contentMain FeaturesExecutive Seminar NMO’s 2IIRS and ITC 5Roombeek 8

Education NewsLand Administration 10

Research NewsRuimte voor Geo-informatie 11Evaluation Research Programme 14

Project NewsTIGER Advanced Course 15TIGER Capacity Building Facility 16Assessing Land Degradation 17

Events50th Anniversary WTUSM 19NRSA Workshop 19Land Administration in Africa 20International Conference on Space Technology and Geo-Informatics 22Education Fairs in Thailand and Vietnam 23

AnnouncementsAARSE-ESA Awards 24AESOP Membership 25ITC Host Institution World BankScholarship Programme 25

Obituary Professor Soekiman Atmosoedarjo 26

VisitsHeilongjiang Bureau of Surveying and Mapping 27

Life After ITCRefresher Course Tanzania 28Refresher Course Brazil 29Alumni in Thailand 31

While we’ve been working to bring you ITC News 2006-4, the New Year celebrations have come and gone and we’re already well into 2007.Celebrations around the world took many colourful forms, but dazzling fire-work displays were often prominent features. We all know that fireworksshould be handled with care, but just how dangerous and destructive theycan be was demonstrated when a fire broke out in a fireworks depot on 13 May 2000 and Enschede hit the international headlines. Now, six yearslater, a great deal of progress has been made in reconstructing the devas-tated area of Roombeek, and you can read about these developments onpage 8.

Our readers will be saddened to learn that Professor Soekiman Atmosoedarjo,who was appointed Honorary Fellow of ITC on 17 December 1976, passedaway on 27 November 2006 at the age of 83 (page 26). Highly respectedand admired by his colleagues and indeed by all who knew him, both for hispersonal qualities and for his dedication and commitment to his work inforestry and conservation, he will be sadly missed.

How to sum up briefly the rest of the articles? Well, you could say it wasbusiness as usual for ITC in the fourth quarter of 2006 - but then again ITCbusiness is anything but usual! Research is in the news, with a visiting com-mittee of experts evaluating the ITC Research and Graduate Programme2001-2005. You can read about their conclusions on page 14, as well asabout the contribution being made by ITC PhD research to the innovationprogramme Ruimte voor Geo-Informatie (page 11). And Professor MartienMolenaar presented an innovative gift to Dr Dadhwal, dean of IIRS, at thecelebrations to mark 40 years of IIRS-ITC collaboration in capacity building: a PhD fellowship no less (5).

The School for Land Administration is certainly flourishing and has recentlymade its presence felt in both Africa and Southeast Asia (pages 10 and 20).To quote from one article: “It is easy to make land administration very com-plex, but it is very complex to make it easy.” An interesting precept that I’msure our readers will be able to adapt and apply to their work and everydaylife. So I’ll leave you to think of some likely and possibly unlikely examples,while hopefully enjoying the current issue of ITC News.

Janneke KalfManaging Editor

1ITC News 2006-4

I N T R O

introduction

Managing Editor: Janneke Kalf

Editing: Janice CollinsDesign&PrePress: Henk Scharrenborg

(Composer DTP service)Andries Menning

Printing: PlantijnCasparie Zwolle

Correspondence to: Managing EditorITC NEWSP.O.Box 6

7500 AA EnschedePhone: +31 (0)53 487 44 11Fax: +31 (0)53 487 45 54E-mail: itcnews@itc.nl

colofonITC NEWS is published quarterly, by ITC, Enschede, the Netherlands

The views expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect those of ITC2006number 4

National mapping

organisations

(NMOs) in both

Western and non-

Western countries

have been partners

of ITC for more than

half a century.

To nurture the partnership with NMOs andto help to innovate capacity building activi-ties, ITC has so far organised three seminarsfor NMO executives (in 1988, 1991 and1996). This tradition was continued by or-ganising the 4th Executive Seminar forNational Mapping Organisations at ITC from13 to 15 December 2006. The seminar wasattended by 16 NMOs from Bangladesh,Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Peru, Ghana,Burkina Faso, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Malawi,Zimbabwe, Zambia, Indonesia, Chile,Pakistan and Nepal.

The seminar served as a forum for exchang-ing knowledge and experiences on thechanging roles of NMOs within the contextof electronic governance (e-governance). E-governance concerns the use of informationand communication technologies (ICT) in im-proving governance processes such as publicpolicy formulation and implementation, in-ternal government operations, and the pro-vision of relevant information services tocitizens. The objective of the seminar was toexplore how NMOs can better support theseprocesses. The seminar was divided into foursessions, each session starting with presenta-tions by two invited speakers and completedby plenary discussions.

Content of the Executive SeminarThe use of geo-information technology (GIT)in public e-governance involves the designand implementation of flexible geo-informa-tion infrastructures (GII) properly embedded

within the overall information infrastructurefor public governance. NMOs can play im-portant roles in designing and implementingGII if they can overcome certain technologi-cal, organisational and institutional chal-lenges. The first three sessions focused ongaining insight into how GIT can supportpublic policy formulation and implementa-tion, internal government operations, andthe provision of relevant information servicesto citizens. The fourth session explored theimplications for developing NMO capacity inthe context of e-governance.

Session 1: Geo-information in public policyformulation and implementation, includ-ing compliance with international environ-mental agreements (IEA)Dr Van der Wouden of the NetherlandsInstitute of Spatial Research (NISR) arguedthat science-based politics was an illusion.He emphasised that political argumentswere and would be more important than sci-entific arguments in deciding between pub-lic policy options. However, he concludedthat spatial research had an “enlighten-ment” function for policy makers, since itmade their values, goals and instrumentsclearer. Dr R. Sudarshana of the RegionalOrganization for the Protection of theMarine Environment (ROPME) in Kuwaitstressed the importance of regional and mul-tilateral collaborations in monitoring compli-ance with IEAs. According to Dr Sudarshana,both the harmonisation of national regula-tory regimes with the regime of international

2 ITC News 2006-4

4th Executive Seminar for National Mapping Organisations:

Geo-information Technologywithin an E-governance Context

Jantien Stoter stoter@itc.nlYola Georgiadou georgiadou@itc.nl

M A I N F E A T U R E S

agreements and the development of equi-table geo-information capacity of all in-volved nations are prerequisites of effectivecompliance with IEAs.

The main conclusion of the discussion wasthat, although considerable GIT use was ob-served in utilities, defence and cadastral ap-plications, current use of GIT in actual policymaking was relatively low. Despite the policymakers’ ignorance of GIT, there was a grow-ing overall awareness of geo-information,thanks to the technology push.

Session 2: Internal workings of government:alignment of business and technologyIr Vanden Berghe, director of the BelgianNMO, presented the process of change ather organisation in the context of e-gover-nance. This process is being guided by keyideas such as “the world is changing, wemust change”, “change without effort doesnot exist; it is called degeneration”, “be areliable partner”, “don’t try to beat them,join them”, “do not only talk aboutchanges, but also ‘do’ the changes”. MrKanamugire, ICT adviser to the President ofRwanda, discussed the formulation and im-plementation of ICT policies to support pub-lic service delivery in Rwanda, the aim beingto transform the Rwandan economy into aknowledge economy, using ICT as the en-gine for this transformation.

The ensuing discussion focused on howNMOs should align new business with GIT.Interestingly, the participants favoured anemphasis on business processes and strate-

gies rather than on technical systems andstrategies. Technology was not seen as themain bottleneck in the process of change.

Session 3: Provision of relevant services tocitizens: service-driven geo-information infrastructures (GII)Dr Jordi Guimet of the Centre of Support ofthe Spatial Data Infrastructure of Catalonia,Spain, presented the case of the CataloniaGII development. He emphasised the impor-tance of the permanence of agreements,flexibility and adaptability, and the re-useand interchangeability of components, de-pending on the domain and customisableapplications. Professor Rahul De’ of theIndian Institute of Management, Bangalore,India, used the case of the Bhoomi project inKarnataka to illustrate the difference be-tween a service-driven GII and a GII support-ing governance processes. While Bhoomiwas deemed successful as a “service-driveninformation infrastructure” (e.g. it improvedthe quality of service to citizens, facilitatedland records administration, and achieved fi-nancial sustainability), it failed to increasethe political freedom of citizens, enhance se-curity, or increase transparency in dealingwith government.

The discussions in this session indicated ashift from pure data provision by NMOs toprovision of demand-driven informationservices in support of governance efforts. Itwas felt that GIIs should be citizen-orientedas opposed to government-oriented. Whenimplementing GIIs, it was important to beaware of the potential causes of failures,such as lack of awareness of user needs,top-down development, inaccessibility andunavailability of relevant information in theright format, and language barriers.

Session 4: Implications for capacity devel-opmentDr Jide Kufoniyi from RECTAS, Nigeria, dis-cussed the high demand for geo-informationeducation in Africa, as well as persistentproblems, such as obsolete curricula and fa-cilities, the difficulty of releasing officers forlong training, lack of in-campus cooperationand networking, lack of financial resourcesfor overseas training, absence of uniform ac-ademic standards, and inadequate enablingtechnologies. Dr Kufoniyi concluded that the

3ITC News 2006-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

Participants and ITC staff

joint educational programmes (JEP) betweenITC and partner universities addressed sev-eral of these problems.

Discussions centred on how JEPs and othercapacity building partnerships between ITCand international partners could serve NMOsin adapting to the requirements of e-gover-nance. For this last round of discussions, par-ticipants were divided into two groups basedon two criteria: (1) whether or not the NMO

already had a basic critical mass of humanand technical resources in GIT, and (2)whether it was in an establishment phase oran updating and integration phase. The edu-cation needs indicated by the first groupwere still mainly related to basic technicalskills (e.g. in digital data acquisition, datamodelling techniques, computer program-ming, DBMS) and managerial skills (commu-nication, strategic planning), while thesecond group stressed the importance of un-derstanding actual customers’ needs.

Concluding RemarksIn summary, the 4th Executive Seminar pro-vided a useful platform for exchangingknowledge and experiences concerning thechanging roles of NMOs within the contextof e-governance from a Western and a non-Western perspective.

We wish to thank the session rapporteurs,Drs Emile Dopheide, Ms Kate Lance, Dr RobLemmens and Drs Ineke ten Dam: their de-tailed session reports will serve as input for aforthcoming, more thorough, analysis of theoutcomes of the seminar.

4 ITC News 2006-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

Information services to citizens

The process of change

On 28 and 29

November 2006,

40 years of close

cooperation

between ITC and

the Indian Institute

for Remote Sensing

(IIRS) was cele -

brated with a

commemorative

workshop in Dehra

Dun, India, under

the title ‘40 Years

and Beyond:

IIRS and ITC Colla -

bo ration in Capacity

Building’

Over 225 people participated in this festivetwo-day event, which was jointly organisedby IIRS and ITC. All sessions took place in theIIRS convocation hall, which was abundantlydecorated with flowers for the occasion. Thehall is next to the main building, which is il-luminated along the entire façade in theevening hours.

Among the important dignitaries presentduring the event were Dr Radakrishnan, di-rector of the Indian National Remote SensingAgency (NRSA) and Dr D.P. Rao, former direc-tor of NRSA and an ITC fellow. The Dutchembassy was represented by the ambassador,Mr Eric F.C. Niehe, and the counsellor for sci-ence and technology, Mr Theo Groothuizen.

Mr G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of theIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO),addressed the audience by means of a videoconferencing facility, and talked about theIndian objective to launch at the end of2007 a dedicated satellite system for devel-oping countries, with cheap ground receiv-ing capabilities.

Ten ITC staff participated in the event, in-cluding Rector Professor Martien Molenaar,Director External Affairs Sjaak Beerens and

Emeritus Professor Allard Meijerink.

Last but not least, quite a few retired IIRSstaff, and a large group of ITC alumni trav-elled from all over India to Dehra Dun tomeet old friends - some of whom had beenamong the very first batch of students!

The first day of the programme comprised acombination of plenary addresses and con-gratulations by dignitaries. In the session“Reflection and Milestones”, several speak-ers looked back in time, with anecdotesfrom the past 40 years. Professor Meijerinktook the opportunity to give a lively speechon the “good old days” during the firstyears of the cooperation.

The future of the collaboration between IIRSand ITC was debated during a panel discus-sion. One conclusion of this session was thatresearch generated by the collaborationshould result in technological innovationsthat might contribute to solving problemsencountered in practice. Another conclusionwas that spatially related problems cannotbe solved by looking only at technical solu-tions; organisational and institutional aspectsshould also be considered, as well as issuesrelated to information management.

5ITC News 2006-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

40 Years and Beyond:

IIRS and ITC Collaborationin Capacity Building

Michiel Damen damen@itc.nl

A small exhibition, with joint IIRS-ITC re-search publications and several panels dis-playing historic photographs (e.g. of the1957 visit of the Indian Prime Minister Pt.Jawahar Lal Nehru to ITC in Delft, and of re-tired ITC and IIRS professors in their youngerdays) was officially opened by the Dutch am-bassador. A substantial part of the exhibitionwas dedicated to posters showing the re-search work of 14 MSc students from theITC-IIRS joint education programme. The stu-dents were given the opportunity to explaintheir work individually to both the ambassa-dor and the counsellor for science and tech-nology.

A performance of traditional Indian dancesand a dinner in a nearby hotel brought thefirst day to a close.

The next day started with two sessions onrecent advances in earth observation appli-cations, during which four IIRS and five ITCstaff presented their scientific work. The sub-jects varied from topographical map general-isation to neo-tectonic deformation andseismic risk assessment in the Dehra Dunarea. The scientific part of the programmewas brought to an end by presentationsfrom three graduates of the IIRS–ITC PhDsandwich programme.

During the closing session of this very suc-cessful event, Professor Molenaar presenteda gift of one PhD fellowship to Dr Dadhwal,dean of IIRS.

What remains of the two days in Dehra Dunare some very good memories - and I realisethat for some participants these will spanthe last 40 years! To mark the event for pos-terity, several high-ranking participantsplanted trees next to the new IIRS guest-house. The longstanding cooperation hasalso been given physical shape in a book ofmore than 100 pages, with many messagesfrom dignitaries, a wealth of colour photo-graphs from the past, and abstracts from thescientific presentations.

For the many alumni of the ITC-IIRS coopera-tion, the day was rounded off with a buffetin the garden restaurant of the MadhubanHotel.

6 ITC News 2006-4

Delegates at entrance IIRSauditorium

Dr Radhakrishnan, Director National Remote SensingAgency (NRSA) planting a tree

M A I N F E A T U R E S

7ITC News 2006-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

ITC’s contacts with India date back to the early 1950s, whenProfessor Willem Schermerhorn, prime minister of theNetherlands and founder of ITC, visited the Survey of India,and officers were sent to ITC for training. In 1957 PrimeMinister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru visited ITC; he was so im-pressed that he wanted to have a similar institute set up inIndia.

In 1964 the UN Cartographic Conference for Asia and theFar East (ECAFE) was held in Bangkok. There it was advo-cated that regional centres should be established in order topromote and accelerate training in photogrammetry andphoto-interpretation techniques in developing countries.During this conference, discussions took place between theIndian and Dutch delegates with regard to drafting a collab-orative agreement between the two governments. Thisagreement was signed at the end of 1964, heralding thestart of the project for technical assistance to set up a photo-interpretation institute in India, with ITC as the executive au-thority. It was one of the first large bilateral technicalassistance projects undertaken between the Netherlands anda developing country.

In May 1966 the first course started, and in 1967 16 stu-dents completed the course in the three divisions forestry,geology and soil survey. By August 1968 the first dean wasappointed: Col. J.N. Sinha.

In 1976 the IPI was transferred to the control of the NationalRemote Sensing Agency (NRSA). Since then this institute hasbeen known as the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing. In1979 Col. Prabhakar Misra was appointed director. Under hisleadership the Human Settlement Analysis Group of IIRS wasestablished in 1983 with the collaboration of ITC.

Some examples of recent joint projects are as follows:• Geo-Information Systems Applications for Natural

Resources Development and Environmental Plan ning andManagement

• Geo-informatics for Environmental Assessment andDisaster Management, Institutional Strength ening of theIndian Institute of Remote Sensing (GEONEDIS)

• MSc degree and postgraduate diploma courses in geo-in-formatics

• MSc degree and postgraduate diploma courses in geo-hazards

• Cooperation within the context of the School for DisasterGeo-Information Management

Professor Jha, IIRS organizer of theCommemorative Workshop (center) with IIRS-ITC alumni from the first hours

ITC’s Drs. Sjaak Beerens (right) and rectorMartien Molenaar addressingthe ITC-IIRS alumni

Dinner at the Madhuban hotel during the ITC-IIRS alumni meeting

Dr Dadhwal, Dean IIRS with students of theGeo-Hazards Joint Educational Programmeand ITC’s Dr Paul van Dijk and EmeritusProfessor Allard Meijerink

H.E. Eric Niehe Ambassador of theNetherlands (right) having a conversion withone of the delegates during lunch time

Dr. Hari Prasad with students of the Geo-Hazards Joint Educational Programme andITC’s rector Martien Molenaar and Drs. MichielDamen

Enschede with its

154,000 inhabitants

is one of the most

important cities in

the east of the

Netherlands.

The loss of the

textile industry at

the end of the 1960s

left deep marks.

Just as it was

emerging from

decline - the centre

of gravity in terms

of employment

having gradually

shifted to service

sectors - the city

suffered a major

setback as a result

of the firework dis -

aster on Saturday,

13 May 2000.

The firework disaster caused a tremendousamount of damage and immense sufferingto people who lived and worked in theRoombeek district. As a consequence of theexplosion, 23 people died, more than 1,000were injured, more than 1,450 lost theirhomes, and 123 businesses lost their prem-ises. In total about 42 ha of the city ofEnschede were ruined.

These tragic statistics marked the start of amajor reconstruction process. Its objectivewas to enable victims of the disaster to re-claim their lives in a renewed and prosperousdistrict. At that time, it was evident that par-ticipation of all interested parties – includingthe people directly affected by the disaster –would play a key role in the reconstructionprocess. It was the only way in which localgovernment could regain trust.

Participation in Creating a New Vision ofRoombeekIn the autumn of 2000, exceptional and in-tensive participation was initiated with allgroups concerned. More than 3,000 wishes,suggestions and ideas were received as partof the first phase of the participationprocess. The urban development spatial vi-sion “Roombeek, a familiar district”(October 2001) translates all these contribu-tions into one cohesive plan. Besides initiat-ing the physical reconstruction, this plan alsocontributed towards the social and eco-nomic programmes for Roombeek. The plan-ning area Roombeek lies in the heart ofEnschede North, and covers 62.6 ha.

“In no other district in the Netherlands haveprivate individuals had such a large say inthe realisation of their district as in

8 ITC News 2006-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

Roombeek, a Neighbourhood

under ReconstructionRuud Lutjenhuis r.lutjenhuis@enschede.nl

The Roombeek area on 14 May 2000

Roombeek. An exceptional, widely sup-ported plan where the participation of bothformer residents and newcomers has clearlyworked well.” (Peter Kuenzli, ManagingDirector of the Reconstruction Project Office[Projectbureau Wederopbouw] 2001-2004).

Roombeek Development PlanTogether with representatives from the or-ganisations concerned, the spatial vision wastranslated into the Roombeek DevelopmentPlan (RDP) - a plan full of ambition thatstemmed especially from the tremendousenthusiasm, energy and creativity that emer-ged in response to the disaster. On thewhole, perhaps “breeding ground” is per-haps the best way of describing the RDP(November 2002) - a breeding ground forformer inhabitants, for modern self-builders,artists, ICT specialists and entrepreneurs,

who all feel at home and meet and inspireeach other. Roombeek offers them the scopeto develop their talents in a challenging,high-quality environment, which is filled withpossibilities for them to shape their own en-vironment and build their own houses.

Reconstruction Project Office The Reconstruction Project Office was taskedwith coordinating the social, economic andphysical reconstruction of Roombeek. Manyformer residents were (temporarily) rehousedelsewhere in Enschede. The social pro-grammes were therefore implemented city-wide. The aim of all Project Officeprogrammes and activities was to give thenew district added social value both for re-turning former residents and for new resi-dents, as well as to help to upgrade theentire city of Enschede.

Shaping possibilities for former residents wasalso a departure point of the reconstruction:everyone who had lived in the district ofRoombeek on 13 May 2000 had the right toreturn to the district. Now, six years on,about 40% of the residents that formerlylived there in rented housing have returned.House-owners were given the opportunity toacquire a parcel in the area where they hadlived before.

ConclusionOverall, one can say that the participationprocess with its bottom-up approach hasfunctioned very well. Research by theUniversity of Twente during the participationprocess shows that the people involved weresatisfied with the process and confident thatRoombeek would grow to be a prosperousdistrict. The reconstruction has been success-fully turned into an opportunity to furtherstrengthen the economic structure of thecity and create a new economic and culturalidentity for Enschede. The reconstruction ofRoombeek has now become a laboratory forinnovations and urban renewal.

In a following article, we will show more re-sults of the planning process.

9ITC News 2006-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

Map of the Roombeek area

With the aim of contributing to theworldwide programme on capacitybuilding in land administration thatsupports socio-economic develop-ment and poverty reduction pro-grammes in developing countries,the ITC School for Land Administra -tion Studies (ITC is an associated in-stitution of the UNU) successfullyconducted two short courses onland administration during 2006.

The first short (two-week) course,under the title “Geo-Information forLand Administration in Africa: Trendsand Innovation”, was held in Kumasi,Ghana, from 19 to 30 June 2006. Itwas jointly organised with theDepartment of Geomatic Engineeringat Kwame Nkrumah University ofScience and Technology (KNUST) inKumasi, Ghana. It attracted 32 partic-ipants, including practitioners, localtraditional chiefs, academics and pro-fessionals, from various national andlocal organisations of eight Africancountries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia,Kenya, Ghana, Namibia, Rwanda,Tanzania and Uganda).

The keynote speaker was ProfessorKarl Harmsen, director of UNU-INRA,Ghana, who gave some impressiveexamples of land administration ap-plications in natural resource man-agement in support of sustainabledevelopment. Later, key lectures weredelivered by Dutch and Ghanaian ex-perts, followed by the exchange ofparticipants’ experiences, lively dis-cussions, and visits to regional andlocal land agencies. Issues such asland policy reform with respect tostatutory and customary tenures, andits impact on sustainable develop-ment and market economics, as well

as the innovative land tools of Geo-ICT-based registration systems, withthe emphasis on spatial data infra-structure, guided the participants to-wards reformed land polices with astrong emphasis on good governanceand MDGs (the local situation mustbe taken into account, with a strongemphasis on land rights for women,and indigenous and disabled peoplein the region). Further, discussion fo-cused on managing local areasthrough innovative concepts inte-grated with the spatial planningprocess through harmonisedprocesses between the various insti-tutions in the context of land policyreform, as well as on the need tofocus on customer requirements in acoordinated fashion based on theone-stop shop concept. The vision ofdeveloping a communication model

with stakeholders, with a periodicsurvey of their requirements, and ofdeveloping human resources for landadministration in combination withGeo-ICT, was strongly emphasised inthe region.

The second short course was organ-ised for the Southeast Asian Regionfrom 4 to 14 September 2006 in co-

operation with the Department ofGeodesy and Geomatics Engineering,Faculty of Engineering of GadjahMada University (GMU), inYogyakarta, Indonesia. Twenty-threeprofessionals and six academics (in-cluding five female participants) fromBangladesh, Cambodia, India,Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, thePhilippines and Vietnam actively par-ticipated in the search for shared, en-hanced knowledge and innovationsfor land administration, and for Geo-ICT potential, with a view to learningfrom the experiences of these coun-tries in disaster situations attributableto the tsunami, which had severelydisrupted the management of landadministration systems. There is anurgent need for good land adminis-tration as a strategic instrument forthe global environment for human

prosperity. By using appropriate landpolicies, land administration helps tominimise land conflicts in many kindsof situations.

The keynote speaker for this coursewas Dr Joyo Winoto, chairman of theNational Land Agency (BPN), who in-troduced philosophical and innovativeconcepts for reconstructing land ad-

10 ITC News 2006-4

E D U C A T I O N N E W S

education news

Successful Completion of Two Short Courses on Land Administration in 2006

Arbind Tuladhar tuladhar@itc.nl

Participants, guests and contributing staff from KNUST and ITC in Kumasi, Ghana

ministration systems and community-based adjudication in Indonesia (re-ferring to the work of Hernando deSoto). This short course was deliveredthrough a series of key lectures, fol-lowed by lively discussions on focal is-sues, practicals, study visits toregional offices, and country presen-tations on the land administration sit-

uation by the course participants. Thesessions concentrated largely on landadministration and the changing en-vironment, from concept to practice.Discussion and country presentationsprovided the participants with in-depth knowledge. Land administra-tion is more than just registration: it isabout implementing (comprehensive)

land policies. Land administration isthere for everyone: pro-poor landmanagement, customary tenure andinformal settlements have to be inte-grated in the systems. Land adminis-tration can be substantially improved:Geo-ICT can support better perform-ance via standardisation, moderndata acquisition tools, workflows indata processing, and data distribu-tion. It is easy to make land adminis-tration very complex, but it is verycomplex to make it easy.

Finally, the participants of the shortcourses concerned indicated thatthere is a great demand for suchcourses in the regions.

On 1 March 2004, the Dutch Min -istry of Housing, Spatial Planningand the Environment granted 20 million euros to Ruimte voorGeo-Informatie (RGI), an innovationprogramme executed by a speciallycreated foundation of the samename. The board of the RGI founda-tion includes representatives ofknowledge institutes, companiesand public authorities, while repre-sentatives of the Ministry of Hous -ing, Spatial Planning and theEnvironment, the Ministry of Agri -culture, Nature and Food Quality,and the Ministry of Transport, PublicWorks and Water Management siton its Supervisory Board.

With an investment of 20 millioneuros, RGI is imposing structure onlocation-specific information in theNetherlands. This work is of vital im-portance, because digital maps aremore than a way of providing usefuldata on where people, buildings, soiltypes, storms and roads are, they are

3D Topography Sander Oude Elberink oudeelberink@itc.nl

A new 3D topographical product model is being furtherdeveloped, together with new methods and techniquesfor data acquisition, storage and analysis. The mainproject objective is to force a major breakthrough in theapplication of 3D topography in corporate ICT environ-ments through the structural embedding of 3D meth-ods and techniques.

absolutely indispensable for theproper functioning of society (source:www.rgi.nl).

ITC is participating in the RGI pro-gramme through the projects givenbelow.

11ITC News 2006-4

E D U C A T I O N N E W S • R E S E A R C H N E W S

Participants and distinguishedguests at the opening sessionin Yogyakarta, Indonesia

research news

Innovation Programme Ruimte voor Geo-Informatie

Lyande Eelderink eelderink@itc.nl

Sander Oude Elberink

Oude Elberink’s PhD research focuseson the automated acquisition of 3Dtopographic objects. Airborne laserdata and 2D map data will be inte-grated and processed in a rule-basedapproach. Rules for 3D reconstructionare being set up for groups of ob-jects. These rules have to ensure the

Virtual Reality for Urban Planning and SafetyShi Pu spu@itc.nl

Geo-Information Management for Civil EngineeringInfrastructure (GIMCIW)Wiebke Tegtmeier tegtmeier@itc.nl

Realistic 3D city models are requiredfor many purposes, such as urbanplanning and safety. Originally, the in-volvement of citizens in urban plan-ning was generally limited to 2Ddesigns because they might have diffi-culty in interpreting 3D design plans.The availability of 3D models of thecurrent urban environment, as well asnew urban objects and their alterna-tives, would increase this involvementremarkably. 3D city models can alsoplay an important role in security

Around the world, people are busywith the realisation of infrastructuralprojects. Efficient planning and con-struction requires the variety of dataand knowledge collected by differentprofessionals (e.g. engineering geolo-gists, GIS technologists) to be com-bined. To facilitate the exchange ofgeo-information throughout thewhole process of infrastructural de-velopment, the GIMCIW project con-

centrates on developing various toolsand frameworks. One of the mainchallenges is data harmonisation.Problems in this context are oftencaused by uncertainties relating todata, interpretations and real-worldrepresentations.

Consequently, Tegtmeier’s PhD re-search covers two major topics. Thefirst deals with the quantification of

analyses. A realistic environment is essential for making good securityanalyses and for training purposes,particularly where physical security(dangerous activity, security of infra-structure) and social security (liveabil-ity, feeling of security) are concerned.Shi Pu’s PhD research focuses on theautomatic reconstruction of 3D citymodels. Urban features will be ex-tracted from terrestrial laser data and2D map data and used in geometricalmodels. Then digital imagery will be

geometrical, topological and seman-tic correctness of the 3D map. More information and initial results (a 3D reconstruction of the complexinterchange Prins Claus Plein) can befound at:www.itc.nl/personal/oudeelberink.

used for the model textures. More information and some simpleexamples can be found athttp://www.itc.nl/personal/pushi.

quality and uncertainty, particularly in(sub-)surface representations. Thesecond focuses on the harmonisation

12 ITC News 2006-4

R E S E A R C H N E W S

Shi Pu

Wiebke Tegtmeijer

TU Delft, ITC, Topografische Dienst Kadaster, Rijkswaterstaat – AdviesdienstGeo-informatie & ICT, Oracle USA & NL, NedGraphics CAD/GIS B.V., Stuurgroep AHN

Prof. Dr Ir Vosselman (ITC)

ITC, Cyclomedia, Oranjewoud, CebraProf. Dr Ir Vosselman (ITC)

Laser point cloud superimposed on the 3D reconstructed model of highways on the Prins Clausplein, The Hague

of metadata and semantics as usedby different parties involved in infra-structural projects. Using common se-mantics that include sharp definitionsof the various terms frequently usedby the different professions, a uni-

A topographic map is a general refer-ence map that can be used for manypurposes. It can, for instance, be usedas a base map, providing a topo-graphic and geographical setting fora thematic map. The function of abase map is to facilitate localisationand orientation and to highlight geo-graphical relations between the the-matic information and thetopographic information. For manyapplications, topographic maps pro-duced by national mapping agencies

The objective of Poppe’s research is todevelop a method for the automatedgeneralisation of topographic infor-mation in order to derive base mapsfor specific applications. Applicationrefers in this context to the retrieval,consultation and processing of infor-mation in support of user require-ments. To best satisfy the informationneeds of the users and the goals ofthe geographical informationproviders, this method for automatedgeneralisation should be application-driven. Poppe will use principles ofuser-centred design and task analysis

for the development of this method. The objective of Foerster’s research isthe technical development of a web-based framework for the application-driven generalisation of Dutchtopographic data. Foerster is seekingnot only a classification of differentgeneralisation operators but also anappropriate web-based architecturefor generalisation processing.

are used as base maps. Nevertheless,these topographic maps are not prin-cipally designed to support the spe-cific topographic information needsthat the users of the thematic mapsmay have in order to achieve theirgoals. Consequently, using topo-graphic maps that are not specificallydesigned for the applications involvedmay cause misinterpretations.Generalisation can bridge this prob-lem, as it involves reducing the com-plexity in a dataset or map at reduced

scale by extracting or emphasisingthe essential and meaningful infor-mation and simultaneously removingor suppressing the inessential andmeaningless information, in order toenhance the usability of the datasetor map.

form framework is to be developedthroughout this research to promotedata harmonisation.

13ITC News 2006-4

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Theodor Foerster

Generation and Use of Base Maps for Integrated Querying of Digital Physical Development PlansEddie Poppe poppe@itc.nl

Theodor Foerster foerster@itc.nl

Automated Application-Driven Generalisation ofTopographical Information in order to Derive Base MapsEddie Poppe poppe@itc.nl

Theodor Foerster foerster@itc.nl

Eddie Poppe

TNO-NITG, TU Delft, ITC, Grontmij, DHV, Arcadis, Fugro Inpark, Toposcopie,RWS-Bouwdienst, RWS-AGI, Boskalis, EnergieNed/Nuon

Dr Robert Hack (ITC), Dr Sisi Zlatanova (TU Delft), Prof. Dr Ir Peter vanOosterom (TU Delft)

ITC, TU Delft, Wageningen UR, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and theEnvironment, Province of Overijssel, Province of Zuid-Holland, Kadaster, Topografische DienstKadaster, LSV GBKN, ESRI NL, NedGraphics and Bentley

Dr Corné van Elzakker and Prof. Dr Menno-Jan Kraak (both ITC)Dr Jantien Stoter and Prof. Dr Menno-Jan Kraak (both ITC)

Like all reputable research insti-tutes, ITC is aware of the impor-tance of maintaining its position atthe forefront of science, in this caseof geo-information science andearth observation. We strive toachieve this through our researchand graduate programme. But toknow how well (or otherwise) ourprogramme is performing, we needto have independent experts evaluate it.

The current research and graduateprogramme was launched in 2001and, after five years, was thought tobe due for evaluation. Preparationswere begun at the beginning of 2006and culminated on 26-27 September2006 with a series of interviews ofITC researchers by a visiting commit-tee of experts:• Professor Tejo Spit (chairman),

Utrecht University • Professor Marc Bierkens,

Utrecht University• Professor Rik Leemans,

Wageningen University andResearch Centre

• Professor Salle Kroonenberg, Delft University of Technology

• Dr Theo Jetten (secretary),Wageningen University andResearch Centre.

The committee was asked to evaluatethe ITC Research and GraduateProgramme according to the KNAW

Standard Evaluation Protocol, whichis the protocol used for the (re-)ac-creditation of research schools andgraduate schools. At the end of thecommittee’s visit, its chairman gave averbal report of its preliminary find-ings to the audience gathered in theauditorium.

He first mentioned that the commit-tee much appreciated the documen-tation/self-evaluation, which it found“open.” The SWOT analyses wereparticularly helpful in formulatingquestions and conclusions. Also thecommittee appreciated the open-mindedness/attitude of both the staffand research students it interviewed.

Using as one benchmark ITC researchprior to 2001, the committee felt thatthe programme as formulated in2001 had been a good impetus forresearch at ITC. Using as anotherbenchmark the performances of theresearch institutes of the committeemembers themselves, the committeeevaluated the programme as satisfac-tory in terms of quality and productiv-ity and as good in terms of relevanceand vitality. At the level of spearheadsand projects, however, the committeenoted large differences in quality, pro-ductivity and vitality. It questioned theadded value of spearheads and ad-vised the consideration of new waysof clustering excellent researchgroups.

Turning its attention to the researchstudents, the committee pointed outthat every research student shouldhave a sound training and supervisionplan. There was also a need for re-search student representation in theboard(s) dealing with the researchand graduate programme.

By way of conclusions, the committeefelt that an enormous effort hadbeen realised and it was time to askourselves if we were now where wewanted to be. If, rather, we want tofurther improve, we must (1)strengthen research in the academicsense, and (2) translate the findingsand recommendations of the com-mittee throughout the organisation,even to the individual level.

Subsequently the committee com-pleted its task by delivering a concisewritten report, which elaborated onthe findings summarised here. Thenon 11-12 December 2006, some 25ITC professors and associate profes-sors discussed the report and soughtways forward at a “research thinktank”. The sound ideas for furtherimproving that emerged are nowbeing brought to bear on structuringand managing the next phase of theITC Research and GraduateProgramme.

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Visiting Committee Evaluates the ITC Research and Graduate Programme 2001-2005

Martin Hale hale@itc.nl

Listings of academic output of all ITC’s staff members, PhD and MSc students are available at http://www.itc.nl/library/Academic_output/default.asp

A four-day short course on ad-vanced optical data processing forwater management was held forselected principal investigatorsand project members at theUniversity of the Western Cape,Cape Town, from 22 to 25 Novem -ber 2006. These participants weresponsored by the Tiger CapacityBuilding Facility and othersources.

Originally, 15 projects should havebeen represented, but due to sometechnical difficulties, not all represen-tatives could be present. An addi-tional five students were directlysponsored by ESA, and six extra stu-dents were supported by SouthAfrica. During the course, interviewswere held with the participants repre-senting the selected Tiger projects fortailor-made capacity building. The re-sults of these discussions were imple-mented in the individual trainingplans. At the end, the course partici-pants completed an evaluation form.This feedback was very positive, giv-ing us encouragement for the nextcourse.

The University of Western Cape pro-vided excellent facilities for thecourse, and special thanks go toProfessor Xu and Mr Nel. The TigerCapacity Building Facility is hosted byITC. (Source: The Tiger Newsletter,issue N.5 December 2006)

15ITC News 2006-4

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project news

TIGER Advanced Course on Optical Data Processing for Water Management

Bob Su b_su@itc.nl

The course participants

TIGER Advanced Course on OpticalRemote Sensing for Water ManagementCape Town, South Africa, 22-25 November 2006

Day 1: Radiative transfer and atmospheric correction ofoptical data (Lecturer: Professor Wout Verhoef, professor ofadvanced earth observation)

Day 2: Spectral signatures and applications in land useclassification and water quality (Lecturer: Dr Zoltan Vekerdy, assistant professor)

Day 3: Time series processing and applications (Lecturer: Professor Wout Verhoef, professor ofadvanced earth observation)

Day 4: Energy balance and applications in estimation ofevapotranspiration (Lecturer: Professor Bob Su, professor of spatialhydrology and water resources management)

TIGER aims at developing sustain-able earth observation informationservices for integrated water re-sources management, with a focuson Africa. One of the main activitieswithin this initiative is supportingwater-related research in the re-gion. Fifty selected projects formthe research component of the pro-gramme, and these are carried outby African and North-South researchteams. Since September 2006, theirwork has been supported by theTIGER Capacity Building Facility(TBCF), which is responsible for set-ting up a capacity building andtraining programme in support ofthe research.

The work is based on a long-term vi-sion following the initiatives of theparticipating African countries on de-veloping human, technical and insti-tutional capacity. In the first phase, an18-month plan is being carried outwith the following objectives:• To support at least 15 TIGER re-

search projects with tailored capac-ity building activities to achievetheir objectives, while developingtheir human, technical and institu-tional capacity to use earth obser-vation technology within the watermanagement process.

• To contribute to developing sus-tainable information services andsystems to improve integratedwater management (IWRM) (at re-gional, national and local scales) byusing space-based technology toovercome the water informationgap in African countries.

• To support the consolidation of acritical mass of technical centres,water authorities and universities inAfrica with the skills and capabili-ties to derive, disseminate and usespace-based water-relevant infor-mation for IWRM.

• To contribute to improving waterresearch results in Africa by exploit-ing the advantages of earth obser-vation technology.

ITC (www.itc.nl) is implementing thefirst phase of the TCBF. Working outthe detailed programme of theFacility is an iterative process betweenITC, ESA and the participating Africanresearch groups.

The organisation of two advancedtraining courses focusing on the mainneeds of the selected projects is partof the programme. In fact, the firstsuch course was held at theUniversity of Western Cape, in CapeTown, South Africa, at the end of

November 2006 (see separate articleon page 15). A second course isplanned to take place mid-2007.

Complementary to the advancedtraining courses, a tailor-made train-ing programme is being imple-mented, which consists of threecomponents:• enrolment of project staff in core-

level remote sensing and GIS e-learning courses

• participation of project staff in ap-plied short course modules accord-ing to their research topics andneeds, both through face-to-facetraining at ITC and e-learning viathe World Wide Web

• support for project research in theform of on-the-job training focus-ing on the execution of the re-search projects through personaltutoring and supervision.

The programme also foresees initia-tives for MSc/PhD research and train-ing, but additional funds are neededfor these to be fully realised.

In the first phase, the available re-sources permit the inclusion of partic-ipants from 15 projects. However,from the very beginning, ITC has en-couraged the other TIGER researchprojects to participate in the activitiesof the Facility.

The TBCF is also active in the field ofcommunication and promotion,maintaining a website with online re-sources, education material and the

16 ITC News 2006-4

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TIGER Capacity Building Facility: An Important Pillar of Sustainability

Bob Su b_su@itc.nl

Participants listening to a lecture at the first TCBF training course (Advanced Optical RemoteSensing, 22-25 November 2006, Cape Town)

latest news, preparing a special TIGERissue of an international scientificjournal, issuing press releases, and or-ganising contributions to the TIGERbrochure.

By preparing, in collaboration withpartners, proposals to suitable donorsand mobilising additional resources,

Land degradation, a decline in landquality owing to human activities, isa worldwide problem. It is directlylinked to food security and the qual-ity of the environment. In Thailand,land degradation processes such asland sliding, soil erosion, floodingand soil salinity are common issues.

A project aimed at developingmethodologies to assess land degra-dation in the context of land useplanning started in 2003, in collabo-ration with the Land DevelopmentDepartment (LDD) of the Ministry ofAgriculture and Cooperatives,Bangkok, Thailand. Activities such asstaff training and collaboration onthe application of various tools, tech-niques and methods in assessing landdegradation have been carried outwithin the framework of this project.The project is being coordinated byDr Dhruba Pikha Shrestha, and ITC’sDr Abbas Farshad and Drs DinandAlkema are also involved. In Thailandthe coordinators are Mr AnukulSuchinai and Mr Satira Udomsri, bothITC alumni, while overall responsibil-ity lies with Mr Chumphol Lilittham,director of the LDD Soil Survey andLand Use Planning. During the firstphase of the project, many LDD staffreceived training, both at ITC and inBangkok. Some project results havealready been presented on various oc-casions, for example, at the 25thAsian Conference on Remote Sensing

(Thailand, 2004); a conference inVietnam (2005); a workshop in HuaHin (Thailand, 2005); the 2nd AnnualMeeting of the Asia OceanicGeophysical Society (Singapore,2005); the International Conferenceon Human Impacts on Soil QualityAttributes (Iran, 2005); and the WorldSoil Congress (USA, 2006).

Agreement for Phase II of the LDD ProjectThe first phase of the three-year proj-ect was completed in 2005 and wasrounded off by a workshop in HuaHin, where the results of the workcarried out within the time framewere presented. This led to the proj-ect being extended for a secondphase, with some adjustments to theproject document. The addendum tothe proposal for the second phase ofthe project was finalised, and theagreement was signed by LDDDirector-General Chaiwat Sittibushand ITC Director External Affairs SjaakBeerens on 29 August 2006 inBangkok.

Pilot Area Studies Pilot areas were selected for studieson land degradation problems.Landslides and soil erosion are themain land degradation problems inthe Doi Angkhan area, about 160 kmnorth of Chiang Mai. In Petchabunprovince (the Namchun and Lomsakareas), flooding is an annual problemin addition to landslides and soil ero-sion. The landslides and flash floodcaused by excessive rain in 2001,which caused severe damage to landand infrastructure and the loss ofhuman life in Petchabun province, isstill vividly remembered. On the otherhand, in the northeastern part ofThailand (Korat), soil salinity is themain issue. Dr Abbas Farshad, DrsDinand Alkema and Dr DhrubaShrestha have all been involved inland degradation studies in Thailand.

Field data are crucial for analysingand assessing land degradation haz-ards. ITC students have been select-ing topics related to land degradationfor their MSc research in the projectpilot areas in Thailand, and the datacollected during their fieldwork haveproved very useful for the project. In2006 five ITC students did fieldworkin Thailand. Other data are being col-lected by the LDD staff responsiblefor designated tasks (e.g. Mr AnukulSuchinai: landslide data; Mr BoonrakPatanakanog: land use data;Mr. Satira Udomsri: soil erosion data;

the core activities such as training ses-sions and tailored capacity buildingactions will be reinforced.

The results of phase 1 will be sum-marised, and a proposal will be maderegarding how to proceed with theactivities, including the attraction offunding from donor organisations.

The TCBF is now up and running.Please do not hesitate to contact us(b_su@itc.nl) with your questions andsuggestions, as the Facility is open toall TIGER participants and aims toserve the whole TIGER community.(Source: The Tiger Newsletter, issueN.5 December 2006)

17ITC News 2006-4

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Assessing Land Degradation in Thailand

Dhruba Pikha Shrestha shrestha@itc.nl

ITC Director External Affairs Sjaak Beerens(left) and LDD Director-General ChaiwatSittibush (right) signing the project agreement

Mr Somsak Sukchan: soil salinitydata; Ms Saowanee Sriprachan, flooddata; and Dr Sumitra Watana: soilmapping/soil salinity data).

Tailor-made Course Within the framework of the LDDproject, a tailor-made course on theapplication of geopedology and digi-tal terrain analysis techniques formapping soils on sloping areas wasconducted during the period 21August to 8 September 2006. Thecourse was designed to assist soil sur-veyors in using modern tools andtechniques to carry out soil mappingin the inaccessible mountainous areasof Thailand.

In former times, most of the agricul-tural practices in Thailand were con-centrated in the lowlands, and thesloping areas were covered with for-est. In the recent past, however, dueto population pressure, the moun-tainous areas have been encroachedfor cultivation purposes. This has ledto deforestation, exposing the slopingareas to various land degradationprocesses and resulting in landslidesand soil erosion in the uplands andannual flooding in the lowlands.Although soil data are indispensablefor proper land use planning, suchdata are often missing for slopingareas because in the past soil survey-ing concentrated mainly on the low-lands. The tailor-made course wastherefore designed to achieve the

rapid mapping of soil in inaccessiblemountainous sloping areas. Forty-twosoil surveyors assigned to differentplaces in Thailand were taught howto use a geopedological approach inimage interpretation, in combinationwith the digital processing of remotesensing data and the application ofvarious terrain parameters derivedfrom elevation data.

The course was given by Dr Farshadand Dr Shrestha. The first week wasspent in Bangkok and dealt with geo-

morphology, the principles of geope-dology applied to soil mapping, andcomputer-based predictive soil map-ping. The lectures were combinedwith exercises on photo interpreta-tion. The second week was devotedto fieldwork in the Hua Namring areain Chiang Rai province, about 60 kmfrom Chiang Mai. At the end of thefieldwork, groups of participants pre-sented their findings. The third weekwas devoted mainly to the applica-tion of modern tools and techniques(e.g. satellite image analysis tech-niques, deriving and applying variousterrain parameters from digital eleva-tion models) for soil mapping andland degradation assessment.

The three-week course came to aclose with the presentation of certifi-cates. Before the official closing, MsMarjan Kreijns, ITC representative forThailand and Vietnam, explained tothe course participants theNetherlands Fellowship Programmeand the application procedures forstudying at ITC.

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ITC News 2006-4

With course participants

Fieldwork in Petchabun

Measuring a cross section of a river Fieldwork in Korat

Taking soil data from a road cut

In October 2006, ITC participated inthe 50th anniversary celebrations ofWuhan Technical University ofSurveying and Mapping (WTUSM),which is now part of Wuhan Univer -sity.

WTUSM is recognised as the founderof the surveying, mapping, pho-togrammetry and remote sensing dis-cipline in China. ITC and WTUSMhave a longstanding relationship, onethat started 27 years ago. The cele-brations were attended by some4,000 guests and WTUSM alumni.The ITC group consisted of RectorMartien Molenaar, Professor John vanGenderen, Dr Richard Sliuzas, PaulSchoonackers and Chang Zheng. Tocommemorate the event, the WuhanUniversity organised not only a seriesof workshops but also the 14thInternational Conference onGeoinformatics.

The 50th anniversary of WTUSM wasalso an excellent occasion for ITCstaff to meet many ITC alumni inChina and friends from all over theworld.

A two-day workshop under the title“Modern Aspects of Remote Sensingand Geospatial Data Processing”was organised at the NationalRemote Sensing Association (NRSA)in Hyderabad, India, on 24 and 25

November 2006. The key organiserswere Professor A. Stein from ITCand Dr K.M.M. Rao from NRSA.

The workshop was chaired by Profes -sor B.L. Deekshatulu and was at-

tended by some 50 people, includingDr K. Rhadakrishnan, the director ofNRSA. The workshop focused on theresearch field of spatial data mining -from database issues, through mod-ern methodology, to relevant applica-

19ITC News 2006-4

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events

50th Anniversary of Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping (WTUSM)

Chang Zheng itc-china@itc.nl or changzheng2004@gmail.com

ITC representative in China

Director-general of SBSM welcomes the honoured guests

The president of WuhanUniversity addressing the alumni on the 50thanniversary of WTUSM

NRSA Workshop:Modern Aspects of Remote Sensing and Geospatial Data Processing

Alfred Stein stein@itc.nl

tions. It was the fourth scientificmeeting to take place between staffof ITC and NRSA in the last two and ahalf years.

The presentations were limited innumber and short in length so thatcrucial information could be ex-changed. It was felt that exchangingscientific views and opinions throughopen and somewhat lengthy discus-sion was an important part of theworkshop. This apparently workedout quite nicely, leading to a “dia-logue” type of a workshop where dif-ferent views were expressed. Theprogramme was further structured sothat, as far as possible, speakers onthe same topic gave their presenta-tions in succession. Although it wasnot possible to maintain this through-out, at times it stimulated very lively

Conventional land registration andcadastre hardly seem to appealwhen it comes to solving the landproblems in Africa. The colonial her-itage (in the form of individualproperty rights) is difficult to matchwith the traditional customary landrights, with chieftaincy and familyauthority.

Uncertain land tenure and fewermeans of securing one’s individual orcommon property are the widespreadresult in Africa. Unequal access toland constitutes another social timebomb and threat to societal solidaritythat is not easily solved by land redis-tribution processes. The UnitedNations University requested theSchool for Land AdministrationStudies (an initiative of ITC and theCadastre, Land Registry and Mapping

Agency) to organise a meeting ofhigh officials from various Africancountries (a meeting of decision mak-ers) who are responsible for the de-velopment of national policiesregarding the land issue (land policy,land management, land administra-tion). The aim was to determine opin-ion within the governments as tohow land policy should proceed andhow this would impact on land ad-ministration. This might shed new

discussions. Discussion topics rangedfrom the applicability of the variousmethods and techniques to projectsat NRSA, through data exchange is-sues, to outspoken intentions to col-laborate further. The workshopfinished with a two-hour tourthrough the facilities of NRSA. Thisshowed the various ways in whichmodern Indian satellites are beingused and applied for diverse tasks

and topics. For example, importantwork is currently being done withsensors on board the Resourcesat-Iand Cartosat satellites.

Apparently a regular schedule of ini-tiatives has now taken effect. It is en-visaged that this will lead to furtherstaff exchange next year. The nextmeeting is scheduled for December2007, this time at ITC.

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Workshop programme:

Rolf A. de By: A database view on geospatial imagery:

requirements for data mining

Norman Kerle: Social vulnerability assessment using satellite data: a case study for Tegucigalpa, Honduras

C. V. Rao: Automatic image registration

Alfred Stein: Developments in image mining for vague objects

Valentyn Tolpekin: Super-resolution mapping from satellite images withMarkov random field and simulated annealing

G. Varaprasad: Development of super-resolution techniques from IRSimages

Wim Bakker: Hyperspectral split and merge

S. Subramaniam: Automatic land use - land cover feature extraction

A. Senthil Kumar: Development of analytic software tools for hyperspectral image analysis and processing

K. Vinod Kumar: Initial results on hyperspectral data analysis for end-member separation for lithological discrimination

Martin Hale: Mapping potential for gold in the Alpine-Himalayan belt

Mark H.P. Zuidgeeest: Using remote sensing and GIS in ecological transportfootprint analysis: some research ideas

P. Aravind Kumar: Terrain visualisation for large areas

Proceedings of the workshop, containing the abstracts of all presentations, have been produced in both digital and printed form.

Professor A. Stein (left) and Dr K. Radhakrishnan during the workshop

Innovative Approaches to Land Administration in Africa

Paul van der Molen molen@itc.nl

light on how land administration sys-tems should be developed to bettermeet the demands. In turn this wouldhave an effect on how capacity build-ing could be arranged.

The meeting on 7 and 8 December2006 at the Polytechnic of Namibia inWindhoek attracted about 25 high-level officials - ranging from director-generals of lands to landcommissioners to members ofsupreme courts - from almost 20African countries. After two days ofpresentations and discussions, theparticipants could make up theirminds. First of all, it was concludedthat all countries had similar politicalobjectives, such as poverty eradica-tion, social stability, economicgrowth, food security and environ-mental sustainability, and that therole of land in these objectives wasparamount. All countries were at-tempting to define the role of landand to formulate government policyfor dealing with this issue.Differences, of course, were observedin the vision, objectives and principlesthat constituted such policies, but inall cases the institutional aspects ofpluriform land tenure arrangements,rules for access to land by women,foreigners, youth, bonafide and law-ful occupants, and “strategic roadmaps” were addressed. Furthermore,at different levels attention was paidto ways of implementing such landpolicies. The participants concludedthat setting up a legal frameworkwas a prerequisite, and that manycountries were struggling when itcame to getting the right laws inplace. In addition, it seemed difficultto appropriately allocate the tasksand mandates among public, privateand customary parties. Creating effi-cient, low-cost and transparent landadministration processes was still achallenge, while the application ofsubsidiarity principles (do a task atthe government level where it is ap-propriate) differed from country tocountry.

The participants found that the de-sign of a land policy was best facili-tated through fully consultativeprocesses, with attention given todonor coordination and risk assess-ments. The implementation of a landpolicy appeared to be particularly in-teresting. What kinds of instrumentsmight allow the authorities to makethe policy a reality? There are a few,such as measures to improve landtenure security, even in a pluriformlegal environment; measures to regu-late the land market; land use plan-ning; development and control; landtaxation; and measures for land re-form. What emerged was that con-flict resolution mechanisms are partof the solution, as evidence showedthat without such mechanisms thewhole judiciary system might becomeclogged up, causing enormous delaysand backlogs.

It became clear that implementingthese instruments depends on the ex-istence of tools such as systems forland registration, cadastre, valuationand land use, where the maxim “aslittle as possible, as much as neces-sary” should be applied, always takinginto account specific local situations.According to the audience, not onlywas capacity building an importantissue when it came to making every-thing work, but also cost efficiencyand the use of ICT. At the end of themeeting, the participants recom-

21ITC News 2006-4

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The meeting attracted about 25 high-level officials from almost 20 African countries

mended that political objectives, pol-icy, and policy instruments and toolsbe soundly related, in order to pro-mote efficiency and effectiveness. Itwas recognised that land policy mightbe a single policy document, but alsoa set of documents over time; that aneffective policy might be enhancedthrough participatory processes; andthat implementation might profit fromthe principles of subsidiarity.

Africa has the ability to create newforms of land tenure, such as flexibletenure, certificates of occupancy, andvillage titles. This should continue,but it was also recommended that at-tention be paid to ensuring the betterperformance of land administrationsystems. With regard to ICT, the par-ticipants made it clear that it wasprobably necessary to use technologyof the highest sophistication possibleto achieve good performance at lowcost. Finally, African high officialsconcerned with land apparently lacksufficient opportunity to meet regu-larly and coordinate land policy andland management in their continent.Maybe the UN could play a role? Thiswas the final suggestion thatwrapped up the meeting.

School for Land AdministrationStudiesITC: Mr. Tom Loran (loran@itc.nl)www.itc.nl/unu/la/default.asp

In 2006, people all over the ThaiKingdom were extremely proud tobe celebrating the 60th anniversaryof the accession of His Majesty KingBhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) tothe throne.

To commemorate this momentousoccasion, in cooperation with theRoyal Thai Survey Department, theGeo–Informatics and Space Technol -ogy Development Agency (GISTDA)organised the International Confer -ence on Space Technology andGeo–Informatics 2006 in Pattayafrom 5 to 8 November 2006. Themain conference objective was toshare knowledge and experience inspace technology, with presentationsand discussions concerning the fieldof geo-informatics technology appli-cations and related technologies.There were 450 participants frommany countries. ITC was representedby Rector Martien Molenaar, EduardWestinga and Marjan Kreijns.Professor Molenaar was one of thekey speakers on the opening day,with his presentation “Good gover-nance requires good geo-information:geo-information and earth observa-tion in a globalising world”.

The conference provided a great op-portunity to meet a large number ofcolleagues and friends from the geo-information sector. We were veryproud to notice that our network ofITC alumni in Thailand is substantialand forms the core of the Thai re-mote sensing and GIS society. Duringthe conference Professor Molenaarhad fruitful discussions with manyparticipants, including two distin-guished ITC alumni: Dr ThongchaiCharupat, executive director ofGISTDA, and Lt Gen. Dr VichitSatharanond, director of the Royal

Thai Survey Department and chair-man of the GISTDA Executive Board.Professor Molenaar also had the op-portunity to explain ITC’s work to HisExcellency Professor Dr YongyuthYuthavong, the minister of scienceand technology.

The conference took place during thefull moon in November, and at thattime one of the most beautiful andpopular festivals, Loy Krathong, is cel-ebrated all over Thailand. During thefirst evening of the conference theparticipants went to the beach to

float their krathongs (see photo-graph). By the end of the evening,there were hundreds of flickeringlights bobbing up and down on thewater and balloons with candles wereflying in the air. It was a spectacularand memorable evening.

For more information and to down-load Professor Molenaar’s presenta-tion and other conference papers,please visit:http://spacegeo.gistda.or.th/

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International Conference on Space Technology and Geo-Informatics 2006

Marjan Kreijns kreijns@itc.nl

Professor Molenaar and Marjan Kreijns withtwo ITC alumni who work at Royal ThaiSurvey Department

Professor Molenaar having an informal talkwith the minister of science and technologyof Thailand (in the middle Lt Gen. Vichit)

Visiting the exhibition ITC alumnus Chatchai showing his krathongto Marjan Kreijns and Eduard Westinga

HEF Vietnam 18-26 September 2006 Hanoi, Danang, Ho Chi Minh City,Can Tho

A group of 15 Dutch higher educa-tion institutes, including ITC, partici-pated in the Holland Education Fairs2006 Vietnam. The event was organised by NESOVietnam (Netherlands EducationSupport Office) and received financialsupport from EVD, the Ministry ofEconomic Affairs’ Agency for Interna -tional Business and Cooperation.From 18 to 26 September, fairs, semi-nars, matchmaking events and agentmeetings were organised in fourcities in Vietnam. The ITC booth atthe fairs was staffed by Ms MarjanKreijns and several highly enthusiasticITC alumni. The range of events waswell organised by Mr BorisDongelmans (director NESO Vietnam)and his team, and the fairs in the fourmain cities of Vietnam attracted morethan 2,300 visitors.

Receptions were hosted in Hanoi andHo Chi Minh City by the Dutch em-bassy and the Dutch consulate, re-spectively, under the slogan “Hollandwelcomes its alumni”. The Nether -lands Alumni Network in Vietnam(NANV) was officially established dur-ing these events. If you would like tobecome a member, please contactNESO Vietnam (Ms Thuy Chi: e-mail:chi.b@nesovietnam.com).

EHEF Bangkok, 11-12 November 2006

The European Higher Education Fair(EHEF) took place at the QueenSirikit Exhibition Center in Bangkokon 11 and 12 November 2006.

Higher education institutions from all25 EU member states were invited toexhibit at the fair. ITC alumni MrsParida Kuneepong and Mr ChatchaiChinavornsiriwattana and ITC repre-sentative Marjan Kreijns staffed the

ITC booth. They received visits frommany interested students looking forfurther studies, and had discussionswith their parents about living andstudying in Enschede. The assistanceof the ITC alumni was very important

23ITC News 2006-4

E V E N T S

Dutch Consul-General Ton van Zeeland visit-ing the ITC booth in Ho Chi Minh City

Dutch Ambassador Andre Haspels visitingthe ITC booth in Hanoi

ITC alumni at the reception at the Dutchconsulate in Ho Chi Minh City. Ms Le ThiDinh, who graduated from ITC in 1973, was one of the first Vietnamese graduates

Participants at the HEF Vietnam

ITC alumni at the reception in Hanoi

Education Fairs in Thailand and Vietnam

Marjan Kreijns kreijns@itc.nl

Dr Ben Maathuis and Ir Bas Retsios received the AARSE-ESA Award for theirpaper entitled “Installation, setup and use of a low cost C-band Meteosat-8ground receiving station in Rwanda”.

The paper was co-authored by FlorentLasry and Michelle Schilling of theGeographic Information Systems &Remote Sensing Research andTraining Centre (CGIS-NUR) at theNational University of Rwanda.

Ben presented the paper at the 6thAfrican Association of RemoteSensing of the Environment (AARSE),which was held in Cairo, Egypt, from30 October to 2 November 2006.

AARSE Award of Merit for ITC

During the same conference ITC re-ceived the AARSE Award of Meritfor “The unflinching support of ITCfor capacity building in geo-infor-mation science and earth observa-tion in Africa“.

The award was presented to ITC’sDirector of External Affairs SjaakBeerens by Professor Ayman El-Dessouki, chairman of the EgyptianNational Authority for RemoteSensing and Space Sciences.

in promoting the Institute. MinisterKhunying Dhipavadee Meksawan(minister attached to the PrimeMinister’s Office), accompanied byDutch Ambassador Pieter Marres,showed great interest in ITC’s workand courses (see photographs).

A reception was hosted by the Dutchambassador for the Dutch participat-ing universities and higher educationinstitutes and all their alumni.

24 ITC News 2006-4

E V E N T S - A N N O U N C E M E N T S

announcements

AARSE-ESA Award for Best Paper Presentation for Ben Maathuis and Bas Retsios

Janneke Kalf kalf@itc.nl

Mrs Parida Kuneepong in the ITC booth atEHEF Bangkok

“Dutch” girls offering stroopwafels at the fair

Minister and ambassador visiting the ITCbooth at EHEF Bangkok

Dutch Ambassador Pieter Marres welcomingalumni and representatives of the Dutchhigher education institutes

See also: http://www.cgisnur.org/article.php3?id_article=19

The Association of European Schoolsof Planning (AESOP) is a network ofuniversities and university depart-ments that teach and conduct re-search within the field of urban andregional planning.

The network exists to promote thedevelopment of teaching curriculaand research within the memberschools through regular dialogue, ex-change visits, and the disseminationof research and best practice. Theseaims are achieved through an annualcongress where staff and studentsnot only give presentations and dis-cuss papers on European, national,regional and local spatial planning is-sues, but also debate planning curric-ula. A three-day PhD workshopprecedes the congress.

All the prominent planning schools inEurope are members, and more andmore schools and individuals in theworld of planning are deciding tojoin. Also wishing to associate them-selves with AESOP’s aims and activi-ties are a number of enlightenedorganisations concerned with plan-ning aspects in the fields of govern-ment, property and development.AESOP has over 175 members, in-cluding 100 full members and 40 as-sociate members.

The ITC department Urban andRegional Planning and Geo-Information Management (PGM) hasrecently been admitted to full mem-bership. “For ITC this membershipconstitutes an excellent instrumentfor further networking with otherschools of planning in Europe,” saysChris Paresi, PGM chairman and ITCcontact person for AESOP.

25ITC News 2006-4

A N N O U N C E M E N T S

PGM Department Full Member of AESOP

Janneke Kalf kalf@itc.nl

For more information about the Association of European Schools ofPlanning (AESOP), see http://www.aesop-planning.com/

For nearly 20 years, the Joint Japan/World Bank Scholarship Programme(JJ/WBGSP) has provided learningopportunities for Master’s degreestudies to mid-career professionalsfrom developing countries. As of2007, the programme will have anew structure, with a predeter-mined list of cooperation universi-ties.

ITC is very honoured to be one of the(about 50) host institutions selectedacross the world. The programmeand ITC will engage in a cost-sharingarrangement to make optimal partici-pation possible.

ITC Selected as Host Institution for World Bank Scholarship Programme

Mark Noort m.noort@itc.nl

More information on the Japan–WorldBank Programme is available at:

www.worldbank.org/wbi/scholarships.The deadline for applications is 31 March.

Professor Ir Soekiman Atmosoedarjo,Honorary Fellow of ITC, passedaway on 27 November 2006 at theage of 83. Professor Soekiman wasappointed Honorary Fellow of ITCon 17 December 1976, on the occa-sion of ITC’s 25th anniversary, inrecognition of his contribution tothe collaboration betweenIndonesia and ITC.

He was one of the first two profes-sionals from Indonesia to be trainedat ITC, starting in 1952 with a one-year course in aerial photo interpreta-tion with a fellowship from the Foodand Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations (FAO).

In a personally written note that heprepared at my request during a visitto his residence in Jakarta in February2006, he referred to his experiencesin those early days as follows (trans-lated from Indonesian):

“We left Indonesia for theNetherlands (city of Delft), where ITCeducation was still being conductedin accommodation facilities providedby others, pending a decision by theDutch government as to where a newbuilding for ITC would be built. Thecourse was managed by Professor W.Schermerhorn, assisted by Drs DeHaas and a range of lecturers onforestry (Ir D.A. Boon), soils and car-tography. Course participants camefrom Indonesia, Thailand andMalaysia, among other countries.”

On completing his training at ITC, Ir Soekiman returned to Indonesia to take up his duties with theIndonesian Forestry Service. At the re-quest of the FAO, he later shared his

knowledge and skills in aerial photointerpretation by supporting the FAOin organising training courses in vari-ous countries in Asia.

Throughout his career, ProfessorSoekiman maintained contact withhis alma mater, visiting ITC wheneveran opportunity linked to his regularinternational travel presented itself.His last visit to ITC was on 28 April2003, when he paid a surprise visit tohis alma mater. Accompanied by hiswife, Professor Soekiman had a lookround the ITC building, checking hisstereoscopic vision and talking to sev-eral Indonesian students - spanningan age difference of some 50 years(ITC News 2003-2).

26 ITC News 2006-4

O B I T U A R Y

Obituary

Professor Ir Soekiman Atmosoedarjo

Sjaak Beerens beerens@itc.nl

Professor Ir Soekiman Atmosoedarjo

On 28 April 2003 Professor Soekiman paid a surprise visit to his alma mater.While looking around the ITC building, he checked his stereoscopic vision

With the passing of Professor Ir Soekiman Atmosoedaryo, Indonesia has losta great supporter of forest protection and conservation, his wife and chil-dren have lost a devoted husband and father, and ITC has lost a truly loyalalumnus and honorary fellow. May his soul rest in peace!

27ITC News 2006-4

V I S I T S

Professor Martien Molenaar, rector of ITC, and Mr Chang Zheng,ITC representative for China, visitedthe Heilongjiang Bureau of Survey -ing and Mapping on the 2 and 3November 2006.

The visit to the Bureau was toexplore the opportunities for cooper-ation in education, scientific research,and project management betweenthe two parties. In the morning of 2 November, the delegation visitedHeilongjiang Geomatics IndustrialPark and the National Digital Survey -ing and Mapping Production Base.They looked at the infrastructure, liv-ing environment, management leveland development potential of theBureau, and considered the Geomat -ics Industrial Park to be an organisa-tion with great attractions. ProfessorMolenaar hoped that there would bemore chances to cooperate with thePark.

Mr Li Zhigang, director of HeilongjiangBureau of Surveying and Mapping,met the delegation in the afternoon,

and they exchanged ideas on extend-ing cooperation fields, and develop-ing directions in the geomaticsindustry and in surveying and map-ping enterprises. Professor Molenaarsuggested that both parties shouldarrange for two or three coordinatorsto discuss potential cooperation.

Dr Miao Qianjun, deputy director ofHeilongjiang Bureau of Surveying andMapping, had detailed discussionswith Professor Molenaar. They notonly reviewed the situation regardingthe implementation of cooperationprojects right from their inception,but also talked about extending thefields of joint courses, strengtheningscientific and technical exchange, im-plementing science and technologyand project cooperation, and con-structing a key laboratory. ProfessorMolenaar proposed that the coopera-tion should start from degree educa-tion and short course training insurveying and mapping and the natu-ral resources management field, andthen go deeply into academic ex-change, science and technology co-

operation in surveying and mappingsciences, remote sensing application,natural resources management,urban planning management andother professional fields.

visits

Rector Visits Heilongjiang Bureau of Surveying and Mapping

Tan Jiqiang jiqiang_tan@126.com

International Cooperation Department of HLJBSM2002-2003 WREM.3 and 2004 GFM.8

Visit to the National Digital Surveying andMapping Production Base

Visit to Heilongjiang Geomatics Industrial Park

Director Li Zhigang presenting a souvenir toProfessor Molenaar

A friendly talk between Director Li Zhigangand Professor Martien Molenaar

The refresher course NovelApproaches in Earth Observationand Geo-information Science forEarth Scientists was held from 9 to20 October at the Southern andEastern African Mineral Center(SEAMIC) in Dar es Salaam,Tanzania. It was the second refresher course ina series of three offered on theAfrican continent that centred onstate-of-the-art geological remotesensing, geoscience database man-agement and spatial data integrationapproaches. The first course was of-fered in 2004 at Wits University,Johannesburg, South Africa, and thethird was offered in November 2006in Cairo, Egypt. The aim of these re-

fresher courses is to combine special-ist knowledge on economic and envi-ronmental geology, geophysics andgeochemistry with the latest insightsin the fields of geo-information man-agement and earth observation. Thecourses have been developed forearth scientists (geologists, geo-chemists, geophysicists) engaged inexploration, environmental geologyor reconnaissance mapping who areemployed in geological survey depart-ments and earth science organisa-tions in the academic or privatesector. The second refresher courseoffered at SEAMIC focused on a spa-tial data integration approach that in-tegrates hyperspectral remote sensingwith mobile GIS, digital field data

capture and geoscience databasemanagement. Among the ITC lectur-ers were Professor Freek van derMeer, Dr Ernst Schetselaar and DrsFrank van Ruitenbeek.

Twenty-two ITC alumni from Ethiopia,Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania,Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswanaand Namibia participated in a two-week programme consisting of lec-tures, practicals, workshops, and aone-day field excursion that intro-duced the participants to theQuaternary geology of the Kundichibeach area. The excursion was con-ducted by Dr Mtakiewa Medadi ofDar es Salaam University.

During the first part of the pro-gramme, the course participants wereintroduced to the theory and practiceof using hyperspectral remote sensingand ASTER data for reconnaissancegeological mapping of greenstonebelts in the Victoria lake area andmineral mapping of hydrothermal al-teration zones.

During the second part of the pro-gramme, the course participantslearned how to organise and imple-ment field validation of follow-up tar-gets obtained from the interpretationof remotely sensed data. Hands-oninstructions were provided when theparticipants interpreted a multiple-source remotely sensed dataset of theDar es Salaam area loaded in ITC-GANFELD, a scripted customisation ofESRI’s mobile GIS software ArcpadTM.This mobile GIS application has beendeveloped under ITC’s test bedgeospatial data infrastructure (TGDI)research project in cooperation with

28 ITC News 2006-4

L I F E A F T E R I T C

life after itc

Refresher Course: Novel Approaches in Earth Observation and Geo-informationScience for Earth Scientists, SEAMIC, Tanzania

Ernst Schetselaar schetselaar@itc.nl

Course participants practising digital field data capture at a limestone/clay quarry in theDar es Salaam coastal area

Course participants and lecturers at the entrance of the SEAMIC building

Closing ceremony chaired by Dr KatemaKadesse, director-general of SEAMIC, the Hon. Bernard Kamilius Membe, deputy minis-ter of energy and minerals of Tanzania, andDrs Frank van Ruitenbeek

Dr Mtakiewa Medadi of the Department ofGeology, Faculty of Science, Dar es SalaamUniversity, lecturing on karst features in theQuaternary limestone of the Dar es Salaamcoastal region

29ITC News 2006-4

L I F E A F T E R I T C

the Geological Survey of Canada. Itprovides a discipline-independentmobile data acquisition tool that canbe tailored to many geoscience disci-plines, including those represented byITC’s application departments.Participants learned how to organisefieldwork for their own projects bycompiling hierarchical class dictionar-ies and their attribute descriptions tosupport classification of point, lineand polygon features that were out-lined on the basis of image analysis.The spatial data were transferred toPDA computers for field data acquisi-tion during the fieldwork exercise,and subsequently integrated in theGIS office environment at SEAMIC tointegrate the newly acquired fielddata with the remotely sensed

From 6 to 19 November 2006, the NUFFIC-funded refresher courseEarth Observation and Dynamic GISModelling of the Earth Surface forEnvironmental Management andForest Conservation Aimed at theLatin America Region was held onthe campus of the UniversidadeFederal de Lavras (UFLA, Depart -ment of Forestry, Lavras, MinaisGerais, Brazil).

This two-week course was the follow-up to a refresher course held at ILRI inNairobi (Kenya) in 2005. Aspects ofnature conservation, forestry, earthsciences, remote sensing and geo-in-formation science were covered inthe 2006 course. The course was or-ganised by Professor Steven de Jongof the University of Utrecht, togetherwith Dr Luis de Carvalho of UFLA. ITCprofessors Victor Jetten and Freek van

der Meer of the Department of EarthSystems Analysis contributed to thecourse. In total 20 NFP alumni fromITC and IHE from Brazil, Columbia,Bolivia, Peru and Cuba participated,as well as six UFLA staff.

The first part of the course was de-voted to applied earth observationwith an emphasis on hyperspectralremote sensing. Applications of earthobservation were oriented towardsvegetation, crop, soil and mineral

dataset and the derived interpreta-tions. Hence, the participants wereexposed to a complete digital work-flow - from image analysis and inter-pretation, to field validation, andfinally to data revision and integra-tion.

During the third part of the course,the participants were introduced tostate-of-the-art hyperspectral process-ing techniques, building on the firstintroductory part. Students learnedhow to extract information on hy-droxyl-bearing mineral groups fromhyperspectral Hymap and Hyperioncubes, including spectral angle map-ping and linear unmixing. This partalso included a participant workshop,during which ITC alumni gave presen-

tations on their organisation, theirwork field, specific projects con-ducted, and the problems that arisein these projects. The sharing of ex-periences with other participants andlecturers resulted in a dialogue thatenabled a better focus of course de-liverables on participant needs.

The refresher course was officiallyclosed by the deputy minister of en-ergy and minerals of Tanzania andthe director-general of SEAMIC.During the ceremony, course certifi-cates were handed out to the courseparticipants.

Refresher Course:Earth Observation and Dynamic GIS Modelling of the Earth Surface for Environmental Management and Forest Conservation Aimed at the Latin America Region

Freek van der Meer vdmeer@itc.nl

Group photo in front of the computer building of the Department of Forestry on the UFLAcampus

mapping and monitoring. Participantswere introduced to methods of classi-fying crops, vegetation, soils androcks, as well as to methods of deter-mining their properties on the basisof remote sensing imagery. In the sec-ond half of the first week, emphasiswas put on methods using both spec-tral and spatial information for objectclassification and object properties ex-traction. These methods included therotating template matching (RTM),wavelet analysis and data fusion tech-niques.

On Saturday, the quartzite outcropsand open mining areas of quartzitenear the village of São Tomé dasLetras were visited. This area is lo-cated approximately 70 km west ofLavras. The open-pit mines ofquartzite and the outcrops show upas very bright areas in the satellite im-ages. The soils developing in theseformations do not support the natu-ral vegetation very well, resulting inopen and exposed areas of bare rock.The weathering processes of thequartzite rock formations and thecolouring of the quartzite into red,brownish and yellow colours owingto the presence of iron and/or man-ganese were studied in the quarries.The excursion on Sunday took thegroup to an area east of Lavras, nearthe city of Tiradentes. AroundTiradentes, soil erosion occurs be-cause of the removal of the naturalvegetation cover of Cerrada andopen forests, and because of over-grazing. The group visited a numberof badland areas and gully com-plexes, investigated the soil profilesand soil surfaces, and looked at thedevastating consequences of soil ero-sion processes.

On Monday of the second week, thegroup visited the Instituto Nacionalde Pesquisas Espacias (INPE), theBrazilian aerospace establishmentbased in São José dos Campos.Participants were welcomed at INPEby Dr Flavio J. Ponzoni. Dr Ponzonigave an overview of INPE’s activities

and explained the importance ofquantitative methods in remote sens-ing. After his presentation, the INPElaboratory facilities were visited,where Dr Ponzoni showed how theportable field spectrometers are usedin the laboratory and in the field tocollect accurate spectra of objects.

The remainder of the second week of the course was devoted to landdegradation processes, to spatio-dynamic modelling of these un-favourable land degradationprocesses, and to explaining how re-mote sensing can be used to monitorthese processes and collect input datafor the simulation models. The lec-tures started by providing an overviewof land degradation processes such assoil erosion, flooding, mass move-

ments and salinisation, and their mostimportant causes. Next, the basicconcepts of environmental modellingusing a spatio-dynamic geographicalinformation system were presented.Hands-on exercises familiarised thecourse participants with the softwareand with the concepts of environ-mental modelling. On Wednesday the theory and concepts behind the soilerosion process were explained. Next,the participants built their own spatio-dynamic erosion model in PCRastersoftware. They worked out a numberof computer simulation scenarios, investigating the effects of soil steep-ness, deforestation and land manage -ment measures on the total erosion.On Thursday Dr Joao Marques gavethe course participants a tour of theUFLA campus.

30 ITC News 2006-4

L I F E A F T E R I T C

QuickBird satellite image of the UFLA campus in Lavras projected in true visible colours (circled:the computer room of the Department of Forestry, where the course took place)

Dr Luis de Carvalho (UFLA) showing anASTER satellite image in the bus during thefield excursion

Professor Steven de Jong (University ofUtrecht) explaining about badlands duringthe field excursion

31ITC News 2006-4

In 2006 ITC opened an office inBangkok, Thailand. Working fromhere, ITC will strengthen and estab-lish contacts and collaboration withorganisations in Southeast Asia. TheITC alumni community in Thailand isa large and valuable network. In ourexperience, ITC alumni are amongour best ambassadors, and alumniare often our future partners. That’swhy we promote active networkingwith and between our alumni. In2006 several alumni events were or-ganised in Thailand.

In August 2006, Director ExternalAffairs Sjaak Beerens visited Bangkokto give a keynote speech at the MapAsia Conference. On 28 August, analumni dinner was hosted at the resi-dence of ITC’s representative inThailand, Ms Marjan Kreijns. During avery pleasant evening, it was decidedthat the ITC alumni would like to setup their own organisation in Thailand.

On the final day, a so-called partici-pant workshop was organised, duringwhich course attendees gave presen-tations on projects related to theirwork and the use of earth observa-tion and geo-information sciences.The workshop presentations com-prised the following: • E.G. Couto: Spatial variability of

soil physical attributes used for soilmapping in the southern Amazon

• M.A. Torrico: Natural hazards andrisk analysis for the Cochabambaproject

• H. Palacios: Research in remotesensing applications in thePontifical Catholic University ofLima

• R. Vargas Rojas: Somalia Land andWater Information System

• H. Juarez: Adding value to biodi-versity and GIS in urban and periur-ban areas of Lima

• J.C. Ledezma: Modelling conserva-tion status in Bolivia

• M. Flores: Land use planning inBolivia using GIS

• S. Beskow (UFLA): Applications ofPCRaster in soil erosion modellingin Minas Gerais.

Overall, the participants gained in-sight into the scientific and method-ological advances made in earthobservation and into spatial dynamicmodelling with GIS. The hands-on ex-ercises also provided them with per-sonal experience of working withthese types of data. Furthermore, afruitful basis for future cooperationbetween the Latin American partici-pants has been created. We aregrateful to NUFFIC for providing thepossibility for this refresher course.

In September/October 2006, a smallgroup investigated the possibilitiesand had discussions with the Dutchembassy in Bangkok and theNetherlands Alumni Association ofThailand (NAAT). It was decided notto form a separate association but tobecome a chapter of NAAT. The firststep was to update the ITC alumnidatabase. Although we knew thatthe Thai alumni community waslarge, we had lost contact with manyformer students. Some months ofhard work under the guidance of MsParida Kuneepong improved thealumni database significantly, butconstant effort is still required to keepthe database up to date.

In November 2006, Professor MartienMolenaar, rector of ITC, visitedThailand and was invited by theDutch embassy and NAAT to give aguest lecture for alumni. On 6 November, Mr Pieter Marres,

the Dutch ambassador, presided overthe inauguration of the ITC alumnichapter of NAAT and a dinner to cel-ebrate the establishment of ITC-NAAT. A large number of alumniattended the guest lecture and dinnerand they were pleased to have theopportunity to visit the beautiful newchancellery of the embassy.

Besides being a social and profes-sional network, ITC-NAAT is alsogoing to carry out some voluntary

If you are interested in organising a similar course at your institute inthe near future, please do not hesitate to contact any of the organis-ers listed below:• Professor Freek van der Meer (ITC, vdmeer@itc.nl)• Professor Victor Jetten (ITC, jetten@itc.nl)• Professor Steven M. de Jong (University of Utrecht, s.dejong@geo.uu.nl)• Dr Luis de Carvalho (UFLA, passarinho@ufla.br)• Fausto Weimar Acerbi MSc (UFLA, fausto.acerbi@wur.nl)

ITC Alumni in Thailand

Marjan Kreijns kreijns@itc.nl

Thai alumni at the August reception

L I F E A F T E R I T C

work for the rural communities inThailand. One of first activities is toassist schoolteachers to incorporatebasic geo-information knowledgeinto their school curriculum. Alumniare spread all over the country andcan assist the schoolteachers in theirown region. At this moment lecturematerial is under preparation and thefirst group of teachers is beingtrained in Prachuab Khiri Khan, thehometown of the ITC-NAAT chair-man, Mr Thiva Supajanya. ITC wasvery pleased to hear that its alumniare initiating such projects, and of-fered support in this endeavour. Onestaff member, Eduard Westinga, hascome to Thailand to assist in prepar-ing the material and attend the firsttraining workshop. In addition to thiswork, a joint (ITC-NAAT and ITC) re-search project on flooding in Thailandis under consideration.

The ITC-NAAT chairman, Mr ThivaSupajanya, is a very well-known andhighly distinguished professional inThailand. He has been working atChulalongkorm University, and was asenator until the recent political un-rest in Thailand. Mr Thiva stressedthat, thanks to his education at ITC,he had been able build a very specialcareer - not only because of theknowledge he had gained at ITC, butalso because ITC had made him thinkin a different way. As Mr Thiva put it:“ITC taught me how to think.”

Ms Parida Kuneepong has been ap-pointed secretary. She used to workat the Land Development Department(LDD) of Thailand and, although shehas now officially retired, she is stillvery active as adviser to LDD. Full ofenergy and ambition, she acceptedthe position of ITC-NAAT secretaryand is taking the task of making thechapter a success very seriously. LikeMr Thiva, she has always stayed inclose contact with ITC since her grad-uation. She has visited ITC on a veryregular basis, was the initiator of proj-ects between ITC and LDD, and is nowvery happy to be part of ITC-NAAT.

Please contact Ms Parida Kuneepongfor more information on ITC-NAAT,and contact ITC’s representative in

Thailand with any questions or re-quests about studying at ITC, projectwork and developing joint research -or just to get in touch with ITC.

32 ITC News 2006-4

ITC Chapter of Netherlands AlumniAssociation of Thailand (ITC-NAAT)

Mrs Parida KuneepongTel: +66-(0)81-9299197E-mail: paridakuneepong@yahoo.com

ITC Representative Thailand and Vietnam Mrs Marjan KreijnsNo 262/1, Thong Lo Soi 8Sukhumvit 55 RoadBangkok 10110, Thailand.Tel: +66 (0)2-3913663Fax: +66(0)2-7149286 Mobile: +66 (0)4-7332087E-mail: kreijns@itc.nl

Toasting the establishment of ITC-NAAT

Signing the MoU to make ITC-NAAT a chap-ter of NAAT, with Mr Pieter Marres as witness

L I F E A F T E R I T C

Mr Chatchai, Dr Pisit Leeahtam, Mr ThivaSupajanya and Mrs Parida (ITC-NAAT secretary)at the embassy reception

Dr Pisit Leeahtam (NAAT president) and Mr Thiva Supajanya (ITC-NAAT chairman)

Professor Molenaar presenting a gift to theambassador, Mr Pieter Marres

Dr Pisit Leeahtam and Mr Thiva Supajanyashaking hands with Professor Molenaar