CountrySTAT The Global Administrative Unit Layers (GAUL) Basic Concepts Regional Training on Statistical Methods and Information System Technologies for implementing CountrySTAT in the ECO Region Tehran, Iran 10 – 13 November 2014 Fabio Grita System support officer, FAO

Objectives To facilitate mapping and geospatial analysis of data across countries by harmonizing boundaries and names of the administrative units at global level To provide the international community with the most reliable and up-to-date data on international boundaries and administrative units for all countries in the world To create an easily maintainable standard for administrative units in order to geo-reference statistical, forecast and real-time datasets

WILAYA (Districts) KATA NDOGO GAUL layers TAARAFA (Divisions) KATA (Locations)

geographically represent GAUL helps to geographically represent statistical information (e.g. crop production, nutrition, population, etc.) at national and sub- national levels Yearly wheat production of districts of Sylhet Province How to use GAUL GAUL districts of Sylhet Province

Wheat Production of Bangladesh (Year 2007) 5822 Yearly wheat production How to use GAUL

GAUL - disputed areas GAUL is compliant with the guidelines provided by the United Nation Cartographic Section (UNCS) INDIA PAKISTAN CHINA

GAUL Approach Data collection (from various national and international sources) Data evaluation (using official documents and sources) Data integration in GAUL (selected data becomes an integral part of GAUL) New GAUL release Distribution to authorized users: (UN agencies, Universities, Research Centres, NGOs) GAUL benefits from the contribution of its own users

GAUL Visualization FENIX Mapping

GAUL Users Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Global Information and Early Warning System (EST)  Rainfall Tool Natural Resources Service (NRC)  the South-East Asia poverty mapping project Land and Water development division (NRL)  AgroMaps: A global spatial database of agricultural land-use statistics aggregated by sub-national administrative districts  Aquastat: FAO's Information System on Water and Agriculture Fishery Marine Resources Service (FIR)  FIGIS: Fisheries Global Information System Statistics Division (ESS)  CountryStat Information Technology Department (CIO)

GAUL Users UN agencies World Food Programme (WFP) World Health Organization (WHO) UN Joint Logistic Centre (UNJLC) International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Data Exchange Platform for the Horn of Africa (DEPHA) – UNDP Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure (UNSDI)

GAUL Users other GAUL users Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Joint Research Centre (JRC) Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET) NGOs: World Vision International, Save of Children Projects: Food Security and Analysis Unit (FSAU), Global Monitoring for Food Security sponsored by the European Space Agency (GMFS) Universities: University of Rome “La Sapienza”, San Diego State University and University of California, Aston University (UK), University of Carolina North Carolina.

Why users are interested in GAUL? To have an authoritative source for boundaries and names To display reliable boundaries/names in their applications To rely on a solid geo-coding system for spatially represent their data (e.g. productions, population, etc.)

Issues and Adopted Solutions ISSUESSOLUTIONS Disputed areasGAUL is compliant with guidelines and boundaries published by the UN Cartographic Section Some of the GAUL boundaries might not be validated by the national Government FAO-GAUL disclaimer visible from any application or map GAUL data is not downloadable from users’ applications (boundaries can only be displayed) Uncertainty on data policy for some of the countries Political (and sometimes administrative) boundaries may be sensitive data

Thank You for Your Attention G LOBAL A DMINISTRATIVE U NIT L AYERS