Activities of GIS Application Center at AIT and It's Role in Asia-Pacific Region
4.4. Resource Person:
A network of RS/GIS experts involved indifferent tasks at different international organization in the region (UNEP/EAP-AP, ICRISAT, IRRI, MEKONG, NRCT, SACEP, SPREP, etc). is being maintained and they are being contacted in different occasions and an exchange of dialogue is being taking place for their possible support and cooperation. Resource persons are drawn from these organizations in time to time to conduct different specific training programs in addition to AIT's existing pool of experts (faculty, staff, Ph.D. students, etc. ) in RS/GIS.
Resource persons are also drawn from the developed counties like Japan, USA, Canda, Australia, etc. whenever the need arises.
4.5 Training Course (as of 1996):
The training courses conducted from the Center are mainly on: PC Based GIS, Satellite, Image Processing (Visula & Infrared), Aerial Photo and Satellite Image Interpretation, Global Positioning System (GPS), Field Visit for Ground Truthing etc.
4.6 RS/GIS Software (as of 1996):
RS/GIS software (both education and commercial) being training and research activities from the Center are PC based: GIST, IDRIST, ARC/INFO, GEOCUBE, ERDAS, IDL-INVI, ER-MAPPER, ILWIS, MAPINFO, ArcView etc., Windows and UNIX based (to be used): ER-MAPPER, PCI-EASIPACE, ERCDAS IMAGINE, ARC/INFO, IDL-ENVL, ArcView, etc.
5.Outline of Training course:
The training courses are concentrated as follows. The content varies according to the level of the training course.
GIS : Concept of GIS, Data Input, Spatial Data, Attribute Data, Raster and Vector way of Data Representation, Spatial Data Input, Attribute Data Input, Projection and Transformation Technique to match the Spatial Data with Real World Phenomenon, GIS Database, Database Management, Relational Database Management System, Ecpolaration of GIS Database, Spatial Analysis, Spatial Query, Modeling in GIS, Factor Combination Model, Linear Combination Model, Concept of an Expert Systems, Digital Elevation Model from Raster Data and Vector Data, Design and Execution of RS/GIS projects, Data Output, Application.
RS: Fundamentals of TS, data used in RS, Image Data Characteristics of Image Data, Data Storage Media, Down loading Images, Reading Images, Digital Image Processing, Corrections, Image enhancement and feature extraction, Spatial filtering, Principle component analysis, Image Classification, Unsupervised & Supervised classification, Post classification, Moss icing techniques, Image Interpretation, Information extraction, stereoscopy, Interpretation elements keys, Generation of Thematic Maps, Integration of RSS data to GIS, Applications, Principle of Global Positioning System (GPS), How GPS works, Satellite Ranging, Differential GPS, Field Verification, etc.
6. Research Projects Combining with Training:
All interested faculty of AIT irrespective of their programs and divisions are encouraged to avail of the facilities of the Center to carry out research and case studies in the application of RS/GIS technology in different sectors and eco-zones specially in the area of their expertise.
7. Approximate Cost of Training:
As per the through discussion with UNEP/EAP-AP during the establishment of the Center, the cost of all international training programs were made exactly similar to the rate of the training programs conducted from UNEP/EAP-AP in time to time. The tuition fee was decided US $500.0 per week which includes training material. It was also decided to add an
accommodation fee of US $280.00 per week (US $40.00 X 7 Days) as the accommodations has to be booked by the center quite earlier prior to training program. Participants have to bear al their personal expenses and food by themselves. However, the advertised course for three weeks cost US $ 2,500.00 to cover the expenses of to-and-for transportation from the airport ot AIT and the visit of different places at the weekend.
In case of customized training programs, as terms of reference differs in case to case, the rate also inflects.
8. Progress Made by Center (as of August 1996) :
The Center has conducted 3 international training programs by designing the training brochures and marketing them in the Asia-Pacific region and 7 customized training programs (1 ailor-made, 6 contractual) by submitting the proposal to different client organizations and donor made, 6 contractual) by submitting the proposal to different client organizations and donor agencies, 2 seminars and 1 research project, ever since the Center started functioning in September 1995. The number of officials in the region trained from the Center during this period is 83. While conducting the research project to develop GIS database, the Center conducted a contractual training for Tahi Officials to make it sure that the developed database will
be full utillized at one sector of Thai Government.
9. Future Plan of the Center:
To address the training needs of the different sectors and eco-zones within the region, two more laboratories are going to be set up for advanced training and research on RS/GIS in the near future. The second laboratory is going to be set up for advanced training and research on RS/GIS in the near future. The second laboratory is going to be set up for the training and research for Digital Image Processing with the capacity of 12 people at a time. This laboratory is going to be Image Processing with the capacity of 12 people at a time. This laboratory is going to be equipped with 6 Pentium-pro PCs installed on each of them latest version of Image Processing software. This laboratory is going to be used for the training program on Remote Sensing, Satellite Image Processing technology and it's applications. This laboratory will also be equipped with two set of Global Positioning System (GPS) and installation of relevant software for linking GPS data with GIS data, instruments for aerial and satellite photo interpretation (parallax bar, stereoscope, sketch master, zoom transfer, necessary air photos, satellite images, topo maps etc.). An A3 sized scanner will also be placed in this laboratory for the demonstration of scanning tecnique and the conversion method of raster to vector data both digitally and manually.
The third laboratory which will be furnished with 3 networked workstations with 2 additional terminal in each with the capacity of 18 participants at time (2 participants in each terminal) will be the venue for basic and advanced training on UNIX platform. The higher version of both RS and GIS software (ARC/INFO, ERDAS IMAGINE, IDL-ENVI, etc.) will be installed in each of the stations.
Training in advanced sectoral application which includes urban utility application, specific database design, cadastral, housing development, impact assessment, etc. are envisaged to be conducted from these laboratories.
10. Conclusion:
The Center takes advantage of its unique location at AIT to become a good venue to train the human resources of different organizations of the region on RS/GIS who will be certainly able to take a better decision and make more reliable planning based on GIS database. It will carry
out different research and case studies on various issues identified in the region that need to be addressed by applying RS/GIS as tools. It will certainly strength better ties with sub-regional institutions like ICIMOD, Mekong Secretariat, SACEP, SPREP, etc. in the process of carrying out research and case studies on various issues on environment and development.
The Center will be certainly able to produce more and more manpower who will be able to integrate environment and development for sustainable development which is the main goal of United Nations Environment Program.
List of Acronyms:
- ADPC : Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
- AIT : Asian Institute of Technology
- CEC : Continuing Education Center
- GAC : GIS Application Center
- ICIMOD : International Center for integrated Mountain Development
- ICRISAT : International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
- IRRI : International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Science
- ITC : International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Science
- LRDC : Library and Regional Documentation Center
- MEKONG : Interim Committee for co-ordination of Investigations of he Lower Mekong Basin
- NRTC : National Research Council of Thailand
- ERD : School of Environment, Resources Program
- SPRED : South Pacific Regional Environment Program
- STAR : Space Technology Applications and Research
- UNCED : United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
- UNEP : United Nations Environment Program
- EAP-AP : Environmental Assessment Program - Asia and the Pacific
- UNITAR : United Nations Institute for Training and Research
