken at ITC and were structured inthree sessions to deal with technicalas well as application-oriented re-search. The two keynote presenta-tions were very inspiring. ProfessorFisher delivered a presentation onModelling and recognising fuzzy spa-tial objects, in which he shared someexperiments dealing with the impor-tant problem of uncertainty in spatialdata. The second keynote presenta-tion, given by Professor Burrough,provided an interesting outlook onThe development and application ofdynamic numerical tools in geo-science research.

The ITC PhD students’ presentationsincluded technical as well as applica-tion-oriented research. Arko Lucieerfrom the Department of Geo-infor-mation Processing (GIP) and EarthObservation Systems (EOS) gave apresentation on 3D visualisation ofremote sensed image classification,dealing with the problem of uncer-tainty and image classification. Danielvan de Vlag, from the same depart-ment, discussed An application ofproblem and product ontologies forcoastal movements. The design, ac-

22 ITC News 2003-4

R E S E A R C H N E W S

research news

PhD Day: “A Scientific Conference for PhD Students”

Etien L. Koua [email protected]

ITC Rector Professor Martien Molenaaropening the event

Professor Peter Fisher delivering the firstguest lecture

Professor Kraak (right) introduces the secondguest speaker, Professor Peter Burrough (left)

cess and quality of distributed geoser-vices were discussed by two ITC PhDstudents: Javier Morales and RichardOnchaga, both from the Departmentof Urban and Regional Planning andGeo-information Management(PGM). Several presentations on dif-ferent application domains were alsogiven. Amon Murwira from theDepartment of Natural ResourcesManagement (NRM) gave a talk on Anew approach to predict wildlife dis-tribution from NDVI. Sicai Zhu andPrasum Gangopadhyay, both fromthe Department of Earth SystemsAnalysis (ESA), respectively discussed3D and knowledge-based systems forgeo-technical modelling and Satellite-derived emissivity and coal-fire detec-tion. The last talk, given by Corné vanElzakker, an ITC staff PhD researcher,discussed map user research, specifi-cally The use of maps in the explo-ration of geographical data.

The concluding session took the formof a panel discussion and affordedthe opportunity to debate an impor-tant topic. The topic was a very inter-esting one: Is GIS a science or asystem? Under the guidance ofProfessor Skidmore, two teams, eachcomposed of one professor and onePhD student (Arko Lucieer andProfessor Stein vs Amon Murwira andProfessor Kraak) defended opposingviewpoints. It was an essential discus-sion as research and technical devel-opments in the field move side byside.

After a quick summary and synthesisof the different sessions by the threesession reporters (Arta Dilo, EtienKoua and Martin Yemefack), a vision-ary speech by ITC’s rector brought theconference to a close. In his talk, therector encouraged the ITC PhD com-munity to repeat such an event and

share scientific experiences. One ofhis key messages was to rememberthat PhD work should contribute tosociety. All PhD students should con-stantly ask themselves: How does myPhD work contribute to society?

This first edition of the PhD Day (PhDDay 2003) was a success and theevent will be repeated on an annualbasis. The ITC PhD student commu-nity would like to thank ITC’s rector,research coordinator and PhDhelpdesk officer, as well as the pro-fessors who agreed to chair the dif-ferent sessions and contributed to thepanel discussion (Professors Kraak,Stein and Skidmore), for their supportin organising the event.

Finally, the ITC PhD community wel-comes you all to attend the PhD Day2004, and information in this respectwill soon be made available.

23ITC News 2003-4


The audience Session chairs: (left to right) Professor Kraak,Professor Skidmore and Professor Stein

Poster presentations

Panel session: Is GIS a science or a system?

The reception afterwards

24 ITC News 2003-4


A geopark, as defined by UNESCO(1999), “is a territory encompassingone or more sites of scientific impor-tance, not only for geological rea-sons but also by virtue of itsarchaeological, ecological or cul-tural value … will have a manage-ment plan designed to fostersocio-economic development that issustainable (most likely to be basedon geotourism) …will demonstratemethods for conserving and enhanc-ing geological heritage and providemeans for teaching geoscientific dis-ciplines and broader environmentalissues … it should also be recog-nised that success can only beachieved through strong local in-volvement … .”

The idea of carrying out holistic re-searches - multidisciplinary (polydisci-plinary), interdisciplinary orintradisciplinary - is not new. In theNetherlands, for instance, in the pe-riod since 1992 the Department ofPhysical Geography and the SectionHydro-ecology and EnvironmentalImpact Analysis of Utrecht University,and the Department of PhysicalGeography and Soil Science, theSection Palynology and Paleo-/Actuo-ecology and the Section QuaternaryGeology and Lowland Genesis of theUniversity of Amsterdam have cometogether to form the NetherlandsCentre for Geo-ecological Research.Research carried out by a greater-

than-usual group of specialists has fo-cused on “patterns and processes inchanging environments”. During thesame period landscape ecology, inwhich many disciplines are involved,has received ample attention, fromITC among others. However, the ob-jectives of the research have been tostimulate applied research into geo-ecological systems, and to expand re-search opportunities throughparticipation across the board, all di-rected towards mitigating environ-mental problems.

Although this can be considered animportant achievement, it misses par-ticipation in the broader sense. Thequestion is how to prepare ordinarypeople for participation in solving en-vironmental problems. For decadesnow, all of us - be we geologists, soilsurveyors, vegetation specialists, orany other type of specialist - havebeen doing our own particular jobs,often without involving colleagues,let alone ordinary people (non-spe-cialists). This has become so commonthat non-specialists no longer botherabout what the specialists are doing!A shocking situation and one recog-nised by a large group of specialists.Scientists may come together andcarry out fantastic research resultingin good reports that prescribe manyactivities and make many recommen-dations - but scientists are not theonly group living in this world.

Actually, those who have to applysuch research results are the ordinarypeople, and they are nearly alwaysabsent. So how can we bring scienceto these people?

Experience in certain countries suchas Spain and Portugal has shown thatpeople - from school children up-wards - find geotourism quite attrac-tive. Geotourism enables a largenumber of people of all levels to be-come acquainted with environmentalissues - issues that until now havebeen dealt with solely by scientists.The concept of the geopark, how-ever, goes further than geotourism(knowing that scientists also come to-gether to look at the issues holisti-cally). Dr José Luis Palacio, Dr GerardoBocco, Dr Lorenzo Selem Vazquez, DrAlejandro Velazgues and the freshlyqualified Dr Narciso Barrera-Bassols(all very active ITC alumni) are work-ing hard to launch the GEOPARKproject in a volcanic landscape inMexico. The area, covering 2,700 haand surrounding the ParicutinVolcano, is not far from the town ofMorelia, which is renowned for its ar-chitectural beauty. While wishingthem all (and that includes our MScstudents, Arturo Garrido and JamaliBaruti, who are doing their researchin the same area) every success, let’salso hope that a way of bringing sci-ence to the people has finally beenfound.

The GEOPARK Concept: Mexicans May Have Found the Way

Abbas Farshad [email protected]

View of the volcanic landscape Soils formed in volcanic materials(Andosols): Are they very differentfrom other soils? How do theybehave under different manage-ment systems?

Doing fieldwork in November isnot easy, but it’s interesting to seehow the rain etches rills and gul-lies

Now you know what I meant whenI said: “Don’t plan your fieldworkin November!”

On 12 and 13 December, ITC staffparticipated in the closing workshopin Tegucigalpa, Honduras, of theproject Regional Action Program forCentral America, which aimed at ca-pacity building for reducing naturaldisasters.

Central America and the Caribbeanfrequently suffer severely from naturaldisasters such as earthquakes, land-slides, floods and volcanic eruptions.In 1998, category five HurricaneMitch unleashed 180 mph winds anddeposited more than six feet of rainon Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemalaand El Salvador, killing almost 9,000people and leaving more than700,000 homeless. Schools, bridges,water systems and roads were de-stroyed by one of the most destruc-tive hurricanes in history.

GIS and remote sensing can be veryhelpful tools in setting up pro-grammes for natural disaster vulnera-bility reduction. Thus ITC and partnerorganisations in the Netherlands andin Central America decided to start aproject in 1999 called “CapacityBuilding for Natural DisastersReduction, Regional Action Programfor Central America (RAPCA)”. UNESCO co-funded the project, andITC and CEPREDENAC (CoordinationCentre for Natural Disaster Preventionin Central America), its counterpart inPanama, took charge of the coordi-nation.

The main project activities involvedwere:• training a core group of regional

experts at ITC and in their owncountries

• implementing case studies inHonduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala,El Salvador and the DominicanRepublic

• organising short courses in the re-gion

• frequent visits and advice from ex-perts from ITC, the TechnicalUniversity of Delft and UtrechtUniversity.

After four years, it was time to closethe project and organise a final work-shop, bringing all country teams,CEPREDENAC, UNESCO and theDutch experts together one moretime to present and discuss the finalresults, and discuss plans and possi-bilities for follow-up actions. We de-cided to organise the workshop rightafter the Central American ForumMitch +5, organised by CEPREDENACin Tegucigalpa, Honduras, from 8 to11 December 2003. The objective ofMitch +5 was to look back at the les-sons learned in the five years sinceHurricane Mitch hit the region, toconsolidate, and to commit nationalgovernments, international aid organ-isations, companies and all others in-volved to a well-coordinated disaster

vulnerability and reduction policy.Now the RAPCA country teams alsohad the opportunity to participate inMitch +5 and present their project re-sults to a wide international audi-ence.

All five country teams presented theirfinal results at the RAPCA workshopheld on 12 and 13 December, andCees van Westen, the project supervi-sor, presented the final project prod-ucts. These consisted of six countryreports in Spanish and one CD-ROMcontaining all project-related resultsand information, including a fullcourse on using GIS and remote sens-ing for natural hazard and risk assess-ment, as well as ILWIS software. The

25ITC News 2003-4

P R O J E C T N E W S

Closing Workshop of Natural Disaster Reduction Project in Central America

Sabine Maresch [email protected]

project news

ITC/RAPCA booth at the Mitch +5 Forum(Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 8 to 11 December2003)

RAPCA group in front of Hotel Clarion, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with representatives fromCosta Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, CEPRE-DENAC, UNESCO, ITC and TU Delft

project results were officially handedover to Mr Arvelio Garcia Rivas (UNESCO Central American Office),Mr Geronimo Giusto (executive secre-tary of CEPREDENAC), Ing. Luis B.Gómez Barahona (CommissionadoNacional COPECO Honduras) and MrAntonio Arenas (director of SNET, ElSalvador).

In addition, some country teams hadmade their own posters, CD-ROMsand coloured reports. Generally, theresults were very good as far as bothquality and presentation were con-

cerned. At the end of the workshop,ideas for continuing our capacitybuilding efforts were discussed, andworked out further the next morning.

In general, it can be concluded that,although the project got off to a slowstart and had its difficulties in plan-ning and administration, the end re-sults are very good. Local projects aresuccessful; about 200 people havebeen trained; an extended trainingpackage has been developed inSpanish, which can be widely used;the RAPCA group has developed into

a strong expert network; and ideasfor continuation abound. We sin-cerely hope that the experiencesgained through this project can befurther deepened in follow-up proj-ects in the region or in similar re-gional action programmes in otherparts of the world.

26 ITC News 2003-4

P R O J E C T N E W S

For more information, please contact RAPCA ProjectSupervisor Cees van Westen ([email protected])or Project Manager Sabine Maresch ([email protected])

Opening screen of the training package on the "Application of GISand Remote Sensing for Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk Assessment".This training package will be available on Internet through the web-site of CEPREDENAC: www.cepredenac.org. Currently it is also available from the following link:ftp://ftp.itc.nl/pub/unesco-rapca/start.html

Volcanic hazard map for the case study arenear Retalhuleu - San Sebastian - VolcanSanta Maria - Santiaguitoin Guatemala. The mapsshows the modeledrunout zones of pyro-clastic flows for theSantiaguito volcano.

One of the result maps of the case study on flood and landslide hazard and risk assessment for part of the city of San Salvador, El Salvador. The maps displays the vulnerability classes of buildingsusing a qualitative weighting method.

One of the result maps of the case study on seismic hazard and riskassessment for the city of Cañas, Costa Rica, displaying the buildingvulnerability in case of an earthquake with a Modified MercalliIntensity of VII.

The auditorium in the ITC buildingin Enschede has been the setting formany a happy occasion in the pastand was so again on Friday, 19December 2003. Staff, students andguests took their seats for the grad-uation ceremony that officiallybrought the GeoinformaticsDiploma Course to a close. One ofthe speakers on this red-letter daywas Mr Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, presi-dent of the Student AssociationBoard, and in his farewell addresshe was both warm in his congratula-tions and encouraging regardingthe tasks that lay ahead.

“Rector Professor Molenaar, Dean ofStudents, distinguished professors,programme directors, members ofstaff, invited guests, graduates, col-leagues, ladies and gentlemen, I amhighly enthused and filled with greatjoy to have been invited to be part oftoday’s special ceremony for our dearcolleagues in GFM.4 who have suc-cessfully completed their academicprogrammes and will soon be leavingthis great Institute of ours and travel-ling to the four corners of the world.

“I wish to express my profound grati-tude to the organisers of this cere-mony for the invitation. On behalf ofall students currently studying here,and on my own behalf as chief ser-vant of the SAB, I wish to formallycongratulate all the graduates ontheir great achievement. You have in-deed toiled, and it is no wonder thatyou are being honoured on this dayof your graduation.

“I would sincerely like to enjoin youto express a deep sense of apprecia-tion first to God Almighty for HisProtection, Provisions and Guidancethroughout the period of your stay inEnschede in the Netherlands. Manythanks also go to the Netherlandsgovernment, your various sponsors,and especially the NUFFIC Directorate,the ITC rector and his team of well-qualified staff for their selfless serv-ices to you while studying. Words areindeed not enough to convey our ap-preciation to all who have con-tributed in no small way to makingyour stay here joyous and fulfilling.

“On this great day of your gradua-tion, I wish to spur you into actionand progress, wherever you go fromhere, by asking the following ques-tions:• Can anything good come out of

the knowledge that you have sofar acquired at ITC?

• Are you now ready to go homeand serve as true products and am-bassadors of ITC? - since the great-est joy of any parent is to see his orher offspring progressing in life.

• What good things have you learntso far from the Dutch? Their timeconsciousness? their great respectfor human beings? their capacityfor hard work? their good mana-gerial skills, especially with theirmoney?

• Are you now willing to fully iden-tify with the great ITC alumni net-work all over the globe? It will doyou good if you can join your localbranch of the ITC AlumniAssociation, since there is power inteamwork.

“By organising this ceremony in yourhonour, ITC is ushering you back intoyour respective countries of origin tobrighten the corners where you mayfind yourselves, with humility and de-termination. And we sincerely believethat you will ultimately succeed. Afterall as the great William Shakespeareonce said, ‘What is knowledge if it isnot used to solve problems that willbring relief and satisfaction to hu-mankind?’

“Your respective sponsors, as well asITC and your respective governments,have invested much in you and willalso be demanding much from you.For to whom much has been given,much is also expected.

“The new SAB Executive Committee,with its great vision of encouragingstudents to be more active in all ITCand SAB programmes, wish to sin-cerely thank our departing colleaguesin GFM.4 for their maximum cooper-ation so far. The executives also wishto thank the rector, the dean of stu-dents, and all the other staff mem-bers here at ITC for their genuineconcern about issues that relate to

27ITC News 2003-4

E D U C A T I O N

Geoinformatics Diploma Course Graduation Ceremony

Samuel Adu-GyamfiPresident Student Association Board (SAB) [email protected]

education

The Geoinformatics diploma course graduates 2003

28 ITC News 2003-4

E D U C A T I O N

student welfare, and we hope the co-operation and the level of trust so farachieved will continue.

“With your good knowledge of GISand remote sensing, I am tempted tofully agree that your contribution toyour respective economies will begreat in the field of research.Acquiring data from remote, previ-ously inaccessible areas is now aproblem of the past, and when suchdata are captured you will be able toextract good information to make in-formed decisions. Thanks go to ourhardworking lecturers for their won-derful supervision, as well as for theknowledge they have imparted to us.

On Thursday morning, 18 December,nine smartly dressed, slightly nerv-ous Indian students, their friendsand families, and their ITC supervi-sors, all gathered in the ITC audito-rium. They were taking part in thegraduation ceremony of the Masterof Science Degree Course in Geo-in-formation Science and EarthObservation and were the firstbatch to graduate from this coursejointly set up by the Indian Instituteof Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun,and ITC.

The students had spent the first 15months of the course at IIRS. The lastthree months were spent at ITC, com-pleting their thesis and, finally,proudly receiving their MSc diplomas.One more student is expected tograduate in March 2004.

This joint course was financed by theGeonedis project, a collaboration ofIIRS and ITC, with financial support

from the Dutch SAIL programme, ad-ministered by NUFFIC. In the courseof this project, the curriculum for thejoint MSc programme in geo-infor-mation was developed, Indian staffreceived training in the Netherlands,expert staff from ITC as well as IHEand Wageningen University fre-quently visited IIRS to teach andguide IIRS module coordinators, com-puter facilities were greatly improved,

and a modest start was made on jointresearch activities. One of the mostimportant results of the project wasthe start of the first joint MSc pro-gramme in July 2003 - resulting inthis first batch of graduates. All grad-uates receive an ITC MSc diploma,with reference made to the collabora-tion with IIRS.

“The good lesson about ITC that youwill never forget is ‘dedicated servicewith humility’. The working pace youhave acquired here must dominateyour working environment, and nevervice versa, since ITC where you havebeen trained has no room for lazi-ness. You have been trained in aplace where we work from dawn todusk, come rain or shine.

“Go therefore to labour and bespent, since all eyes will now be onyou. Go to invent, improve and up-grade the status quo. Go to influenceyour respective countries with yourfresh ideas from ITC. Go to changethings for the better, since there isnothing good or bad but it’s thethinking that makes it so. Go to sup-

port your regional or local ITC alumniso that together you can continue thespirit of teamwork that you havelearnt here and bring glory to your-selves and mother ITC at large.

“On behalf of the SAB and on myown behalf, I bid you safe journeyand may God Almighty, the Allah,bless and establish you in anythingthat your hand finds to do, but neverforget what ITC, the Netherlandsgovernment, your respective spon-sors, and the people of Enschedehave done for you. My warmest re-gards to your beloved.

“Zoi (dank U wel) - Thank you foryour kind attention.”

First Batch of Indian Graduates of New IIRS-ITC Master’s Programme

Sabine Maresch [email protected]

Graduates with Dr P.S. Roy of IIRS and the ITC staff involved in the Geonedis project

All staff and students are invited tosubmit nominations for the HenkScholten Award and this year thewinner was selected from a list of 15candidates. The Henk ScholtenAward Committee, which selects thewinner, is composed of a SAB repre-sentative (SAB president SamuelAdu-Gyamfi), a representative ofthe PhD students (Javier Morales), arepresentative of the Directorate(Marja Verburg), a representative ofthe ITC staff (Corné van Elzakker)and a representative of the person-nel association InTerContact (EllenSteur).

The annual award for ITC’s best teambuilder and team player was pre-sented this year to our alumni coordi-nator, lecturer and colleague Sjef vander Steen. ITC’s rector ProfessorMartien Molenaar took care of this atthe start of the end-of-year party on18 December 2003.

Many current and former ITC staffand students have personally recog-nised the true team-building capaci-ties of Sjef van der Steen. Everyoneadmires and appreciates his ever-posi-tive attitude towards, and genuine in-terest in, students and colleaguesalike. With these capacities, and hisconstant friendliness and forgiving-ness, he was obviously the best can-didate to assume the role of SintNicolaas at ITC. In this guise, Sjef has

devoted part of his free time duringthe month of December, for a num-ber of years now, to introducing ourstudent and (foreign) staff communityto some Dutch traditions and makingthem feel part of one big ITC family.

But Sinterklaas was only one reasonwhy people nominated Sjef for theaward. Another argument put for-ward was that Sjef has always been acatalyst in organising social activitiesthat have largely contributed to creat-ing a “we-feeling” in the ITC depart-ments he has belonged to over thepast few decades (Cartography, GIP

29ITC News 2003-4

E D U C A T I O N

Another important result of theGeonedis project was the develop-ment and start of a second joint MScprogramme, this time in hazard andrisk analysis. The first batch of eightIndian students for this programmeare expected to arrive at ITC in March2004 for a three-month study period.They are expected to graduate at theend of the year.

In July 2004, the Geonedis projectwill come to an end. This means the

study period and will look for otherexternal funds and fee-paying stu-dents to make the programme finan-cially sustainable.

And a few important words in con-clusion: “Congratulations to this firstbatch of graduates from India!”

external financial support for the twojoint MSc programmes will also cometo an end. But in view of the successand high quality of these pro-grammes, as well as the enormous in-terest shown by Indian students, IIRSand ITC have decided to continuetheir joint MSc programmes. For thecoming academic year, ITC has of-fered to sponsor a maximum of fiveIndian students per MSc programmeduring their stay at ITC. In return, IIRSwill cover all expenses of the IIRS

staff news

Winner of the Henk Scholten Award 2003: Sjef van der Steen

Corné van Elzakker [email protected]

Professor Martien Molenaar presents theAward to Sjef van der Steen.

The Certificate presented to Sjef van der Steen

and PGM). And recently Sjef has alsoput a great deal of effort into bring-ing the alumni into the ITC family andkeeping them in the fold.

With such a strong case, it’s no won-der Sjef has been nominated varioustimes in the past. So this year thecommittee could not do otherwisethan unanimously elect Sjef van derSteen as the worthy winner of theHenk Scholten Award 2003.

Whereas departmental retreats usu-ally deal with strategic discussions,important documents and statistics,Professor Alfred Stein of the EOSdepartment gave a whole newmeaning to this phenomenon. He wanted to leave the business partout of the retreat and lead the mem-bers of the department in a creativesession. In his words of welcome, hesaid he could get work-related com-ments through regular meetings or bymail, but during this retreat hewanted staff members to becomebetter acquainted with one anotherin a different, more social way - bycreating something together.Paintings!

That’s how the creative afternoonstarted for the AIOs, PhD studentsand staff members of the EOS de-partment. In the art centre CREA inHengelo, they began with some pre-liminary exercises to find out aboutcolour, the effect of mixing colours,and the role of the brush in creatingcertain effects. After that the realwork began. They were split into fourgroups, each one working on a re-lated theme. EOS, the Goddess ofDawn, also had a role in the paint-ings. She symbolised the “Beginning

of EOS”. Her three sons, the gods ofthree of the cardinal points, symbol-ised “Growth”, “Blooming” and“Sacrifice” (all necessary to fruit bear-ing). All paintings were done inten-tionally in an abstract style, but eachin a different colour and pattern sym-bolising these themes.

Most EOS department members hadnot painted since infancy, but the re-

sults were surprising - especially asthey were achieved in such a shorttimeframe. All four paintings are nowon display in the EOS corridor and inthe vicinity of their artists, who canlook back on a retreat to be remem-bered.

30 ITC News 2003-4

S T A F F N E W S

Criteria for the Henk Scholten Award

To qualify for the Henk Scholten Award a person should:• be an ITC staff member or student, or a former ITC staff member or student;• have stimulated the “we-feeling” or have demonstrated team-building capaci-

ties at the Institute for a considerable period of time (teams usually consist ofboth staff and students);

• have fostered and promoted social and working relationships within theInstitute as a whole for a considerable period of time;

• have done this voluntarily, over and above the usual tasks resulting from theirfunction or participation in a course programme.

Previous winners of the Henk Scholten Award are: Wilma Grootenboer, Johan Weggen, Ale Raza, Roelof Schoppers, Wan Bakx and Frans Gollenbeek.

EOS Department Creates

Mireille Meester [email protected]

Held in Addis Adeba, Ethiopia, from8 to 12 December 2003, this confer-ence was attended by more than1,000 high-level participants fromthe African water sector and the in-ternational donor and developmentcooperation community. ITC wasrepresented by Arno van Lieshout,Robert Becht and Jan Schipper. ITChad rented a booth at the ratherlarge exhibition at the main venue,and was also representing theNetherlands Water Partnership. Thebooth attracted many visitors and alarge quantity of promotional mate-rial found its way into the hands ofthe participants.

During the conference, the ministerslaunched a number of initiatives, in-cluding the African Water Facility,with a targeted funding of over $600million for medium-term projects onwater and sanitation; the AfricanWater Journal, which will provide anoutlet for disseminating knowledge;Water and Sanitation for AfricanCities (Phase II); the Rural Water

Supply and Sanitation Initiative; andthe G8 Action Plan on Water forAfrica. They also signed a joint decla-ration with the European Commissionregarding the implementation of theAfrican-European Union StrategicPartnership on Water Affairs andSanitation.

It is encouraging to see the applica-tions of earth observation in waterand natural resources managementmoving steadily up the internationalagenda. The ministerial statement on“Ensuring water wisdom” read as fol-lows:“Water policies and management de-pend for their effectiveness on accu-rate and timely information beingavailable to decision-makers. • To accelerate technical support and

capacity building measures in orderto strengthen the role of our coun-tries, experts and civil societygroups in international waterquantity and quality monitoringand risk assessment programmeswith priority attention to the pro-tection of ecosystem and humanhealth.

• To ensure that new ways of collect-ing, analysing and disseminating

information, and policies and shar-ing knowledge are promoted.These include earth observing pro-grams, a dedicated African WaterJournal, an African WaterInformation Clearinghouse, jointmonitoring programmes, the useof modern decision-supportingtechnologies and the promotion ofnetworks and other systems to linkthe scientific community with gov-ernments and civil society.”

Alumni Meet and Ethiopian AlumniAssociationWith over 325 ITC alumni, Ethiopia isa paradise for lovers of alumni meet-

31ITC News 2003-4

L I F E A F T E R I T C

life after itc

Alumni Meet during Pan-African Implementationand Partnership Conference on Water

Dr Tenalem AyenewDepartment of Geology and Geophysics, Addis Ababa University

The ITC booth at the exhibition during thePan-African Implementation and PartnershipConference on Water

Alumni and the three ITC staff members had a great time

ings, and this was an ideal opportu-nity to throw an alumni party.Arranging the venue was easy. GhionHotel happened to have the perfectfacilities for this. But how to contactall those alumni, young and old, whoare scattered the length and breadthof Ethiopia and work for so many dif-ferent organisations? Luckily, DrTenalem Aynew, Mr Mogesie Ayeleand the director of the EthiopianMapping Authority had many up-to-date addresses of ITC alumni. Withinthree days more than 45 had been

Introduction and MotivationFrom 1 to 10 October 2003, an ITCrefresher course on Modern Aspectsof Remote Sensing and Geo-infor-mation Science for Professionals inthe Earth Sciences was held inJohannesburg, South Africa. The ITCDepartment of Earth SystemAnalysis, the Netherlands, and theSchool of Geosciences, WitsUniversity, Johannesburg, SouthAfrica, organised the course jointly.The latter provided a stimulatingworking environment and ensuredthat the participants could concen-trate fully on their course.

The refresher course Modern Aspectsof Geo-information Science and EarthObservation for Professionals in theEarth Sciences was partly inspired bythe course organisers’ experience inthe mineral capacity building projectin Mozambique. Here, lack of frame-work data, metadata and digital stan-dards; geometric registrationproblems due to poorly reported geo-detic data; and poor matching of re-mote sensing interpretations withfield-established concepts appear to

be the typical hurdles to overcome. Inaddition, the objectives and courselevel were defined against the educa-tional background of the ITC curricu-lum and the current status ofdecentralised affordable informationtechnologies and infrastructures avail-able in most working environmentsaround the world today (e.g. cheaphandheld GPS units, web-access toaffordable remote sensing data sets,and widely distributed affordabledatabase management and GIS soft-ware).

As a result of these considerations,the course organisers decided to offera range of topics that would provideparticipants with up-to-date knowl-edge on modern solutions for man-aging the complete digitaldata-information-knowledge process,including the digital capture of fieldobservations, the acquisition of dataand metadata from the Internet, thegeometric registration, integrationand interpretation of newly acquireddata in conjunction with pre-existingdata/information and the combinedre-use of data and information in

state-of-the-art analytical integrationmethods. These topics were aug-mented by lectures by staff from theSchool of Geosciences, WitsUniversity, South Africa, which were

reached and they managed to getover to Ghion Hotel. The barbecuewas burning, the drinks fresh andcold, the atmosphere excellent forthis type of meeting. All the alumniand the three ITC staff members hada great time (see photographs).

Mr Tenalem (known in Ethiopia as“the father of ITC” because duringhis own six-year stay at the Institutehe introduced so many Ethiopians toliving and surviving in Enschede) iswilling to act as contact person for

the Ethiopian ITC Alumni Association.So any alumni who have not yet reg-istered, please contact the:

32 ITC News 2003-4


Refresher Course: Modern Aspects of Remote Sensing and Geo-informationScience for Professionals in the Earth Sciences

Tsehaie Woldai [email protected]

Ernst Schetselaar [email protected]

The participants of the refresher course andsome staff from the School of Geoscienceswho directly or indirectly contributed to thecourse

University of Witwatersrand (main universitybuilding), Johannesburg, South Africa

ITC Alumni Association of Ethiopia.Dr Tenalem Ayenew c/o Department of Geology andGeophysicsAddis Ababa University Addis AbabaP.O. Box. 1176 Phone: +251-1-553214 Fax: +251-1-553214

complementary in the sense of state-of-the art image processing tech-niques applicable to girdedgeophysical data and satellite imageryand a range of real-world remotesensing applications in mineral explo-ration and the environmental moni-toring of mine pollution in Africanand South American settings, backedby field expertise acquired overdecades and validation by successfuldiscovery to the point of drills pene-trating economic ore bodies.

Course Applicants and ParticipantsTwenty participants out of a total of150 applicants were selected for therefresher course: two from Botswana,three from Kenya, one fromMozambique, one from South Africa,six from Tanzania, four from Uganda,one from Zambia and two fromZimbabwe. In the selection criteria,preference was given to applicantswith an earth scientific backgroundwho have an active role in projectsdealing with the acquisition, manage-ment and analysis of geoscience datain academia, industry and govern-ment. Of the 20 participants ac-cepted for the course:• three were females• 18 were ITC alumni, the rest com-

ing from organisations having linkswith ITC

• 14 were from national geologicalsurvey organisations actively in-volved in the planning of geologi-cal, geophysical and mineralcapacity surveys

• three were private consultants,with project activities ranging fromenvironmental geology to mineraland groundwater exploration

• three were from universities in theregion.

It is important to note that applica-tions to attend the course were alsoreceived from countries as far away asBangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, CostaRica, Cuba, Germany, India, ItalyJapan, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, theUSA and Vietnam, including sevenfrom UN offices in Africa.

Overview of the CourseThe course provided a two-week pro-gramme on new approaches in thedevelopment and building of geo-science databases and information in-frastructures for earth scientists. Thecourse integrated aspects of remotesensing and ground-based data ac-quisition, data integration, informa-tion extraction and analytical GISapproaches to mapping and model-ling earth systems. It provided partici-pants with the practical skills andunderlying theoretical aspects thatallow them to streamline the informa-tion for individual projects as well asto obtain valuable insights on how tomodernise geospatial data infrastruc-ture in their home organisations. Thefocus was on geoscience databasesthat support the work of geologicalsurvey organisations in a modern set-ting.

The refresher course objectives wereachieved through a series of formallectures supported by practical exer-cises and case histories in the inter-pretation and analysis of imagery, theapplication of various remotelysensed data in earth-science-relatedsurveying and mapping, digital imageprocessing, basic data models anddatabase schemas for managing ex-isting data sources and new data ac-quisition, digital field data capturetechniques, including the basics of

handheld GPS and database manage-ment aspects, relative and absolutegeometric registration of heteroge-neous data sets, integrated dataanalysis using GIS and predictivemodelling (data-driven, knowledge-driven and model-driven).

Institutional issues were discussed inthe context of implementing novelprocessing and analysis chains.Increased relevance to the course wasachieved by means of fieldwork inthe “Cradle of Humankind”, a worldheritage site about 40 km northwestof Johannesburg. Staff from WitsUniversity provided a convincing casefor combining field knowledge withthe interpretation of remote sensingdata to analyse the relationships be-tween karst and caves with mammalbone breccias (including hominid re-mains) controlled by acid mineralisedfluids percolating along shear zonescross-cutting stromatolitic Archeandolomites. The course and the field-work exercise were considered to bean excellent vehicle to achieve thegoals of the refresher course.

The overall impression by the teach-ing staff is that the course met with avery favourable response from theparticipants. All the participants wereexceedingly enthusiastic and moti-vated throughout the course. Asmost of the course participants held

33ITC News 2003-4


Lectures, interpretation/computer exercises and group discussions during the refresher course

senior or high-level positions in theirrespective organisations, they were ina position to make very relevant con-tributions. No doubt the coursehelped to strengthen the existing ITCnetwork.

The course participants were awardedthe joint certificate of attendancefrom ITC and the School ofGeosciences, Wits University,Johannesburg, South Africa.

Floods, volcanic eruptions, earth-quakes and landslides are increas-ingly causing loss of life and seriousdamage to settlements, infrastruc-ture and economic activity inIndonesia. These events form a seri-ous obstacle to economic develop-ment and lay a heavy claim on thefinancial resources of the alreadyfragile economy. From 8 to 19 December 2003, a re-fresher course was organised at theFaculty of Geography, Gadjah MadahUniversity, Research Centre forDisasters in Yogyakarta, entitled“Geo-Information for NaturalHazards and Disaster Management in

Indonesia”. The course was jointly or-ganised and executed by staff of ITC,the Department of Earth SystemsAnalysis and Water Resources, andthe Faculty of Geography, GadjahMadah University (UGM). In addition,a number of Indonesian experts wereinvited to highlight natural hazardsand disaster management from anIndonesian perspective.

The course was attended by ITCalumni in the fields of applied geo-morphology, engineering geology,geological surveys and urban surveys;staff from key local government andplanning institutions; and interested

staff and students from UGM; allfrom Indonesia. Most of the invitedparticipants, who came from a widerange of disciplines, illustrating themultidisciplinary nature of disastermanagement, have obtained seniorpositions since their graduation fromITC. The course was a true ITC courseas nearly all the Indonesian lecturingstaff were ITC alumni as well.Furthermore, recent ITC graduateswere invited to present the results oftheir thesis work as case studies anddemonstrations.

The Faculty of Geography, togetherwith the Research Centre for NaturalDisasters, of the UGM is a nationaleducation institute in the field of nat-ural hazards and disaster manage-ment, and as such a logical place toconduct the two-week intensivetraining programme. The course wasofficially opened by the dean of theFaculty and was broadcast on televi-sion during the evening news. Radiointerviews were also conducted,stressing the importance of thecourse objectives and their relevanceto society - for example, strengthen-

On request of the participants andthe staff of the School ofGeosciences, web-based support hasnow been implemented via theBlackboard environment available atITC. All participants and staff involved

can access this medium freely andcan use the discussion forum to shareideas and provide/receive feedbackon topics related to the refreshercourse.

34 ITC News 2003-4


Fieldwork site: the “Cradle of Humankind”

Refresher Course: Geo-Information for Natural Hazards and DisasterManagement in Indonesia

Robert Voskuil [email protected]

Opening ceremony of the refresher course Banner on the campus of Gadjah MadaUniversity

ing the capacity of representatives ofregional and local governmental andnon-governmental organisations to:• apply geo-information in natural

hazards and disaster management,and

• contribute to the capacity of, andprovide advice to, national, re-gional and local governmental andnon-governmental organisations

in order to achieve, by using geoin-formatics in the disaster managementprocess, sustainable preparednessand thus minimise environmentaldegradation and disaster-generatedsufferings.

The course presented the participantswith relevant new developments ingeoinformatics, particularly in thefields of GIS and remote sensing, forintegrated natural hazards and disas-ter management. In addition to thesenew developments, attention wasalso given to generic concepts andmethodologies that can be applied tohazard, vulnerability and risk assess-ment. The participating Indonesian

experts focused on the predominantnatural hazards and vulnerability andrisk assessment in an Indonesian con-text. During the course, a variety ofactivities were conducted: • Lectures by ITC staff and experts

from the UGM and otherIndonesian institutions on hazardand disaster management, the lat-est sensors, and software develop-ments for hazard assessment andmonitoring.

• Demonstrations of:- mobile GIS-GPS during a field

excursion- various software packages for

(dynamic) terrain modelling ofhazardous areas.

• “Hands-on” computer practicals onvarious examples of using GIS andremote sensing for hazard, vulnera-bility and risk analysis.

• Group discussions on the expecta-tions regarding the refreshercourse, the use of geoinformaticsin the respective participants’ or-ganisations, the selection of rele-vant spatial information for

35ITC News 2003-4


Participants during a class on 3D image inter-pretation with anaglyph glasses

Demonstration of mobile GIS for volcanichazard mapping of the Merapi Volcano

different natural hazards and itsuse in the disaster managementprocess.

• Field excursion to hazard-affectedareas of the Merapi Volcano (bothpyroclastic and lahar flows) andpeople (infrastructure at risk, aswell as mitigation measures thathave been conducted). With regardto early warning and prevention,site visits were made to relevantgovernmental organisations,demonstrating the use of an oper-ational telemetric system for theMerapi Volcano to forecast the oc-currence of lahars, and to a vol-canic observatory station to see theseismographic equipment and dis-cuss the station’s role in monitoringand subsequently warning the localpopulation.

To enable the participants to reviewthe course material afterwards, a CDwas provided giving copies of all lec-ture presentations, instructions, andthe GIS and remote sensing dataused in the practicals by both ITCstaff and contributing Indonesian ex-perts. Furthermore, additional litera-ture was given to the participants togive them greater in-depth knowl-edge of several topics discussed.

The course was perceived as well or-ganised, and the participants agreedthat the refresher course objectiveshad been achieved. The lectures,demonstrations and practicals wereevaluated positively. Given the discus-sion on expectations and the remarksmade by the participants at the startof the course, the evaluation showedthat, although there was a wide vari-ety of expectations, these could beincorporated in the course and theparticipants were generally satisfiedwith what they had learned duringthese two weeks.

For further information, please con-tact Robert Voskuil ([email protected]).

The course participants

In most countries large and valuabledata sets are used in only a few in-stitutions. Others who are unawareof the existence of the data, or wholack access or data sharing mecha-nisms, duplicate the efforts to createthe data sets. In addition, spatialdata acquisition is still very expen-sive.This calls for a spatial data infrastruc-ture to be established as an interna-tional response to the challenges oforganising, using and sharing geo-graphical information. Initiatives toimplement spatial data infrastructures(SDI) are thus emerging at the na-tional and regional levels in industri-alised as well as developing countries,which will complete the global SDI.

In 2001 Ethiopia took the initiative toestablish NSDI Ethiopia, and in May2003 the NSDI steering committeewas formed. The Ethiopian MappingAgency is taking the lead, with part-ner organisations as members of thecommittee. The EnvironmentalSupport Project, under the auspicesof the Ministry of Water Resourcesand in cooperation with partner insti-tutions, has not only created EN-RAEMED, a software package forcapturing metadata, but is also re-sponsible for organising the genera-tion of metadata. Furthermore, aclearinghouse has been established.Also taking the initiative, Kenya con-ducted the Kenya NSDI Workshop in2001, and the process of establishingKenyan standards for geospatial datais underway. Other countries in thesub-region are taking similar meas-ures.

The refresher course Geospatial DataInfrastructure East Africa (GDIEA) wasconducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,from 19 October to 1 November,hosted by the United NationsEconomic Commission for Africa

(UNECA). The course was jointly or-ganised by ITC and UNECA, and theparticipants were ITC alumni fromEthiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda andTanzania.

The course covered issues related togeo-information and data sharing inEast Africa, such as legal, institutionaland economic aspects of GDI; discov-ering spatial data (metadata creationand clearinghouses); integrated spa-tial data sharing (OpenGIS and inter-operability); and GDI developmentstrategies and future follow-upschemes. The discussion sessions alsogave the participants the opportunityto present the current status ofgeospatial data infrastructure in theirown countries. All the participantswere actively involved in the discus-sions and presentations throughoutthe course and exchanged relevantexperiences and viewpoints. Thepractical sessions also included tech-nical issues such as generating andmaintaining metadata and exploringclearinghouse mechanisms.

The group appreciated the quality ofthe GDI lectures and applauded ITCfor its wisdom in organising such acourse at a crucial time when manycountries in the sub-region are strug-

36 ITC News 2003-4


Refresher Course: Geospatial Data Infrastructure East Africa

Aster Denekew Yilma [email protected]

The course participants and ITC staff

Computer exercises during the refreshercourse

Dear Mr de Smeth and Mr Frank,

How are you? I hope everything isfine and your day as usual is full ofhappiness. Sorry for not contactingyou for such a long time, but my lifeand career have been full of uncer-tainty. But now everything seems alittle bit clearer and I can see my fu-ture, and although it’s still faint, I re-ally thank God for everything that hashappened in my life.

As soon as I arrived in Indonesia, Itried to get a new job in mining orgeothermal exploration. But I also re-turned to ITB, my university, just tosay “thank you” for my lectures there.Beyond my expectations, the head ofthe Geology Department and thedean of Earth Science and MineralTechnology asked me to join ITB andbecome part of their research staffand a junior lecturer. At the sametime, Unocal, one of the geothermalcompanies in Indonesia, approved myapplication for a position as geolo-gist. After a long discussion withLucas, we finally came to the decisionthat it would be better if I worked forITB. This was because there were bet-ter opportunities here for me to de-velop my knowledge than in a privatecompany.

After coming to an agreement withITB, I was given the task of develop-ing GIS for regional geology studiesby Exspan Oil Co. This project is a col-laboration project between ITB andExspan. We use MapInfo to generatelayer maps and a database. Apartfrom that, I am also responsible fordeveloping the geothermal directionat ITB. I have assisted in some geot-hermal feasibility studies for thePertamina Geothermal Division. I amalso involved in arranging a practicalmodule on the geology and geo-chemistry of a geothermal field forthe ITB Volcanology and GeothermalCourse. So that’s all about my job.

More good news: on 28 September2003, Lucas and I became engaged.

We plan to get married in March2004. He is now in Japan, so I amwaiting for the exact date when hecan come over for the wedding. I’msending you some pictures of a tradi-tional Javanese engagement cere-mony. Hope you still recognise me.

I think that’s all from me now, but Ihope to hear something from you atITC.

RegardsNinik [email protected]

37ITC News 2003-4


gling to implement GDI. It is alsoworthwhile recording that the coursehas transformed the participants intoa respectable pool of resource per-sons and consultants to serve thesub-region. The effects of the re-fresher course are likely to contributegreatly to the establishment of GDIwithin the sub-region, as well as fos-ter good working relationshipsamong the participating members.

The refresher course also proved agood meeting ground for ITC alumnidating back decades. Social events in

the form of a trip out of the city anda dinner plus cultural show wereamong the enjoyable highlights.

Many ITC memories were rekindled,and it was interesting to see just howclose the ITC family really is!

Life after ITC

Pictures of a traditional Javanese engagement ceremony

Walter de Vries presenting the certificate ofattendance to Ms Hind Mahmoud and . . . . . . . . . . . to Ms Aster Denekew Yilma

I am Shyam from Nepal and fol-lowed the ITC MSc course on socio-economic information for naturalresource management (SIG.2) from1998 to 2000. There’s no doubt thatITC provided the pragmatic trainingthat has put me in the position I amtoday.

At ITC I acquired not only a “degree”but also “desire”. There’s somethingabout ITC that always attracts me. Ihave been back twice since my MSccourse, just to see the familiar faces,my torture chamber (that’s what weused to call the MSc room), restau-rant, etc., and I can never get enoughof it. What passion!

I remember one particular story. I wasreturning to China from Ghana inApril 2003 and I had ten hours intransit at Schiphol airport. I was near

to ITC, at least compared with whereI am now, and desperate to get there.Unfortunately I did not have a visa,but I thought, well, no harm in trying.I went to the police officer (immigra-tion officer) and asked whether Icould go out of the airport. Theyflatly said, “No, without a visa it’s im-possible.”

But I didn’t give up. Again I showedup. This time at least, they askedwhere I wanted to go. I said,“Enschede.” This answer amazedthem. Probably they were expecting“Amsterdam”, as hardly any touristwould go to Enschede if they hadonly a few hours. They looked at mefor a while and probably believedwhat I said. I also explained why I’dlike to go there.

Finally, I got permission provided Icame back on time; if not, I would beblacklisted. They told me that I wasprobably the first Nepalese to enterwithout a visa. Now, I had to rush. Innext to no time, I was on the train toEnschede - not very difficult as I’m

quite familiar with the airport. I hadonly eight hours left. I spent aboutfour and a half hours on the train,two hours at ITC, and about an hourlooking around, and that includedDISH. I gave a big sigh as I enteredthe ITC building and was excited tosee once again where I’d spent some20 months.

Before I left ITC, Dr Mike and DrLucas said they would not be sur-prised if I turned up again unexpect-edly. True. You’ll never know whenmy passion will make me pop in outof the blue.

Another surprise, ITC knows I’m inChina. They invited me to join thealumni meeting in Beijing on 25November 2003 during the ceremonycelebrating 25 years of cooperationbetween China and ITC. I was curiousto see ITC faces again and elated atmeeting a few Chinese colleagueswho were at ITC when I was there.I’ve come to the conclusion that ITCgives a solid foundation for a profes-sional career, so hardly anyone for-gets it.

38 ITC News 2003-4


Passionate about ITC

Shyam K. Paudel [email protected]

INBAR, P.R. China

letter to the editorDear Editor,

I am proud to be an alumnus of ITC. I followed the postgraduate diploma course in photogrammetry (P1 Course in1981/1982). After that I spent about 16 years in the photogrammetric field in different branches of the SurveyDepartment of Nepal.

I migrated to New Zealand in 1997 and since then I have been involved in various types of survey work, becoming ac-quainted with the New Zealand system. I wish to take my experience back to Nepal.

I must thank the ITC staff for enriching my knowledge in the field of photogrammetry. In particular your publication ishelping to keep me up to date regarding developments in photogrammetry. I am very grateful to you for sending me acopy of your publication (ITC News).

As I have moved to a new house, please make a note of my new address. I’d like you to post it to my new address.

My best regards to all staff and best wishes to all students of the Institute.

Yours sincerely,

Kamal Prasad Shrestha, [email protected]

ARGENTINAAsociación Cultural Argentino-Neerlandesa de Ex-Becarios (ACANEB)c/o Royal Netherlands EmbassyAvda. de Mayo 701, Piso 191084 Buenos AiresPresident: Ing. Pablo Bereciartua

Phone/fax: +54.11.4345.4399E-mail: [email protected]

Website: http://www.acaneb.org.ar

BANGLADESHNetherlands Alumni Association ofBangladeshMr Qazi H. Kabir, Secretary General42/7 Block F, Babar RoadMohammadpur, Dhaka 1207

Phone: +880.2.323855

BULGARIABulgarian-Dutch Alumni AssociationP.O. Box 1196, Sofia – 1000President: Dr Tihomir B. Mustakov

Phone: +359.2.769230Fax: +359.2.518601

BURKINA FASONetherlands Alumni Associations of Burkina FasoA.D.Z.A.01 BP 1255, Ouagadougou 01President: Kiemtoré Moustapha

Phone: +226.31.81.56

CHILECorporación Cultural Chileno-Holandesa:José Miguel Infante 146Providencia, Santiago de ChileChairman: Mr. Enrique Román.

Phone: +56.2.2641700Fax: +56-2-2642763

E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.ccchh.cl

EGYPTNetherlands Alumni Association in Egypt54, Sheikh Ahmed El Sawy StreetMakram Ebeid, Nasr City

Contact: Dr. Wadid Fawzy Erian, Board of Directors Secretary

Phone: +20.2.2746513Fax: +20.2.746327

E-mail: [email protected]

ETHIOPIAITC Alumni Association of Etiopia Attn: Dr Tenalem Ayenew C/o Department of Geology and Geophysics Addis Ababa University P.O. Box. 1176 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Phone: +251-1-553214 Fax: +251-1-553214

GHANAGhana Netherlands Alumni Association(GNAA)P.O. Box 8148, Accra-NorthInterim President: Mr S.A. Amoah

Phone: +233.21.773664Fax: +233.21.773655

INDIAITC Alumni Association of IndiaCountry Coordinator: Prof.dr. MahavirC/o School of Planning and Architecture4-B, I. P. Estate, New Delhi 110002, India

Email: [email protected]

INDIANetherlands Alumni Association of IndiaProf. C.P. TewariK-10/19 Phoase II, D.L.F. CityGurgaon - 122002, Haryana

Phone: +91-11-06192217 /+91-11-06198615 (office)+91-124-388657 (res)

Fax: +91-11-6196571

INDONESIAIKANED Netherlands Alumni Associationc/o ErasmushuisJalan H.R. Rasuna Said-Kavel S 3Kuniga, Jakarta 12950Chairman: Mr Adnan GantoExecutive Chairman: Mr Chandra Soemitro

E-mail: [email protected]: +62.21.5241079

Fax: +62.21.5700734

KOREAKorea Netherlands Alumni Association(KNAA)College of Education, Seoul NationalUniversitySan 56-2, Shinrim-dong, Kwanak-guSeoulPresident: Prof. SON Bong Ho

E-mail: [email protected]: +82.2.880.7703

Fax: +82.2.871.0635

MALAYSIAc/o Royal Netherlands Embassy7th Floor, the AmpWalk (South Block)218 Jalan Ampang50450 Kuala Lumpur

Phone: +60.3.26987254Fax: +60.3.26948268

President: Ir Dato’ Hj. Keizrul bin AbdullahSecretary: Mr Tan Teow Soon


MALAWINetherlands Alumni Association ofMalawi (NAAM)P.O. Box 349, BlantyreChairman: S.B. Lumwira

Phone: +265.621619Fax: +265.634034

MEXICOAsociación Mexicano-Holandesa deExalumnos de Instituciones Academicas,A.C.Embajada del Reino de los Paises BajosEdificio CalakmulAvenida Vasco de Quiroga 3000 - 7 pisoColnia Santa Fe, 01210 México D.F.President: Sr. Héctor Ramirez Reyes

E-mail: [email protected]: NL Embassy:

[email protected]: +52.5.2589921 (ext. 221)

Fax: +52.5.2588138

NEPALNetherlands Alumni Association of NepalP.O. Box 8975 EPC 1224Kathmandu, Nepal

E-mail: [email protected] add: www.naan.org.np

NEPALITC Alumni Association of NepalC/o GPO Box 9046Kathmandu

Phone: +977.1.251625 / 482903Fax: +977.482957

E-mail: [email protected]@wlink.com.np

NIGERIANetherlands Alumni Association in NigeriaNo 23 Opebi RoadP.O. Box 55279Ikeja, Lagos, NigeriaPhone/fax: +234.1.4974684

PAKISTANITC Alumni Association of PakistanCountry Coordinator: Mr. Falak NawazC/o National Centre of Excellence in GeologyUniversity of Peshawar12520 Peshawar, Pakistan

Phone: +92-91-9216427 & 9216429Fax: +92-91-9218183

Email: [email protected]

PAKISTANNetherlands Alumni Association of Pakistan53, Plaza, Fazalul Haq RoadAdjacent PIA Building, Blue AreaIslamabadPresident: Mr. Syed Waqua Haider,

Phone: +92.51.214336/214337

39ITC News 2003-4


Alumni associations

Listing of all Netherlands and ITC alumni associations

The mission of the Netherlands Alumni Associations (NAAs) and the ITC alumni associ-ations is to enable people all over the world who have studied in the Netherlands orat ITC in particular to build personal networks and share knowledge, ideas and experi-

ence with one another and their Dutch counterparts. Alumni who would like to set upsimilar associations in their own country can contact ITC.

new

new

new

PERUAsociación de Ex-BecariosCalle La Higuera 229Santa Felicia la Molina, Lima 12President: Herminio Porras

E-mail: [email protected]@terra.com.pe

PHILIPPINESNetherlands Fellowship Foundation ofthe Philippines inc. (NFFPI)Land Geology Division Mines and Geoscience BureauNorth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon CityPresident: Dr Ricarte Jabelosa

Fax: +63.2.9288544

SINGAPORENetherlands Alumni Association of Singapore (NAAS)C/o Plant Health Centre SFESLorong chencharuSingapore 769194Vice President: Mr Soon See Cheong

Fax: +65.7382979

Third 3rd European GeosyntheticsConference

1-Mar-04 - 3-Mar-04Germany, Munich

http://www.gb.bv.tum.de/eurogeo3/[email protected]

Geovisualisation

13-Mar-04 - 18-Mar-04Greece, Kolymbari, Crete

http://www.esf.org/esf_euresco_conference.php?language=0&domain=2&conference=179&[email protected] attendance: Menno-Jan Kraak

ESA-EUSC 2004 Conference

17-Mar-04 - 19-Mar-04Spain, Madrid

http://earth.esa.int/rtd/Events/ESA-EUSC_2004/index.html

International Conference on Innova-tive Techniques in Soil Resources in-ventories`

22-Mar-04 - 26-Mar-04Thailand, Cha-Am

http://www.ldd.go.th/web_ssd/[email protected] attendance: Rob Hennemann

SRI LANKANetherlands Alumni Association of Lanka(NAAL)95, Prince Street, Colombo 11President: S.P.C. Kumarasinghe

Phone: +94.1.695590Fax: +94.1.677877


THAILANDNetherlands Alumni Association of Thailand (NAAT)Chief, Foreign Relations Sub-DivisionThai Industrial Standards InstituteRama 6 RoadBangkok 10400President: Ms Uraiwan Chandryu

Phone: +66.2.2464085/2461174Fax: +66.2.2487987

Mobile Mapping Technology 2003(postponed from Aug 2003)

29-Mar-04 - 31-Mar-04China, Kunming

http://www.geoict.net/MMT2003/[email protected]

International Conference on SpatialPoint Process Modelling and itsApplications (SPPA)

04-Apr-04 – - 08-Apr-04Spain, Castellón

http://www.sppa.uji.es/[email protected] attendance: Alfred Stein

International Symposium on SpatialData Quality

15-Apr-04 - 17-Apr-04Austria, Vienna

http://www.geoinfo.tuwien.ac.at/events/ISSDQ04/[email protected]

European Geosciences Union 1stGeneral Assembly

25-Apr-04 - 30-Apr-04France, Nice

http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/ga/egu04/[email protected]

AGILE 2004

29-Apr-04 - 1-May-04Greece, Heraklion

http://[email protected]

EurEnGeo 2004

4-May-04 - 6-May-04Belgium, Liege

http://www.ulg.ac.be/[email protected] attendance: Robert Hack

GISDECO 2004

10-May-04 – - 12-May-04Malaysia, Johor

http://www.utm.my/[email protected] attendance: Luc Boerboom, RichardSliuzas, ITC booth

GEOMATICA 2004

10-May-04 - 14-May-04Cuba, Havana


1-Jul-04 - 2-Jul-04

UGANDAITC Alumni Association of UgandaDept. of Forest Products EngineeringFac. of Forestry and Nature ConservationMakerere UniversityP.O. Box 7062, Kampala

Phone: +256.41.543647/543648Fax: +256.41.533574

VIETNAMVietnam-Netherlands Alumni Club(VNAC)105A Quan Thanh StreetHanoiChairman: Prof. Pham Huy Dung

Phone: +84.4.08044057Fax: +84.4.8432756


40 ITC News 2003-4

A L U M N I A S S O C I A T I O N

CONFERENCE CALENDAR

CALENDAR CALENDAR CALENDAR CALENDAR CALENDAR CALENDAR CALENDAR CALENDAR CALENDAR CALENDAR CALENDAR

Alumni associations

C A L E N D A R

GeoSpatial World 2004

12-May-04 - 14-May-04United States, Miami

http://www.geospatialworld.com/housing/[email protected]

FIG Working Week 2004

22-May-04 - 27-May-04Greece, Athens

http://www.fig2004.gr/[email protected]

ASPRS 2004 Annual Conference

23-May-04 - 28-May-04United States, Denver

http://www.asprs.org/denver2004/index.html

Workshop on Basic Space Science

24-May-04 - 28-May-04China, Beijing

http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/SAP/act2003/china/[email protected]

24th EARSeL Symposium

25-May- 04 - 27-May-04Croata, Dubrovnik

http://www.earsel.org/earsel_events/[email protected] attendance: Freek van der Meer

Workshop of the EARSeL SpecialInterest Group

28-May-04 - 29-May-04Croatia, Dubrovnik

http://www.zfl.uni-bonn.de/earsel/[email protected]

Geoinformatics 2004

7-Jun-04 - 9-Jun-04Sweden, Gävle

http://www.hig.se/geoinformatics/[email protected]

EARMA Annual Conference

24-Jun-04 - 26-Jun-04Romania, Bucharest

http://www.earma2004,roinfo@earma2004,ro

GI-Days 2004

1-Jul-04 - 2-Jul-04Germany, Muenster


20th ISPRS Congress #20

12-Jul-04 - 23-Jul-04Turkey, Istanbul

http://[email protected] attendance: t.b.d., ITC Booth

PPGIS

18-Jul-04 - 20-Jul-04United States, Madison

http://www.urisa.org/[email protected]

35th COSPAR Scientific Assembly

18-Jul-04 - 25-Jul-04France, Paris

http://www.cospar2004.org/[email protected]

ESRI International User Conference

9-Aug-04 - 13-Aug-04United States, San Diego

http://www.esri.com/events/uc/[email protected] attendance: Lyande Eelderink, MarkNoort, ITC Booth

30th Congress of the InternationalGeographical Union

15-Aug-04 - 20-Aug-04United Kingdom, Glasgow

http://www.meetingmakers.co.uk/igc-uk2004/[email protected]

ITALIA 2004, 32nd InternationalGeological Congress # 32

20-Aug-04 - 28-Aug-04Italy, Florence

http://www.32igc.orgITC attendance: Sabine Maresch, PhilWesterhof, ITC Booth

SDH 2004

23-Aug-04 - 25-Aug-04United Kingdom, Leicester

http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/sdh2004/

Remote Sensing and PhotogrammetrySociety Annual Conference

7-Sept-04 - 10-Sept-04United Kingdom, Aberdeen

http://www.rspsoc.org/[email protected]

IGARSS 2004

20-Sept-04 - 24-Sept-04United States, Anchorage

http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/grss/igarss.html

14th International Symposium onRemote Sensing and Development

27-Sept-04 - 30-Sept-04Syria, Damascus

http://www.gors-syr.org

Conference on Laser ScannerApplication for Landscape Assessment

3-Oct-04 - 6-Oct-04Germany, Freiburg

http://www.natscan.de/conference/[email protected]

FIG Regional Conference for Asia andthe Pacific

3-Oct-04 - 7-Oct-04Indonesia, Jakarta

http://www.fig.net/figtree/jakarta/[email protected]

The 5th AARSE Conference

18-Oct-04 - 21-Oct-04Kenya, [email protected]

5th International Symposium onMining Science and Technology

20-Oct-04 - 22-Oct-04China, Xuzhou

http://ismst.cumt.edu.cn/[email protected]

URISA 2004

6-Nov-04 - 10-Nov-04United States, Reno

http://www.urisa.org

ISWC 2004

7-Nov-04 - 11-Nov-04Japan, Hiroshima

http://iswc2004.semanticweb.org

XI 11th Latinamerican RemoteSensing and Spatial InformationSystem Symposium

15-Nov-04 - 19-Nov-04Chile, Santiago

http://www.cprsig.cl/

ACRS 2004

22-Nov-04 - 26-Nov-04Thailand, Chiang Mai

http://www.aars-acrs.org/invitation.htm

CIPA International Symposium

26-Sept-05 - 30-Sept-05Italy, Turinorino


ITC News 2003-4 41

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