2015 Small Grants Awards
Since its launch in 2003, the GSDI Association's Small Grants Program has supported more than 105 projects around the world. Support in 2015 for the program comes from a partnership between the GSDI Association, the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee, Canada’s national GeoConnections initiative lead by Natural Resources Canada, and the GISCorps of URISA.
Three types of awards are available: a cash award of up to US$ 2500 per project; SDI/GIS consulting services up to the value of US$ 2500; or a combination of cash award and SDI/GIS consulting services. The consulting services are offered through the GISCorps.
In 2015, GSDI secured additional funding from the GeoConnections Program lead by Natural Resources Canada for four more GSDI Small Grant projects which were selected from highly rated 2014 proposals, and come from Ecuador, Jamaica, Indonesia, and South Africa.
Title: GeoCommunity Galapagos: Creating a Community-Based SDI for the Galapagos Islands
Institution: GeoCentro - Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Ecuador
Project summary: This project supports the development of a community-based SDI Galapagos (GeoCommunity Galapagos) that will allows local authorities and communities in the Galapagos Islands to take informed actions in meeting the challenges of sustaining a vulnerable and unique island ecosystem in the 21st century. Project deliverables include:
• A conceptual framework for the community-based SDI Galapagos including a GeoCommunication framework focusing on citizen participation in spatial planning
• A system architecture and design of the SDI Galapagos.
• Implementation of flagship projects that are simple and easy-to-use GIS-applications based on shared spatial data and information.
• Publications in scientific media/conferences and local media and an online tutorial for designing and implementation community-based SDIs.
Title: Survey of SDI Readiness in Indonesian Local Government
Institution: Research Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructure Development (PPIDS), Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Project summary: This project will complete a comprehensive survey of SDI readiness at the local government level. The survey will obtain evidence-based information required to devise appropriate strategies for SDI development. The project deliverables include:
• Web-based self-assessment tools for SDI Readiness.
• Interactive maps of Indonesian Local Government's SDI Readiness. The map will also present an interactive analysis of SDI components and roles.
• A workshop for validation and analysis as well as launching the web-based tools and maps.
Title: Upgrading in the National Metadata Portal
Institution: National Spatial Data Management Division, Ministry of Water, Land, Environment, Climate Change, Jamaica
Project summary: This project supports upgrading the current metadata portal that is used by Land Information Council of Jamaica (LICJ) member organizations. The portal will enable discovery and use of geospatial resources including datasets, rasters, and Web services and will support a standards-based clearinghouse and metadata discovery applications. The GSDI Small Grant supports this deliverables:
• Creation and publication of user guide for the platform.
• Creation and publishing of metadata records on the upgraded platform.
Title: Developing a Framework for South African SDI Education and Training
Institution: Committee for Spatial Information (South Africa), Sub-Committee on Education and Training
Project summary: The project will initiate a discussion on GIS market sector demand in Southern Africa with academics, researchers, and industry representatives. In addition, a survey of GIS user needs will be conducted in order to better inform education and training curricula. These are the planned deliverables for the project:
• A workshop to prepare a framework for South African SDI education and training, at the University of Pretoria.
• A survey of tertiary education sector curricula (SDI contact) in South Africa.
• A database of currently available SDI education and training material that will be published on a central web page.
Once completed, summaries and final reports of these projects will be posted to the GSDI Website by April 2016. Watch for subsequent news about these projects at that time.