GSDI 15 to award GEO travel grants to developing country participants

The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association is pleased to announce that the Intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO, http://www.earthobservations.org/) is generously providing financial support in the form of travel grants to SDI implementers from developing countries to participate in the 15th GSDI World Conference (GSDI 15), in Taipei, 29 November to 2 December 2016.

GSDI 15 (http://gsdi15.org.tw/) is a premier event for spatial data infrastructure (SDI) specialists, bringing together hundreds of managers, technicians, researchers, and vendors from around the world.

A core objective of GEO is to promote enduring partnerships across the Earth observation (EO) community, especially to nurture and further the global common EO infrastructure. The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) links Earth observation resources world-wide across multiple Societal Benefit Areas - and these resources are made available for better informed decision-making.

The GEO travel grants have been awarded to colleagues who are presenting the following work as first authors:

• Heri Sutanta, Trias Aditya: State of SDI Readiness in Indonesian Local Government [Indonesia]
• Viktor Putrenko: Risk Modeling of Accidents in the Power System of Ukraine [Ukraine]
• Collins Mwange, Prof. Galcano C. Mulaku , Dr. Ing. David N. Siriba: Technology Trends for Spatial Data Infrastructure in Africa [Kenya]
• Asmat Ali, Munir Ahmad, The Theory versus the Reality of Alignment between Egov and and SDI [Pakistan]
• Jarlou Terana Valenzuela, Rey Sidney Carredo , Christine Zoilo Coca, Chito Lim Patiño, Jonnifier Rafal Sinogaya: Web and Mobile-Based Data Collection Using VGI for Building Feature Mapping/Attribution in the Flood-prone Zones of Western Visayas, Philippines [Philippines]

Each travel grant awardee is receiving up to US$2000 to defray expenses associated with travel to GSDI 15. This is second time that GEO has collaborated with the GSDI Association to strengthen the participation of colleagues from developing countries at GSDI World Conferences. The travel grants will help to ensure that GSDI 15 represents the diversity of challenges and innovation amongst SDI initiatives around the world.

More information about speaking at, sponsoring, or attending the conference can be found at the GSDI 15 website at http://gsdi15.org.tw/ or contact: gsdi-15-info@gsdi.org or gsdi15info@gmail.com.