Review of RRSF Implementation ICT and Geo-information Workshop Review of RRSF Implementation ICT and Geo-information

Outline What is Geo-information? Where Questions Agriculture Planning Example Why is Geo-information? Problem with paper based maps ICT Enabling GIS for Visual Presentation GIS for Richer Content Pin Maps GIS for Data Combination Conclusion

What is Geo-information? Information that anchors decisions to “space” or location Whatever we do, whatever happens, happens somewhere After asking the usual questions: Why (should we do x)? When (should we do it)? How (should we do it)? What (do we have/need)? Qualitative and quantitative. We also need to ask the location question: Where …?

Where Questions Where are the input factors? Where are the population that will benefit? Where are the markets for the products? Where are the infrastructure elements, utilities, etc? Estimated that 80% of all human decisions involve a “where?” question

Agriculture Planning Example Time series statistics of crop yield Demography and location of producers and consumers Maybe, small scale farmers needing assistance Targeting of assistance by location Climatic data Early warning forecasts for localized drought for advance redistribution and possible planning

Other Attributes Attribute data on cities, towns, villages and other human settlements: Population and socio-economic indicators: health, education, institutions, etc. Commercial and industrial activities: agriculture, tourism, mining, forestry, environmental information

Crops – Where … ? Not all areas are suitable for cultivation And not all the suitable areas are cultivated And those cultivated may not be used for the best crop for the areas Imperative to plan and target which crop to grow where and when Need to identify and map edaphic conditions Which area (where) is most suitable for sorghum, rice, etc Which specific fertilizer to use and what pest control method Need to identify and map climatic conditions, especially rainfall Forecast of exact start of cropping, management and harvesting cycle When to apply fertilizer and pest management Coordination of extension services is imperative

Livestock – Where …? Some areas are better for livestock than crops Map of land cover to identify suitability for grazing Climatic data to forecast rainfall/water availability Map of aquifers for borehole and watering hole development Map of specific wildlife habitat for prevention of diseases Map of other climatic and environmental factors for disease conditions

Why Geo-information? Without location information (geoinformation or spatial data) we cannot answer the where questions Need to know ‘where’ things are (happening), ‘where’ to take action, ‘where’ to get inputs, ‘where’ etc Traditionally presented as thematic maps Base maps Demographics Vegetation Soil maps Land use/land cover, etc

Problem with paper based maps Predefined map themes Area of interest could be at the edge of map sheet Incomplete visualization Prone to clutter with more information Difficult to combine with other statistical data Difficult to keep up to date

ICT Enabling Recall that maps are inventories in analog form Move to digital environment and include locational attributes in databases With regular database query functions Allows for incorporation of geographic positions in decision analyses Also provide for visual analysis and geographic distribution of indicators Allow for a variety of information products Including maps in normal cartographic standards Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

GIS for Visual Presentation Events and phenomena that are location-based and better presented as maps Compare:

GIS for Richer Content Now compare last map of % of forest cover with actual vegetation cover Richer content for more detailed analyses GIS provides better data modeling for environmental phenomena

Pin Maps “Pins” are placed at the point locations and attributes from the database are displayed on clicking the pin symbol Pins may be symbolized by attribute to present at-a-glance information

Symbolized Earthquake data

GIS for Data Combination In decision analysis, there is usually need to combine and integrate data for visualization and policy analysis Common criterion for selection of data for such combination is location The GIS can select and combine data on the basis of the location And perform computations to analyze scenarios

Food Security Modeling using Landcover Total Potential Food Supply Africa Geospatial I&W: Regions at Risk Population (Food-Water) Risk Surface Water Vulnerability (food + water vulnerability) x (capacity) GeoCover LC Integrated into each model Capacity Very High (Stress) Very Low (Stress)

What We Need Build capacity of NSOs to use GIS and geospatial tools – ECA can assist Also need to work with geo-information community

Thank You