Welcome on behalf of GISDECO Dr. Pieter. van Teeffelen GISDECO International Committee In the last decennium GIS/RS applications in Developing Countries (DC's) have developed rapidly and impressively. The pace of development could be that high as a consequence of waves of rapid technical development in pioneer countries like The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Also the “invention” of user-friendly menu driven software and parallel developments in the operation systems played an important role in the sense that – much cheaper – PC’s could be employed. The historical development of GIS/RS applications in DC’s can roughly be divided in two phases. In the first phase – the introduction phase – various pilot projects were organised and much effort, time and financial means were devoted to the purchase of computers and software. Digital mapping programs were introduced and, in order to deal with the apparent lack of useful spatial data various (national) database systems were proposed. At the international and national level umbrella organisations were established dealing with data and information requirements for solving a range of problems ranging from desertification to deforestation and from agricultural production measurement to housing supply. This introduction of techniques appeared to be the easy phase in the development of GIS/RS applications and many countries throughout the world were able to take this first step and the future of GIS/RS applications looked bright. The second phase in the development of GIS/RS applications in DC’s appeared to be much more difficult. The follow up of pilot projects, the proliferation of GIS/RS applications as tools for e.g. national planning purposes, regional policy making and urban and/or rural land use development appeared to stagnate somewhat. The first GIS/RS seminars on the actual situation in DC’s logically concentrated on the bottlenecks, the obstacles, the barriers, the constraints (to mention a few popular nouns) hindering further adoption and diffusion of the technology. Of course, there was a lack of financial resources but the real problem proved not to be the money to purchase the equipment; the problem was that many wanted “the best”, “the most expensive”, “the most integrated”, the “most powerful” and “the most up to date” soft- and hardware. In 1991 we already drew the comparison between the purchase of GIS/RS equipment and the acquisition of a car; the original intention (to buy a comfortable tool to bring you from A to B) is rapidly forgotten because somebody tells you that a “real” car needs a convertible roof, an injection engine and 16 valves in stead of 4 (van Teeffelen et al. 1991). The purchase of this “real” car (GIS/RS system) unfortunately reduced the available funding for fuel (data), or even to get a driver’s licence (GIS/RS knowledge and skills). In the early nineties technical constraints formed the focus in the discussions. The term user friendliness appeared to be the magic word. With the swift arrival of menu-driven software - within one year almost every software producer published menu-driven versions of their software – this constraint was solved. Within a few years the purchasing costs of software and hardware tumbled as well (two times stronger computers could be purchased for half the price of the older versions). The argument of a financial constraint fell silent. The term user friendliness appeared to denote a remarkably restricted concept. Although soft- and hardware seemed to have become very accessible, user friendliness referred to the use of computers and equipment as such and certainly not to the practice of GIS applications of which the results remained surprisingly meagre. Despite the increase in the numbers of computers the number of successful GIS/RS applications remained very restricted. In more than one case, projects failed and computers remained as the only visible evidence of earlier GIS/RS activities. Interesting examples can be found in Africa where Land Information Systems (LIS’s) were introduced at many a regional development office. Because of the abundance of financial resources provided by international financial aid it almost rained LIS's in Sahelian countries, that is, on paper. An African project officer recalls: In my opinion, the problem with establishing GIS in Africa and South Africa is as follows: An advisor or consultant is hired by the Government. This person gives demos on what could be done (usually small pre-prepared projects). The Department or organisation falls head-over-heels in love with this magic idea. The consultant is hired to do a pilot study (usually at very high cost). When the pilot study or project is completed the consultant leaves. The department is left with the dilemma that none of its staff is vaguely GIS or computer literate. The project fades away and is never used again. The next consultant comes in and the process is repeated. (From: van Teeffelen & Kwant, 1998) After the financial and technical constraints, another constraint took over: the retrieval and organisation of the data. In the mid-nineties the demand for useful spatial data prevailed in most discussions. The focus on techniques of data gathering via satellite image processing is a logical consequence hereof. At conferences and workshops Remote Sensing techniques are more and more proclaimed as (part of) the solution for the data retrieval problems. The meanwhile affordable SPOT and LANDSAT images form a grateful, almost inexhaustible source of information that is in those applications where physical and morphological aspects play a role. At a resolution of 10 by 10 metres people and their activities are still almost invisible. It goes without saying that socio-economists joined the ranks of RS-supporters when in recent years radar techniques strongly developed and provided less than one meter resolution images and – of course - Ikonos images with their 4 by 4 or even 1 by one metre resolution became available. Airplanes but also cart tracks can be recognised, not only housing blocks but also individual houses can be seen and even sheds are visible. Because of the arrival of new data retrieval techniques the data constraint seems largely solved. Problem solved as well? One serious constraint – already mentioned 12 years ago during the first GISDECO seminar - still exists. This constraint – the organisation of the people – is situated at the roots of the development problem in general. During the fifth GISDECO-seminar in Manila this constraint was already the focus of many discussions: both human resource management (the organisation of the project and its staff) and the people for which GIS applications are developed have to be taken into consideration in a much more explicit way than we are currently doing. “Folk GIS” – information FOR and BY the people proved to be the ‘buzz word’ in Manila. In essence, we have arrived at the point where GIS applications are unified, fused with their problem: the application is the problem. As politics is playing a role, people’s participation and autonomy of decision-making are important aspects in the discussion on this topic. “Information is power” has to be understood in an almost literal sense. Hopefully it will be clear that GIS/RS applications are hardly hindered by financial technical constraints. Hopefully it will be clear that a GIS/RS approach can only succeed when a project is created for, and by the people involved, hence the relevance for “governance”. “Governance” as a theme is an interesting and intriguing challenge as it brings together the worlds of economic, urban, rural and social. It is certainly not a coincidence that ITC’s Urban Planning and Social Sciences divisions are jointly organising this seminar on “Governance and the use of GIS in Developing Countries”. Governance has an evident information dimension that focuses our attention on how and what GIS/RS-techniques contribute to more equitable and sustainable societies. Governance brings GIS/RS-techniques to society, indeed, the place where they belong. TEEFFELEN, P. B. M., L. van GRUNSVEN & O. VERKOREN (eds.) (1992) Possibilities and constraints of GIS applications in developing countries. Netherlands Geographical Studies no. 152. KNAG/Faculty of Geographical Sciences Utrecht University, Utrecht. TEEFFELEN, P.B. M. van & KWANT, T. (1998) GIS as an effective tool for effective planning, between promise and reality. Proceedings of GISDECO '98 (1-2 October 1998, Pretoria, South Africa).