News

GIS Training Series - Thinking Spatially in the Digital Information Age - March 2007 The GIS-RSC conducted a two-day GIS Training Series -Thinking Spatially in the Digital Information Age on March 8-9, 2007.  A total of  eighteen individuals attended this seminar and, due to the large numebr of requests received from interested individuals, the GIS-RSC will be  conducting another seminar series during the FAll '07 semester.    During the training, individuals reviewed GIS principles; map scale, projection, and cartographic concepts; data and metadata issues related to providers, users and policies; identification, download and usage of geospatial and attribute data;  usage of hydrological  data and models;  and  issues pertaining to data and metadata incorporation into desktop and online exercises.

Workshop II - Geospatial and Environmental Data for Latin America and the Caribbean - January '07 The FIU GIS-RSC offered a one day GIS training on January 16, 2007 as part of the 2004 IMLS National Leadership Grant.  The workshop included topics on how to find, identify and use geospatial and other data for the Latin American and Caribbean region.   In addition, participants learned how to query and donwload geospatial and other data, including remotely sensed data, from international, US initiatives, and other data sources.

Workshop I - Spatial Data and Information Sources - September '06 The GIS RSC offered Workshop I - Spatial Data and Information Sources.  This was a one day GIS training held at the University Park Campus Gren Library's High Performance Lab.  The audience for this seminar included librarians, students and other information specialists from different institutions located in south Florida.

2006 FIU GIS Day. February, 2006. FIU GIS and Remote Sensing Center (GISRSC) hosted a day-long series of lectures and workshops in the Green Library Faculty Room.  The event included presentations from a wide variety of areas and a poster exhibition installed in the Green Library's first floor atrium.

AAGWP Informatics Model presented at IMLS 2006 Conference. February, 2006. Jennifer Fu, GIS Head, presented the AAGWP informatics and web portal model at the IMLS 2006 Getty sponsored WebWise Conference held in Los  Angeles, California, in February  2006.

LACIC Installs AAGWP Display. February, 2006 Florida International University Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACIC)  installed a display showcasing many aspects of the AAGWP web application.  The display was developed to coincide with the AAGWP funded 2006 University-wideGIS Day.  To view the display visit http://lacic.fiu.edu/index.html or email lacic@fiu.edu

AAGWP Presented at the 25th Annual ALA Poster Sessions. June, 2006. Ms Catherine Marsicek, formerly with Florida International University, presented the AAGWP project in poster format at the 25th Annual American Library Conference in New Orleans, LA. the presentation was part of Session III: Global Solutions International Projects in Libraries.  June 22-28, 2006

AAGWP Informatics Model Used for Semantic Query Expansion. January, 2006. Dr. Hartwig Hochmair, St. Cloud State University of Minnesota, and Jennifer Fu, Florida International University GIS Center, co-authored a research paper titled "User Interface Design for Semantic Query Expansion in Geo-Data Repositories."  The paper was selected for the prestigious European 2006 Geo-Informatics Conference.

AAGWP project presented at CEDIA, Ecuador. January 2006 Ms Maria Hallo, an AAGWP collaborator from Escuela Politecnica National in Quito, Ecuador, presented the AAGWP at the annual meeting of CEDIA (Consorcio Ecuatoriano para el Desarrollo de Internet Avanzado -www.cedia.org.ec) in January, 2006.  As a result, a local innitiative has been formed to seek further funding for the deployment of a local project to collect metadata using the AAGWP informatics model.

AAGWP at 2005 South Florida GIS Expo, October 2005 The AAGWP, in poster format, was represented at the 2005 South Florida GIS Expo from October 6-7, 2005 in West Palm Beach. The South Florida GIS Expo is an annual conference sponsored by the Palm Beach County Countywide GIS Forum which hosts GIS-related technical and educational presentations. The GIS Expo serves as a way to foster collaboration, GIS coordination, networking, education and training for the rapidly expanding professional GIS Community in the High Tech South Florida Region. The 2005 GIS Expo is the tenth year of this regional GIS conference.

AAGWP Posters, September 2005 A colorful AAGWP poster has been created for the IMLS National Gallery.  Copies of this poster, and a Spanish edition, have also been sent to the Ecuadorean collaborating institutions for their local conferences and publicity.

Mapping the Environment in the Andean Amazon, August 25, 2005 Join us for a forum with visiting scientists from Ecuador Present Conditions of the Andean Amazon Region, by Dr. Remigio Galárraga, Escuela Politécnica Nacional Conservation and Community Development Initiatives in the Amazon, by Pablo Almeida, Fundación Jatunsacha Thursday, August 25, 2005 2:00pm to 3:30pm GL 220 Sponsored by the FIU Libraries’ GIS-RS Center, LACiC and the Institute for Sustainability Science in Latin America and the Caribbean. This visit has been funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services, in conjunction with the grant received by FIU to build the Andean Amazon GIS Web Portal.

On-site Training for Ecuadorean Partners, August 2005 Representatives from two Ecuadorean partner institutions, Escuela Politenica Nacional and Alianza Jatun Sacha, attended on-site training at Florida International University from August 22-26, 2005.  The week-long training included sessions on data standards, collection methods, metadata, standards and editors, software set-up, and outreach initiatives.  This scholarly exchange forum also included lectures from our Ecuadorean guests.

Florida GIS Librarians Meeting, August 2005 Jennifer Fu, PI of AAGWP, attended a meeting of Florida GIS librarians on August 1, 2005, hosted by the University of Central Florida in Orlando.  Jennifer presented the AAGWP to the group, which then discussed the possibility of expanding the AAGWP model to other regions of Latin America and Caribbean.

AAGWP Presented at Annual SALALM Conference, April 2005 Catherine Marsicek, co-PI for Outreach for the AAGWP, presented the AAGWP project at the Annual Conference of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials, held in Gainesville, Florida April 15-19, 2005. Organized in 1956 under the aegis of the Organization of American States Library and Bibliographic Development Program, and incorporated as an independent association in 1968, SALALM continues to address the needs of librarians, booksellers, educators and others concerned with building library collections of Latin Americana and Caribbeana and making these collections accessible to the scholarly community.

AAGWP Presented at AAG Conference, April 2005 Jennifer Fu, PI of the IMLS grant to create the AAGWP, presented the project at the annual conference of the Association of American Geographers, held in Denver, Colorado April 5-9, 2005. The Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers is a Professional and Scholarly meeting of over 4000 attendees. Nearly 3000 attendees present their research in over 700 sessions scheduled throughout the meeting.

Digital Flora of Ucayali, Peru Collection Added to AAGWP, April 2005 The Digital Flora of Ucayali, Peru collection by Dr. James Graham of Florida International University and Jose Vigo has just been added to the AAGWP and is now searchable through the AAGWP interface. Among the world's 200 nations, just 17 are home to 70% of all of the biodiversity on the planet. The Republic of Peru is among the worlds most mega-diverse. The Department of Ucayali, with an area of over 100,000 km2 covered by tropical forest, remains one of the least-known, least-collected regions in Peru. This botanical inventory of the Alto Purús watershed has generated over 3000 herbarium vouchers from the Department of Ucayali, many of which were photographed at the time of collection.

Library's GIS Center and LACIC Awarded Prestigious IMLS Grant, October 2004 Thanks to a National Leadership Grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the FIU Libraries' GIS Center and the Latin American and Caribbean Information Center (LACIC) will partner with FIU's Environmental Studies Department and Ecuador's Docente Escuela Politecnica Nacional to build an Andean Amazon GIS Web Portal (AAGWP). "National Leadership Grants of IMLS help museums and libraries excel as learning institutions that support the needs of a nation of learners," said Robert Martin, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. "The grants we make today reflect an understanding of current issues in the library field and suggest creative solutions through the application of technology, creative collaboration, data collection, and projects seeking a better understanding of the informational needs of library users."