content

Main featuresAutomated map generalisation 2Workshop e-learning 6Enschede to deliver in 2008! 10Facing the food crisis 13

Education newsSpatial information for disaster risk management 16Applications of EO and GISin IWRM, Kenya 17

Research newsNew model predicts where corals can thrive 18

Project newsBob Su honoured at Dragon symposium 19

EventsISPRS congress 20

In memoriam: Daniel Omondi Omolo 22

AnnouncementsUNESCO manual 23GEOSS workshop 24

Staff news 24

Life after ITCCarmen Lucia Midaglia 27Zhengdon Huang 28Alumni meet Myanmar 30Alumni meet Sweden 30Tutorial hyperspectral remote sensing 31Martin Sekeleti 32

1ITC News 2008-2

I N T R O

2008number 2

While we’ve been working to bring you ITC News 2008-2, the holiday sea-son has come and gone and we’re already halfway 2008. Your ManagingEditor is among the few members of the ITC staff who is not that fond ofglobe-trotting. I prefer to keep my suitcase under the bed, and enjoy thecolorful stories of the members of the ITC Community. I do study maps andread about countries and cities I would visit if I was a globe-trotter. Like myimaginary journey this issue of ITC News starts with an article about maps.More specific state of the art in automated map generalisation (page 2).Inspired by articles in this issue of ITC News I give you some tips to plan yourtrip across the globe.

In Asia you could follow the Silk Route used by traders since 200BC. Makesure you stop over in Beijing, China. In 2008 Beijing not only hosts theOlympics but also the 21st quadrennial ISPRS congress (page 20) and theDragon Symposium (page 19). Well worth a visit are the Indian ocean corals.Science Daily reported about a new model developed by WCS and ITC thatpredicts where corals can thrive (page 18).

From Asia you might travel to the east to Latin America where ITC organisedshort course in Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile (page 16) and to Brazilto stop by an ITC Alumna and holder of a copy of the Nobel Peace prize(page 27).

Are you more into Africa? Here are some suggestions for study trips to thiscontinent: what about attending the GEOSS workshop in Ghana (page 24)or apply for the postgraduate course in Applications of EO and GIS inIntegrated Water Resources Management in Kenya (page 17).

Your Managing Editor will spend her holiday break in Europe. I will not evenleave my country. There is much to attract people to the Netherlands and toEnschede. As a matter of fact a group of international professional engagedin e-learning and distance education most recently came together here inEnschede to share good practices in e-learning (page 6). This summer I willexplore the city of Enschede which is in top gear and ready for the future. Anumber of large (building) projects, including the rebuilded Roombeek dis-trict that was hit by the firework disaster in 2000, will see completion in theyear 2008 (page 10).

For those who have the privilege to go on holiday, enjoy!

Janneke KalfManaging Editor

introduction

Managing Editor: Janneke Kalf

Editing: Janice CollinsDesign&PrePress: Henk Scharrenborg

(Composer DTP service)

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 ITC

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

Research in

automated

generalisation of

topographic data

(where small-scale

maps are

automatically

derived from a

large-scale dataset)

has resulted in

many promising

results.

At the same time, it seems hard for vendorsto implement automated generalisation so-lutions in commercial software. Since na-tional mapping agencies (NMAs) would ben-efit significantly from automated solutions,EuroSDR (European Spatial Data Research)embarked on a research into the state of theart of automated generalisation imple-mented in commercial software. WithinEuroSDR, NMAs, research institutes and pri-vate industry work together on researchprojects of common interest.

The project team in this instance (led by theauthor) consists of six NMAs, namely KMS(Denmark), ICC (Catalonia), IGN (France),IGN (Spain), OS (Great Britain) and Kadaster(the Netherlands), and three research insti-tutes, namely the University of Hannover(Germany), the University of Zurich(Switzerland) and ITC. The project started inNovember 2006 and the final report is ex-pected by the end of 2008. This article de-scribes the project set-up and reports onprogress so far.

Scope of the ProjectThe main objective of the project is to studyhow commercially available software canproduce a map according to map require-

ments defined by NMAs. The project focuseson large- to medium-scale generalisation,since in this range more complexities are ex-pected than in the smaller scales. It is impor-tant to note that the project does not aim topublish details of the quality of individualsystems or rank the software tested. This is aresearch project where the explicit aim is toaddress what the industry proposes and of-fers in terms of automated generalisation,and how this can be used by NMAs and byresearch institutes to define future researchdirections.

Test CasesA list of known complexities for map gener-alisation related to specific feature classeswas generated. Based on this list, four testcases were selected in such a way as to en-sure the inclusion of all interesting generali-sation situations (see Table 1).

Figure 1 shows the test cases of the project.

Software TestedIt was decided to test commercial softwaresystems that were available in June 2007.Based on the defined case studies and theproject conditions, vendors were invited toparticipate in the project. Four vendors

ITC Leads Study on

Stateof the Art in AutomatedMap Generalisation

Jantien Stoter stoter@itc.nl

Table 1 Test cases selectedfor the EuroSDR project

Type of area Source dataset Target dataset Provided byNumber of input layers

Main layers

Urban area 1:1250 1:25k OS Great Britain 37 Buildings, roads, river, relief, …

Mountainous area 1:10k 1:50k IGN France 23 Village, river, land use

Rural area 1:10k 1:50k Kadaster 29 Small town, land use, planar partition

Coastal area 1:25k 1:50k ICC Catalonia 74 Village, land use (not mosaic), hydrography

3ITC News 2008-2

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

agreed to participate: ESRI (ArcGIS), 1Spatial(Clarity), Axes Systems (Genesys) and theUniversity of Hannover (Change, Push,Typify).

Defining Map RequirementsHow to define map requirements in a waythat can be unambiguously understood bytesters was the next challenge. This is impor-tant since it should be perfectly clear what atester should express in the tested system.Specifying map requirements for the gener-alisation of topographic maps is not straight-forward. In general terms, expectations for asatisfying generalisation solution (e.g. reduc-ing the details to discern regional patterns)can be defined as follows: a map that re-veals or conceals information inherentamong a set of abstracted data; a map that

enables a user to succeed in a given tasksuch as exploring, route finding, observing.The difficulty is to specify these types of re-quirements into such a format and knowl-edge level that they can steer the automatedgeneralisation process. For the project, maprequirements were defined as a list of con-straints by the four NMAs. Constraints areconditions expressing what the generalisa-tion output should look like without ad-dressing how this result should be reachedby describing the sequences of generalisa-tion operations (such as aggregation, simpli-fication) to be applied.

To have a uniform way of expressing con-straints, the project team developed a tem-plate to define the constraints for the fourtest cases. The template distinguishes be-

ICC starting dataset (1:25k) OSGB starting dataset (1:1250)

IGN France starting dataset (1:10k) Kadaster starting dataset (1:10k)

Figure 1 Source datasets in the EuroSDR generalisation project (maps reduced in size)

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

tween constraints on one object (e.g. mini-mal area of a building), on two objects (e.g.minimal distance between road and build-ing), and on a group of objects (e.g. thebuilding pattern should be similar to that inthe input data).

The NMAs in the EuroSDR project studiedtheir current specifications and processes inorder to specify their map requirements in aset of constraints. Well-defined requirementswere not directly available since none of theNMAs has implemented automated generali-sation. At NMAs, requirements are availablein documents (i.e. specifications), softwarecode or even in human minds. These re-quirements are available only at the humanknowledge level since they are meant to beused by cartographers in current interactive(semi-automatic) processes that allow some

human interpretation. When specifying theproject constraints, the impossibility of for-malising all cartographers’ interpretations(e.g. interpretation needed to handle theconstraint “the generic characteristics of theterrain should be kept”) was realised. Inother cases, it was realised that we mightneed better, more detailed specificationsthan the available map specifications meantto be interpreted by humans. This projectwill give insight into those aspects.

Test ProcessThe tests were performed on commerciallyavailable out-of-the-box versions by projectteam members from June 2007 till March2008. Every system was tested two or threetimes on four datasets. At the time of writ-ing, 26 outputs have been delivered (exam-ples given in Figure 2).

ICC target dataset (1:50k) OSGB target dataset (1:25k)

IGN France target dataset (1:50k) Kadaster target dataset (1:50k)

Figure 2 Example of outputs generated by automated generalisation in the EuroSDR project (maps reduced in size)

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

To ensure that the results would not be lim-ited by the software experience of thetesters or limited to June 2007, vendorswere invited to do parallel tests with asmuch customisation as they wanted (includ-ing developing new algorithms) as long asthey reported on this.

In every test, the tester tried to translate alldefined constraints into a form understand-able by the specific software. It was impor-tant for the generalisation process to be trig-gered either by a class of objects (theme) orby spatially indicated areas (partitions) (i.e.the tester was not allowed to trigger opera-tions on an object-on-object basis).

Evaluation MethodologyCurrently we are working on setting up theevaluation of the outputs. In the evaluation,several analyses will be performed to learnas much as possible from the tests. Initialevaluation has already begun. Apart fromassessing the outputs themselves, the evalu-ation will provide insights into the completemethodology to set up such a case study,since this is the first time that such an exten-sive study on the state of the art in auto-mated generalisation has been carried out.The main part of the evaluation stage con-cerns evaluating the cartographic outputsobtained with the software. Three parallelevaluation processes have been set up:• an expert evaluation, where experts from

the NMAs who provided the datasets as-sess the outputs. The outputs are interac-tively compared with expectations (i.e.with their specifications).

• an automated constraint-based evalua-tion. In this process the outputs are alsocompared with their specifications but thedifferences with the expected specifica-tions are quantified by means of automat-ically computed indicators.

• a comparative evaluation where the out-puts obtained for a given generalisationproblem by the different software andtesters are compared.

All three methodologies are set up in such away that they are complementary. For exam-ple, the expert evaluation is used to assignvalues from “bad”, “medium”, “good” etc.to values calculated in the automated com-parison. In addition, comparing results of theexpert and automated evaluations can helpin detecting inconsistencies between thetwo types of evaluation that need to be fur-ther investigated (e.g. bugs or inappropriatemeasuring tools in the automated evaluationprocess, misinterpretation of what wasasked of the experts, subjectivity of the eval-uations). The automated generalisation mayalso confirm or invalidate trends noticedthrough the comparative evaluation. In addi-tion, the automated evaluation can identifyaspects where a closer interactive analysiscould be needed in the comparative evalua-tion.

As already mentioned, results are expectedby the end of 2008

From 11 to 13 June

2008, a group of

international

professionals

engaged in

e-learning and

distance education

came together at

ITC for the

international

workshop Sharing

Good Practices:

E-learning in

Surveying,

Geo-information

Sciences and Land

Administration.

The organisation of the workshop was acombined effort of the InternationalFederation of Surveyors (FIG), Commission 2and Commission 7, and ITC. The Netherlands Cadastre, Land Registry andMapping Agency sponsored the event.

The programme consisted of keynote speak-ers, technical sessions, hands-on sessions,demonstrations and guided discussions. Theorganisation received 30 accepted contribu-tions, and 70 participants from 27 differentcountries actively participated in the variousworkshop sessions.

The workshop chair invited FIG PresidentProfessor Stig Enemark to deliver his open-ing address from Denmark, using video con-ferencing.

KeynotesThe first keynote speaker welcomed was Dr Nicholas Frunzi, director of EducationalServices, ESRI, USA. Dr Frunzi gave anoverview of ESRI’s developments in educa-tional services - from the instructor-led class-room training in 1988 to the ESRI virtualclassroom of today and the blended learningwith ESRI Press in the future.

Professor Bela Markus of the University ofWest Hungary, chair of FIG Commission 2,was the second keynote speaker. After intro-ducing the concept of e-learning, he dis-cussed the status, the trends, and the impor-tance of business models in e-learning. Hestressed the importance of a business modelfor reusing and sharing resources to buildsustainable courses within networking part-nerships.

The keynote address of András Osskó, chiefadvisor at the Budapest Land Office andchair of FIG Commission 7, focused on theimportance of changes in the education ofland surveyors. Interest in traditional landsurveying is decreasing, whereas interest inland administration is increasing. Osskómade a plea for lifelong learning, which isnecessary not only for individuals but alsofor institutions (so that the knowledge oftheir staff may be kept up to date).

Technical SessionsBased on the content of the accepted contri-butions, the following technical sessionswere offered:• Good practices in e-learning and distance

education • Engaging in e-learning • Continuous professional development • International cooperation and/in

e-learning.

During the workshop dinner, the Best PaperAward was presented to Dr Henny Mills ofNewcastle University for her paper, co-writ-ten with David Barber, entitled “A virtualsurveying field course for traversing”. Thepaper describes an innovative e-learning tooldeveloped for a geomatics degree course. It

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

Sharing Good Practices inE-Learning

Liza Groenendijk groenendijk@itc.nl

The workshop chair invited FIG President ProfessorStig Enemark to deliver his opening address fromDenmark, using video conferencing

was considered an excellent example of howa virtual fieldwork tool can support studentunderstanding and prepare for real field-work.

Hands-on SessionsOne afternoon of the workshop was re-served for the hands-on sessions, and partic-ipants could choose from the following:1. Captivate® for animations and simula-

tions 2. Creating a Wiki 3. Quick and easy lecture video recording 4. Communicate. Collaborate. Educate with

Elluminate®.

The workshop on Captivate attracted thehighest number of participants. The work-shops were followed by a demonstration ofthe e-learning activities of the NetherlandsCadastre, Land Registry and MappingAgency.

Discussion SessionsAt the end of each day, participants cametogether in so-called home groups. Thesehome groups were formed to create an in-formal platform for discussions, for formu-

lating discussion points, and for the ex-change of experiences. Each home groupwas guided by a moderator.

Questions for home group discussionMain issuesWhat thoughts came up during the keynoteaddresses and other sessions? How do theyrelate to your experience?

Sharing experiencesDo you have any recommendations or in-sights that you would like to share or discusswith the others?

Common themes and trendsDo you see any common themes or ques-tions emerging from the workshop with re-gard to e-learning in the field of surveying,geo-information sciences and land adminis-tration?

ConclusionsThe conclusions of the four home groupswere presented during the closing sessionand summarised by Chris Paresi, head ofITC’s Department of Urban and RegionalPlanning and Geo-informationManagement. The outcome of the discus-sions is summarised below.

1. The importance of partnershipsWorking together and sharing experiencesand resources is considered of great impor-tance for the success and further develop-ment of e-learning in the field of surveying,geo-information science and land adminis-tration. In this context, the term “thematicnetwork” and the e-learning concept “com-

7ITC News 2008-2

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

Poster with the programme of the opening session

Some e-learning professionals active during their presentations (Reinfried Mansberger, Sven Åke Bjørke, Mathilde Molendijk, Bela Markus and Nicholas Frunzi)

munity of practice” were also proposed.In particular, the following points were men-tioned:• Exploring cooperation between the pro-

fessional organisations FIG, ISPRS and ICA • Recognition of e-learning material and

courses• The importance of quality assurance• The need for a credit exchange system• The role of open source • Sharing contents • Stronger partnership between academia

and professionals• The need for an e-learning infrastructure• Promoting a business model for reusing

and sharing e-learning courses andcourseware.

2. E-learning as a tool for continuous pro-fessional developmentE-learning is considered an excellent tool forcontinuous professional development andlifelong learning, especially in the rapidlychanging working field of the land profes-sional.

In particular, the following points were dis-cussed:• Nano-units of (e-)learning: small focused

training units for particular learning needs• “Immediate” implementation of learned

skills by professionals• The changing meaning of learning and

how to achieve this• The strong link between e-learning and

knowledge management

• Online communication and collaborationtools for the exchange of experiences andmutual learning

• Blended approaches preferred.

3. E-learning to engage young surveyorsAn issue of concern within FIG is the de-creasing interest of university students in theland surveying profession. Universities andprofessional training institutions need to re-view their education according to new re-quirements and student interests. E-learningmay contribute to motivating students tojoin the profession.

The following points were mentioned by thegroups:• Online communication and collaboration

tools for interaction, group work, peer ex-change, supervision

• Students used to digital learning and com-munication

• Global interest of students• Online mentoring and support through

communities of practice• Preparing students for lifelong learning• An opportunity for students from devel-

oping countries.

4. Defining the field of e-learning withinFIGThe workshop made it clear that a lot ofknowledge has been accumulated in recentyears in the field of e-learning and surveying,geo-information sciences and land adminis-tration. Many lessons have been learned andit is now the right time to analyse these les-sons and publish the findings.

In particular, it was suggested that:• a FIG publication be prepared on the topic

of e-learning• all the experts be brought together in a

Wiki environment to write a referencebook on e-learning.

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

Young surveyor Jennifer van Vooren from the KaHo Sint-Lieven in Ghent, Belgium, de-livering an excellent presentation on a home study package for land surveyors

5. Some problems Although many e-learning success storieswere presented during the workshop, natu-rally there were many critical issues to dis-cuss as well. Some of the identified short-comings of e-learning are as follows: • Language is a bottleneck.• Cultural differences in learning style and

content can be a problem.• E-learning is a tool and learning is the ob-

jective.• E-learning is considered of limited use for

practical teaching.• E-learning is not really rewarded by train-

ing institutions and universities.• Developing e-learning courses and mate-

rial is demanding in time and expertise.

6. Final RemarkAn award for e-teachers? They deserve it!

9ITC News 2008-2

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

More Information• FIG International Workshop, Sharing

Good Practices: E-learning inSurveying, Geo-information Sciencesand Land Administration. www.itc.nl/fig_elearning2008

• FIG Commission 2.www.geo.info.hu/fig2/

• FIG Homewww.fig.net/

ProceedingsProceedings with the full papers areavailable on CD-ROM. A paper publica-tion of the Proceedings will be pro-duced in the second half of 2008, in-cluding the outcome of the discussionsessions. All presentations can befound on the workshop website

Group picture of participants and resource persons in front of the ITC building

The history of

Enschede has

known turbulent

times, what with

the city fire of 1862,

the heavy

bombardments

during the Second

World War, and the

decline of the

textile industry.

Furthermore, on 13 May 2000 the city washit by what has gone done in the annals ofhistory as the firework disaster. More than40 ha of the city were completely devas-tated. The concentration of efforts and co-operation have been central to the rebuild-ing of Roombeek. Even after this disaster,the residents of Enschede have regainedcontrol and summoned up the strength torespond flexibly to the altered situation. Thisyear the district will be symbolically handedback to its inhabitants. And a lot more be-sides is going on in the city. The year 2008 isthe year of Enschede!

Prior to 13 May 2000, Roombeek was a realworking-class district, characterised by work-ing-class housing where textile workers usedto live. It was chiefly artists who felt at homein Roombeek. Moreover, the many old fac-tory premises heightened the ramshackle ap-pearance of the district and even before thedisaster there were plans to renovate the dis-trict.

Rebuilding RoombeekAfter the disaster, Roombeek had to be com-pletely rebuilt, and a plan was neededwhereby those affected by the disaster

would be involved in the rebuilding as muchas possible. Ultimately, half the newdwellings in Roombeek have been erectedby private parties. In addition, attempts havebeen made to conserve the valuable ele-ments of Roombeek’s history. For example,not only has the old pattern of streets re-mained the same, but the industrial premiseshave been reused, ensuring that the memoryof Enschede’s history as a textile town is keptalive. Even the water, the Roombeek, whichhad almost vanished from the picture, hasbeen restored to glory through the rebuild-ing. The year 2008 now sees 62 ha for resi-dential, entrepreneurial, recreational, hospi-tality, cultural, architectural and educationalpurposes. What’s more, in 2007 the districtwon an important award (Golden Pyramid2007) for rebuilding and restructuring: a na-tional award for an inspiring commission.

Rozendaal Centre and Restoration ofRoombeekRoombeek is the artistic and cultural districtof Enschede. One of the most prominentbuildings in the district is the formerRozendaal textile factory. This factory hasbeen transformed into the Rozendaal cul-tural complex and symbolises the rebuilding

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

In top gear and ready for the future

Enschede to deliver in 2008!Enschede Municipality itcnews@itc.nl

Lonnekerspoorlaan in Roombeek: the heart of the district

and specific characteristics of the district: art,culture and architecture. The remains of theold derelict textile factory have been incor-porated into this building in a contemporarybuilding style. At 21 Rozendaal, theRozendaal houses topical artwork, eightworkshops, a museum café, an observatory,dwellings, apartments and the TwentseWellemuseum. The cultural complex was openedon 22 April by Queen Beatrix.

The TwensteWelle Museum is an amalgama-tion of the Van Deinse Institute, the JanninkMuseum and the Enschede Natural HistoryMuseum and places the developments inTwente in a wider context. Here nature andculture are woven into a unique concept

that represents the story of the human ad-venture: a universal story that takes Twenteas its material. Attention is paid to archeol-ogy, history, folklore, local dialect, nature,landscape and much more.

Besides the fascinating design of theRozendaal, Roombeek itself is quite excep-tional in terms of architecture. Over the pastyears, Enschede has successfully engagedthe services of several leading architects.

Enschede Delivers!Besides the completion and symbolicrestoration of Roombeek to its inhabitants, anumber of other large (building) projects inEnschede will see completion in the year2008. Indeed the theme of Enschede thisyear will be “Enschede delivers!” And thisrefers to projects that will enrich life in thecity. In addition to the Rozendaal andRoombeek projects, the following can bementioned.

Music QuarterEnschede is characterised not only by art andarchitecture but also by its music culture. Foryears, many music organisations have beenlocated in the city, and come Novemberthese will be housed in the Music Quarter inthe city centre. This temple to music will pro-vide accommodation for the Twente Podium,the Twente Music School, Atak Poppodium,the Artez Conservatorium, the Orchestra ofthe East and the National Travelling Opera.Enschede may rightfully call itself a “musiccity”. Furthermore, with the coming of theMusic Quarter, going out in Enschede willbecome an even more glittering occasion.

Scholingsboulevard Besides art and culture, Enschede offers awide range of education institutions. Withthe arrival of the Scholingsboulevard, threeof these education institutions will bebrought together in one building. TheScholingsboulevard is characterised not onlyby its unique education system but also byits challenging architecture. In an inspiringenvironment, pupils will challenged to giveof their best. With this boulevard, Enschedeis writing education history and absolutelyeverything will be done to prevent pupilsfrom leaving school prematurely.

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

One of the most prominent buildings in the district: the former Rozendaal textile fac-tory

Twente Ice Rink and Arke StadiumFurther, from October sports enthusiasts canhead for the Twente Ice Rink. This fully cov-ered ice rink is the second in theNetherlands. The Twente Ice Rink is beingbuilt near the Arke Stadium. The home baseof the FC Twente football club is undergoingconsiderable expansion this year, with the re-alisation of a second tier. Following this ex-pansion, the Arke Stadium will have seatingcapacity for over 24,000 people.

Metamorphosis EnschedeAll in all, Enschede is undergoing a radicalmetamorphosis in the year 2008. Over thepast years, this student city has already ac-quired a completely renovated centre, theVan Heekplein. The coming of the AlphaTower, the tallest residential building inOverijssel, likewise contributes to this reno-vated centre. The Alpha Tower is part of theBoulevard project and consists of five build-ings. The tower is a real eye-catcher and canbe seen from every corner of Enschede. TheBoulevard architecture richly complementsthe new construction work round the VanHeekplein.

In short, Enschede has much to offer interms of architecture as well as art and cul-ture. The appearance of Enschede has dra-matically changed in the course of the yearsand the city is well on the way to becominga high-principled city of quality. The old tex-tile town has made way for a city that hassomething to offer everyone. More informa-tion can be found at www.enschede.nl.

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

The new Roomweg in Roombeek: the water in thedistrict has re-emerged

View of Enschede from the Alpha Tower (104 mhigh): in the foreground the new Van Heekplein andthe Klanderij shopping precinct

The Prismare facility complex in Roombeek (situated near the Rozendaal)

Is There a Food Crisis?The year 2008 marks the 60th anniversary ofthe Universal Declaration of Human Rights.Included in article 25 is the “right to food”.Nobody has failed to notice that this right isseverely jeopardised by the current, spectac-ular rises in food prices. Many reasons forthis phenomenon have been given, includingthe competition between food and biofuels,recurrent droughts and bad harvests, thehigh prices of fossil fuels, the changing dietsof a growing population, and speculation.Many Asian governments have banned theexport of rice and lowered import tariffs,clearly showing the fear of food shortagesand riots in cities. Such measures show theextremely strategic value of food. If you haveno car, you walk; if you have no television,you listen to the radio; but if you have nofood, you simply perish. Most African coun-tries are net importers of food, and face aworsening trade balance. MillenniumDevelopment Goal 1 (halving hunger andpoverty by 2015) will never be met if no ac-tion is taken. What the crisis clearly shows isthat dependence on a completely liberalisedmarket is dangerous. There should be afocus on regional and local production, al-lowing countries with food deficits to pro-

tect their markets to some extent. Of partic-ular importance is the fact that countriesand regions are allowed to maintain certainfood stocks. Now that the stocks at worldscale are so small, prices tend to fluctuatealarmingly.

It also seems that the role of the World FoodProgram (WFP) will become increasingly sig-nificant. From a UN centre for emergency re-lief, it has turned into a world food distribu-tion centre. As the world grows towardsnine billion inhabitants, it seems necessaryfor WFP to indulge in even more strategicthinking on future food production. At thistime, WFP has problems in buying food sur-pluses, clearly showing the urgency of thesituation. WFP will increasingly need state-of-the-art expertise and technology indrought monitoring, early food deficit andsurplus detection, and models describing re-lations between food needs, infrastructure,and transport and delivery times.

Feeding Nine Billion PeopleIt will be a hell of a job to feed nine billionpeople. Even though technological develop-ment has allowed us to step up agriculturalproductivity, we have a tough job ahead of

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

Facing the Food CrisisEric Smaling smaling@itc.nl

Soybean farms in Mato Grosso, Brazil, can be as large as 10,000 ha (picture Eric Smaling)

us. Although it may potentially be possibleto feed even 20 billion people, it is clear atthis time that no forests or savannas will sur-vive. Soybean and livestock are pushing backthe Amazon forest, oil palm production is amajor threat to Southeast Asian forest habi-tats, and the European Union (EU) is goingto abolish its current “set-aside” regime andits quota system on milk production. Trade-offs between agriculture, pasture and naturewill be in the limelight more than ever be-fore. A major investment in agriculture isnecessary, in such a way that natural land issafeguarded as much as possible. Land useplanning and negotiation will soon be backat the top of the agenda. Furthermore, peo-ple will have to change their diets. Meatconsumption over the past 15 years hasrisen from 200 to 300 million tons. TheChinese have moved from a consumptionlevel of 20 kg meat/person in 1985 to 50 kgin 2007. To produce a kilo of meat, some-where between 5 and 8 kg of plant materialis needed. Over the past years, importationof soy meal from South America has in-creased massively. At the same time, thenewest soybean farms in Brazil are over10,000 ha in size, offering work to only afew people per unit land.

The EU intends to have 10% of total trans-port fuels derived from biofuels by 2020.This is very ambitious, and goes back to thetime when first-generation biofuels were stillseen as an environment-friendly solution tothe looming fossil fuel shortage. Today, how-

ever, enthusiasm has dwindled. Large areaswould be necessary if any impact were to bemade. Moreover, biofuels are not reallyCO2-neutral, and they compete with otherland uses, food being the most prominent.Finally and less obvious, they take away soilfertility, whereas they are grown for theircarbon only. Nonetheless, there is room forbiofuels. In the tropics, jatropha plants cando well on land that is not used for otherpurposes, and this may be a catalyst for localdevelopment.

A Regional Approach in Africa?What would be a way out for Africa? TheInternational Food Policy Research Institute(IFPRI) thinks a regional approach may work.Let’s have a look at West Africa for example,focusing on the 15 countries that make upthe ECOWAS region. Wouldn’t it be nice forthis region if it was allowed to develop somekind of Common Agricultural Policy? - theway we have in Europe. ECOWAS and theEU meet regularly, but agriculture is notoften on the agenda. If you forget about allthe borders in the region, you remain withroughly three zones: the Sahel, the savanna,and the humid zones along the southerncoast, where all the big cities are and whereyou find most consumers. The followingquestions now come to mind. What is thecurrent and future food demand in the re-gion? How do diets change? How can pro-duction of preferred food stuffs such as riceand meat be increased in the region? Whereare the best soils? Do they need a bit of

14 ITC News 2008-2

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

Tea pluckers in Assam, India (picture Eric Smaling)

phosphorus as a corrective application? (TheP reserves abound in the region, so thisshould not be too difficult.) What has to re-main as natural land and forest? How canwe help producer organisations to investand organise themselves? How can tariffsbetween member states be streamlined andhow can the countries improve their tax rev-enues? How can we make the R&D agendasof member states more effective by avoiding

the duplication of efforts? Why shouldSenegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger do thesame type of research with too little money?Why not pool resources? The Dutch govern-ment has development programmes inGhana, Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali - whynot also include Togo and treat these fiveneighbour countries as a region?

Meanwhile, countries and regions such asECOWAS are forced to venture into eco-nomic partnership agreements that at theend of the day allow the EU to enter theirmarkets. This is not what the countries andregions need. Europe, the USA, China andJapan, all have protected their home mar-kets for a long time in order to develop theagricultural sector. Once this has been suc-cessful, other sectors have also developedwell as a result of better-fed populationswith increased purchasing power. And whois in the best position to help these Africaneconomic regions to build their own agricul-tural sector? The EU of course. It knowseverything about successful agricultural de-velopment!

15ITC News 2008-2

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

Sikasso, Mali: farmer groups take decisions for the new planting season (picture Eric Smaling)

Kaya, Burkina Faso: large cattle herds are a common feature in Sahelian countries (picture Eric Smaling)

In October and November of 2007,ITC organised four short courses inLatin America for CYTED-UTEEDAon GeoSpatial Information in Disas-ter Risk Management for Agricul-ture and Natural Resource Manage-ment. The first two were given byMichael McCall at UNAH (NationalAgricultural University of Havana),La Habana, Cuba, and UNAM, Mex-ico DF; the other two by Bas Wessel-man at the Institute for Climate andWater (INTA), Argentina, and theUniversity of Chile, Chile.

CYTED (Ciencia y Tecnología para elDesarrollo), an Ibero-American net-work that includes UTEEDA (Uso delas Tecnologías Espaciales para laEvaluación, Monitoreo y Manejo deDesastres Naturales en la Agricultura),is coordinated by Professor DámasoPonvert-Delisles of UNAH.

The five-day courses were all directedtowards developing skills in geospa-tial information for disaster manage-ment, specifically in the fields of agri-cultural and natural resourcemanagement in Latin America, in linewith the primary mission of CYTED-UTEEDA.

The principal topics covered wereconcepts of hazard, vulnerability, risk,coping mechanisms, and prepared-ness; DRR (disaster risk reduction) in-stitutions and agencies in LatinAmerica; geospatial information forhazards and vulnerability; and DRRdecision-making levels and institu-tions in agriculture and natural re-sources management. Field trips (withfield exercises) were organised by thecounterparts to hazard and risk man-agement sites to define real spatialinformation needs, and these werefollowed up by presentations on thegeo-information sources and applica-tions.

The participants were very responsiveto the courses, particularly in Cuba,where external training courses areless common. Frequently highlightedby the participants were:• the basic objectives and content

(since many participants were fromthe CYTED network)

• the breadth of training materialsand documentation (particularlyuseful in Cuba)

• software accessibility• the ITC-style of training, with its

mix of practice and theory• group work• the lively interactive discussions of

experiences among and betweenparticipants and staff

• the fieldwork, a chance to practisetechniques and see an actual risksituation.

The fieldwork trips were highly appre-ciated. In Cuba, it was a full-day ex-cursion to the south coast, and in-cluded discussions at the OficinaMunicipal de la Defensa Civil deBatabanó, and visits to areas of ma-

rine inundation and hurricane dam-age. The fieldwork in Mexico wasconducted on the UNAM campus andthe hazards concerned related tostorm damage, pollution from waste,safety/security, and insane bicyclistson the new bicycle paths.

The courses were given in a combina-tion of Spanish and English, withmost PowerPoint presentations inSpanish but many documents inEnglish.

Participant numbers were higher thanexpected: 35 in Cuba, 24 in Mexico,25 in Argentina and 30 in Chile.Among the participants were disasterrisk specialists, geologists, agricultur-alists, meteorologists, social scientists,ecologists and land use planners, rep-resenting a wide range of specialisa-tions and skills. The basic content ofthe topic dealing with the spatial in-formation needed for risk reductionmanagement provoked much inter-est, while the group work was mixedto stimulate interdisciplinary discus-sions and competing views.

Among the participants were peopleactive in the CYTED Red network,staff and students from the host uni-

16 ITC News 2008-2

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

education news

Spatial Information for Disaster Risk Management in Latin America

Michael McCall mccall@itc.nl

Bas Wesselman wesselman@itc.nl

La Defensa Civil, Cuba CYTED group, Batabanó, Cuba

versities (UNAH and UNAM), inMexico professors from the Universityof Colima and the University of BajaCalifornia, and in Cuba professionalsand scientists from CUJAE and thefields of meteorology, protected

areas, etc. Cuba does not as yet havean institute like ITC or a Netherlandsalumni association, and this has madeit more difficult to organise coursesand has limited ITC networking in thearea.

Friday, 25 January 2008, was the bigday for the participants and interna-tional staff involved in the four-month postgraduate certificatecourse Applications of Earth Obser-vation and GIS in Integrated WaterResources Management (IWRM). For the second time, the course wasofficially opened by Professor RoseA. Mwonya, deputy vice-chancellor,Academic Affairs, Egerton Univer-sity, in the presence of Dr WilburOtichillo, director of the RegionalCentre for Mapping of Resources forDevelopment (RCMRD) and Arnovan Lieshout, course director of ITC.The official opening was followedby refreshments and lively informalinteraction.

The course has an interesting set-up.It is partly conducted in Nairobi atRCMRD and Egerton University (Njorocampus), and the teaching staff aredrawn from RCMRD, the universities

of Egerton and Addis Ababa, andITC. The course has an application-oriented focus. The use of earth ob-servation and GIS techniques for vari-ous aspects of water resourcemanagement is demonstrated.Groundwater, surface water andmanagement issues and IWRM con-cepts are addressed. The experienceof ITC and Egerton University in LakeNaivasha enables the lecturers tofocus on real-life issues and problem-solving methods.

A total of 16 candidates enrolled forthis year’s course. Sponsorship for theparticipants is offered by varioussources, including the Nile Basin

Initiative and the ITC-United NationsUniversity School for Disaster Geo-Information Management.

The course is scheduled to run eachyear in the months January to Aprilfor a total of 16 weeks.

17ITC News 2008-2

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

For more information:www.itc.nl/education/courses.aspxArno van Lieshout, ITC (lieshout@itc.nl)Dr Tesfay Korme, RCMRD (korme@rcmrd.org)Professor Japheth Onyando, Egerton University (jonyando@yahoo.com)

Measuring the flow velocity of the Gilgil river in Kenya

Joint Postgraduate Certificate Course in Applications of Earth Observation andGIS in IWRM Successfully Launched

Arno van Lieshout lieshout@itc.n

Mapping hazards on UNAM Campus, Mexico DFCYTED group, UNAM, Mexico DF

The Wildlife Conservation Society(WCS) and the International Insti-tute for Geo-Information Scienceand Earth Observation (ITC) havedeveloped a new scientific modelthat accurately maps where coralreefs are in the most trouble andidentifies regions where reefs canbe protected best. The model, whichis being applied in areas throughoutthe Indian Ocean, is described in arecent issue of the journal Ecologi-cal Modelling.

The model synthesizes several oceanconditions, such as seawater temper-atures, photosynthetic and ultravioletlight, winds and currents, and theconcentration of microscopic plank-ton on the ocean’s surface. Thesedata were factored into previous re-ports of coral stress or bleaching andwere then used to map the distribu-tion of these inhospitable conditions.

The researchers found that much ofthe northern Indian Ocean containsvery stressful environments for coralsand that half of its marine parks withthe strictest regulations are foundwithin these harsh areas.

Areas of the Maldives and theSeychelles fall in the middle of themost severe conditions; these includesome of the best coral reef parks anddiving spots. In an area east and justnorth of Madagascar lie the least-stressed reefs, which include thoseoff the islands of Mauritius,Rodriques, and Reunion. These arenow among the reefs the modelidentifies as the highest priority forconservation.

Corals have been devastated in largeareas across the world. Disappearingat rates up to 5.4 percent per yearover the past 30 years, they areamong the earliest victims of climatechange. Bleaching, which climatechange exacerbates, occurs whencorals become so stressed that theyeject the beneficial algae that givethem their color. This eventuallycauses large sections of the reefs tolose much of their biodiversity.

“Despite the large areas in high andsevere stress, the model suggests thatthere are some reefs with less stress-ful conditions and more reasons forhope,” said WCS researcher Dr.Timothy McClanahan, one of thestudy’s authors.

Reference: Joseph Maina, ValentijnVenus, Timothy R. McClanahan,Mebrahtu Ateweberhan. Modellingsusceptibility of coral reefs to environ-mental stress using remote sensingdata and GIS models. EcologicalModelling. Volume 212, Issues 3-4,10 April 2008, Pages 180-199.

Adapted from materials provided byWildlife Conservation Society(www.wcs.org/), via EurekAlert!(www.eurekalert.org/), a service ofAAAS.

Source: Science Daily / University ofTorontowww.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416165732.htm

18 ITC News 2008-2

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

research news

New Model Predicts Where Corals Can Thrive

Science Daily www.sciencedaily.com

Acropora red coral (credit: Tim McClanahan)

At a symposium held in Beijing, P.R.China, from 21 to 25 April, to pres-ent the final results of the Dragon 1programme (2004-2007) and kick offthe Dragon 2 projects, Professor Bob Su received an award for anoutstanding contribution (droughtmonitoring and prediction researchand the scientific coordination ofthree advanced thematic trainingcourses) to the Dragon 1 programmefrom the hands of Mr ZhangGuocheng, director of the NationalRemote Sensing Centre of China(NRSCC), and Mr Karl Bergquist, ad-ministrator of the European SpaceAgency (ESA). ESA and NRSCC, anentity that falls under the Ministryof Science and Technology of China,have cooperated in the field ofearth observation application devel-opment for the last 10 years.

The work realised in Dragon 1 con-tributed to, and benefited, researchapplication development in 16 the-matic application projects related toland, ocean and atmospheric moni-toring. Within the framework of theDragon programme, ESA and NRSCCprovided a series of advanced the-matic training courses on remotesensing applications, which werehosted by university and research in-stitutions in China. The first of thesecourses was held in 2004 on oceanapplications, the second in 2005 onland remote sensing, and the third in2006 on atmospheric remote sensing.In 2007 another advanced coursewas held on ocean remote sensingapplications. ITC-WRS staff providedtechnical assistance for the last threecourses.

The Dragon 2 programme, which willlast four years, is targeted towardsland, ocean and atmospheric investi-gations in China and is expected to:• promote the use of ESA, TPM

(Third Party Mission) and Chineseearth observation data for scientificand application development

• stimulate scientific exchange inearth observation science and ap-plication by the formation of jointSino-European teams

• publish co-authored results of theresearch and applications develop-ment at the mid-term stage and atthe end of the programme

• provide training in processing, al-gorithm and product development,using ESA, TPM and Chinese earthobservation data in land, oceanand atmospheric applications.

ITC staff will continue to be involvedin several themes of the Dragon re-search:• drought monitoring• prediction of, and adaptation to,

climatic changes• estuarine, inland and coastal water

quality monitoring, using earth ob-servation data.

Professor Bob Su will again be in-volved in a series of advanced train-ing courses, starting with the firstDragon 2 advanced training courseon land remote sensing. This will takeplace from 13 to 17 October 2008and will be hosted by the State KeyLaboratory for InformationEngineering in Surveying, Mappingand Remote Sensing (LIESMARS) ofWuhan University, Wuhan, China.

19ITC News 2008-2

P R O J E C T N E W S

project news

Professor Bob Su Honoured at Dragon Symposium, Beijing

Bob Su b_su@itc.nl

Bob Su receiving the receiving the award for an out-standing contribution to the Dragon 1 programme

The Dragon 2 programme, which will last four years,is targeted towards land, ocean and atmospheric in-vestigations in China

Beijing, China has been this year’shost for the 21st quadrennial ISPRScongress. The theme of the congress“Silk Road for Information from Im-agery” symbolizes the transfer fromthe last ISPRS congress in Istanbul,2004 to Beijing in 2008 followingthe Silk Road used by traders since200BC. It also recognises the globalaspects of the congress in terms ofbringing nations and cultures to-gether.

The conference was organised by theState Bureau of Surveying andMapping in China and sponsored bythe Chinese Society of Geodesy,Photogrammetry and Cartography.

The opening ceremony included anopening address from the presidentof the Chinese Society of Geodesy,Photogrammetry and Cartographyand ITC alumnus Prof. Yang Kai; fol-lowed by the welcome address by theVice Minister of Ministry of Land andResources, Director General of theState Bureau of Surveying andMapping Mr. Lu Xinshe and the wel-come address by the ISPRS PresidentProf. Ian Dowman.

Don’t expect to read a full and scien-tific based report on the congressoutcome; for that I’ll refer to the congress web site: www.isprs2008-beijing.org/

Worthwhile mentioning is, that theCongress adopted a “Beijing Declara -tion” that, among other issues, calledfor support from international com-munities: 1. to commit adequate investment

and active engagement in scientificresearch and development, educa-tion and training, and capacity andinfrastructure building

2. to promote the sharing of imagerytechnology and data for scientificresearch and peaceful applications

3. to encourage constructive dialogueand close cooperation and collabo-ration between scientists, govern-ments, public and private sectors,non-governmental organizations,and international organizationsand institutions.

The Congress further calls for a con-tribution from everyone to establishand operate a new silk road for im-agery, leading to a people-centeredand development-oriented society.

Prizes and awardsParticipants of the congress receiveda well filled and very practical confer-ence bag. After a quick inspection ofthe contents, my attention wasdrawn to a small booklet entitled“ISPRS awards” and I wondered howmany of them are, in one way or theother, related to ITC.

The Otto von Gruber Award is do-nated by the ITC fund and consists ofa medal and a monetary grant, pre-sented to an author under 40 yearsof age for a paper of outstandingmerit in the photogrammetry, remotesensing and spatial information sci-ences over the four years prior to theCongress. This year’s winner of the award wasMatthias Butenuth from Germany.

Then there is the Willem Schermer -horn Award, named after WillemSchermerhorn, the founding father ofITC, sponsored by Geo-InformationNetherlands (GIN), awarded to ITCalumna Sisi Zlatanova (Netherlands) inrecognition of her excellent perform-ance as Chair of ISPRS working groupIV/8: Spatial Data Integration forEmergency Services.

20 ITC News 2008-2

E V E N T S

events

2008 ISPRS congress and ITC alumni meeting in Beijing, China

Marja Verburg verburg@itc.nl

Sisi Zlatanova

Overseas congress registrations: 1516- full registration 1035- day registration 64- students and seniors 244- free registration 173

Domestic participation: 1280- full 460- part-time 670- VIP’s 50

Accompanying persons: 50

In total: 2946(ITC participants: 32)

The Samuel Gamble Award, spon-sored by the Canadian Institute ofGeomatics in honour of Dr. SamuelG. Gamble, former President of ISPRSand Director of the 1972 Congresswas presented to three winners, twoof them ITC alumni. They al meet thecriteria that the recipient of theaward should be a person who, likeDr. Gamble, contributed significantlyto the development, organization orprofessional activities in the field ofphotogrammetry, remote sensing andspatial information sciences, at na-tional or international level. The win-ners of the Award are: Wilber K. Ottichilo (Kenya), Jide Kufoniyi (Nigeria) both ITCalumni and Li Deren (China). Unfortunately, Wilber Ottichilo wasn’table to come to the congress so hemissed out the presentation cere-mony.

Furthermore ITC staff member SanderOude Elberink won one of the ISPRSPrizes for Best Papers by YoungAuthors (sponsored by donor organi-zations and by ISPRS to authors whoare less than 35 years old and whoare the sole author of a high qualitypaper presented at the Congress).This 2008 award have been spon-sored by ISPRS, Dr. Sherman Wu andthe European Science Foundation.

Not all prizewinners or award winnerswere known at forehand. In the Com-puter Assisted Teaching Competition(CATCON), held for the fifth timesince 1996, ITC staff member Ben

Maathuis won the third prize withthe GEONET cast toolbox based onILWIS. He received the bronze medalduring the closing ceremony.

And last but not least, the Rector ofITC Martien Molenaar was unani-mous elected president of ISPRSCommission VI as successor of Prof.Cho for the period 2008 – 2012.

21ITC News 2008-2

E V E N T S

Li Deren and Jide Kufoniyi Ben MaathuisSander Oude Elberink

Alumni receptionIn the evening of 8 July, during a very well organized alumni reception, ITC alsocommemorated 30 years of cooperation between ITC and SBSM. Rector of ITCProfessor Martien Molenaar and Deputy Director General Dr. Wang Chunfeng ofSBSM exchanged gifts on this special occasion. Around 170 alumni, studentsand staff attended this festive gathering; they met with old and new friends andenjoyed a delicious dinner.

From the ITC BoothAs a first time ITC booth assistant, I enjoyed every minute of my time, trying tohelp out and provide information to a lot of visitors. Due to the fact that ITC iswell known in the RS field, the main interest of the visitors to the booth washow to obtain a PhD at ITC... There were however also questions like ‘what isthe distance from Enschede to the Keuken hof? Specific questions on, for exam-ple cooperation with ITC, were addressed to Martien or Sjaak, who in betweensessions came to the booth to meet with these special visitors

The ITC Community is shocked bydeath of Daniel Omondi Omolofrom Kenya, PhD student in the department of Natural Resources.Without any warning Dan suddenlypassed away during the weekly ITCrun in all probability by a cardiac arrest.

As from September 2002 onwards,Daniel became a familiar face in the

The late Daniel Peter Omolo wasborn on 29 July 1976 in Kisumu City,Kenya to the late Jack OmoloOketch and Esther Adoyo Omolo.He was the second born in a familyof five children that composed fourbrothers and a sister.

He started his early education atXaverian Primary School and com-pleted his high school education atKisumu Boys High School in 1994. Hejoined Kenyatta University under agovernment scholarship in 1996 forhis undergraduate studies, and grad-uated in 2000 with a Bachelors de-gree in Environmental Sciences. In2002, he won a NetherlandsFellowship Programme (NFP) scholar-ship to pursue a 12 monthProfessional Masters in NaturalResource Management at theInternational Institute for Geo-Information Science and EarthObservation (ITC) in the Netherlandswhere he graduated in 2003. A yearlater, in August 2004, he wasawarded an 18 month ErasmusMundus MSc fellowship whichbrought him back to ITC until March2006 when he graduated. However,owing to his sterling academic per-

formance and great rapport with hisprofessors, Dan was to return to ITCin August 2007 – for the third timeand again under an NFP fellowship –to start his Doctoral studies withinthe research theme of Biodiversity inFragmenting Landscapes (BIOFRAG).At the time of his death, he had fin-ished about one third of his PhD pro-gramme.

Career wise, Dan was a committedconservationist who dedicated his ca-reer to environmental matters. In par-ticular, he used his knowledge andskills, especially in GeographicInformation Systems (GIS), andRemote Sensing to advance conserva-tion related research for biodiversityconservation. Among the places heworked include the NationalMuseums of Kenya (NMK), NatureKenya, and the InternationalLivestock Research Institute (ILRI), allin Kenya, and BirdLife International inCambridge, UK. Dan’s contribution tothese institutions and to conservationin general was outstanding. Kenyawill miss a truly dedicated conserva-tionist.To his friends and work colleagues,Dan was a charmer who had a trade-

mark smile that was so contagious!He was the kind of person whowould be standing when people areseated. When people would bestanding, he would standout; whenpeople stood out, he would be out-standing; when people were dared tobe outstanding, then Dan would bethe very standards to be used!Academically and professionally, hewas a highflier, a trailblazer, alwaysaiming for the sky. He was a dedi-cated Christian who led his life by ex-ample and always motivated familyand friends alike to better their best.

As a family, words alone cannot de-scribe our deep sense of loss and sad-ness at Dan’s unexpected and suddendemise and we forever hold him dearin our hearts. Even though he willnever be replaced in our lives, we willalways treasure every moment weshared with him. We thank TheAlmighty God for Dan Omolo’s won-derful, fulfilling and richly blessed life.

May the almighty God rest his soul ineternal peace.

ITC community. On 22 July in thepresence of his brother and cousin amemorial service was held in theJacobus Kerk in Enschede. The me-morial service was attended by HerExcellency Professor Ruthie Rono,Ambassador of the Embassy of theRepublic of Kenya in the Netherlands,ITC students and staff. We would liketo extend our deepest sympathy toDaniel’s family.

22 ITC News 2008-2

I N M E M O R I A M

In Memoriam: Daniel Omondi Omolo (29 July 1976 – 16 July 2008)

Janneke Kalf itcnews@itc.nl

Eulogy for the late Daniel Peter OmoloEnock Titus Adhola, Dan’s brother (enocktit@gmail.com)

Use of satellite remote sensing forgroundwater studies is particularlychallenging because most of theuseful information identified bysatellites is revealed indirectly (e.g.through surface vegetation or frac-ture zones).

The manual Remote Sensing Applica -tions to Groundwater seeks to helpinterested people learn skills in deci-phering groundwater informationusing remote sensing. It has beenprepared in collaboration with theInternational Institute for Geo-Information Science and EarthObservation (ITC) within the frame-work of UNESCO’s InternationalHydrological Programme and as acontribution toward the TIGER initia-tive. It has been written from a hydro-geologist-practitioner perspective andassumes no prior knowledge of re-mote sensing.

Professor Allard Meijerink, togetherwith co-authors, has written themanual. Part I deals with image pro-cessing methods useful for ground-water studies and contains chapterson the use of thermal and radar im-ages in hydrogeology. Part II discussesand illustrates the hydrogeological in-terpretation of images of the maintypes of geological terrain, with ex-amples from warm climates. Part IIIconcentrates on the use of remotesensing for groundwater manage-ment, modelling, aquifer rechargemanagement, and various cross-cut-ting themes such as evapotranspira-tion, vegetation, soil moisture andnew sensor technologies.

The manual also refers readers to var-ious sources where satellite imagescan be downloaded free of chargeand to internet sites offering opensource software for remote sensingand GIS.

The manual was published on CD-ROM and in hardcopy by UNESCO atthe end of 2007. Courtesy of UN-ESCO, a hard copy will be sent toeach of the TIGER principal investiga-tors, using the addresses listed in theESA project database(http://www.tiger.esa.int). The investi-gators are advised to notify the per-sons below of any change in their ad-dress.

Other interested parties can request afree copy by sending an e-mail to Mr Vincent Leogardo(v.leogardo@unesco.org), with a copyto Dr Annukka Lipponen(a.lipponen@unesco.org), specifyingtheir preference: hardcopy or CD ver-sion. A pdf file web version will alsobe made available athttp://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/index.shtml.

Source: UNESCO, InternationalHydrological Programme

23ITC News 2008-2

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

announcements

UNESCO Publishes New Manual on Applications of Remote Sensing to Groundwater Studies

Contact: Dr Annukka Lipponen ata.lipponen@unesco.org

For more information:www.unesco.org

This three-day AARSE2008 pre-con-ference workshop focuses on humancapacity building for the Global EarthObservation System of Systems(GEOSS) and will provide the latestupdate on the implementation of theGEOSS information infrastructure.Special attention will be given toways of developing operational end-user applications and actively workingwith end users to secure informeddecision making for water securityand governance. The workshop willprovide a forum for discussing thedevelopment and operational issuesof water security and governance forAfrica.

24 ITC News 2008-2

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

staff news

GEOSS Workshop for Water Security and Governance in Africa

Venue: Alisa hotel, Accra, GhanaDate: 24-26 October 2008Time: Registration at 8 am on 24 OctoberFee: No fee; open participation (registration required)

For more information, please visit:www.itc.nl/news_events/archive/general/GEOSS_Workshop.asp

or contact one of the organisers:• Harold Annegarn hannegarn@gmail.com• Ian Dowman idowman@cege.ucl.ac.uk• Roger King rking@ece.msstate.edu• Chuck Luther chuckluther@aol.com• Chris Mannaerts mannaerts@itc.nl• Jay Pearlman jay.pearlman@ieee.org• Tsehaie Woldai woldai@itc.nl• Rob Lemmens for 52North lemmens@itc.nl

Ms L.B. Oosterhold Staff member Service Unit (Bookshop) Facility Management (per 21 April 2008)

Dr M.W. Straatsma Assistant Professor Earth Systems Analysis (per 1 June 2008

Prof.dr. J.A. Zevenbergen Professor Urban Regional Planning and Geo-Information Management (per 1 June 2008)

Dr. M.K. Hazarika Researcher Earth Systems Analysis (per 25 June 2008)

Prof.dr.ir. M.G. Bos Department of Water Resources (per 1 April 2008)

Ms. M. Meester Department of Earth Observation Science (per 1 April 2008)

Ms. M.J.H.J. Geurts Communication department (per 1 June 2008)

J.H.M. Hendrikse Department of Water Resources (per 1 June 2008)

Dr. A.A. Abkar Department of Natural Resources (per 1 June 2008)

Ing. A. van den Noort IT department (per 1 June 2008)

Welcometo ITC

Staffleaving

27ITC News 2008-2

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

Carmen Lucia Midaglia (midaglia07671@alumni@itc.nl) - ITC alumnaRural and Land Ecology Survey 1987- has received a copy of the awardcertificate for the Nobel Peace Prizebestowed on the IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change (IPCC) in2007.

The credit for this prestigious awardgoes to Carmen and other colleagueswho have admirably contributed tothe work of the IPCC. Only thosewho have contributed substantially tothe work of the IPCC over the yearssince the inception of the organisa-tion have been given a copy of thisaward.

As a surveyor, Carmen collaboratedwith the IPCC National Inventory(Brazil) in:• elaborating the First National

Inventory of Greenhouse Gasesfrom Methane Emissions - SectorWaste from (CH4) IndustrialSources in accordance with IPCCmethodology, coordinated byPNUD/MCT (Brazilian Ministry ofSciences and Technology) and exe-cuted by CETESB - São PauloEnvironment Agency(http://www.mct.gov.br/index.php/content/view/20378.html).

• coordinating the 3rd Partial ProjectActivities Report (Bra/95/G31)Enabling Brazil to Fulfill ItsCommitments to the UnitedNations Convention on ClimateChange, under an agreement withPNUD/CETESB (study focused onthe infrastructure needed to meetprogramme goals).

• participating in the national surveyof domestic solid waste disposal incities with populations higher than

50,000 inhabitants in São PauloState and over 100,000 inhabitantsin Brazil (identified sanitary dumpsfor methane gas emission estima-tion and assisted in storing infor-mation in databases).

• organising the international IPCCexpert meeting on Good Practice inInventory Preparation: Emissionsfrom Waste, which was held atCETESB, São Paulo, Brazil, from 26to 29 July 1999, and was pro-moted by the United NationsDevelopment Program, theInternational Energy Agency andthe Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development.

• contributing to concept develop-ment and research, as well as thedistribution of Ozônio: A ProteçãoWue Envolve a Terra, a textbookfor teenagers on the importance ofsaving the ozone layer, which was

produced by SMA/SP-EnvironmentState Secretariat (http://www.ambiente.sp.gov.br/prozonesp).

Carmen has also written an articleabout the effects of climate changeon the Netherlands. It is a review ofmany articles that deal with the possi-bility of the Netherlands being underwater in the future. Carmen hopesthe article may help to inspire bothBrazilian public politics in this areaand students in water management.The full article (in Portuguese only)can be found athttp://cecemca.rc.unesp.br/ojs/index.php/climatologia/article/view/677/710

Nowadays Carmen is working atCETESB on water quality issues and isresponsible for the geographical co-ordination of the São Paulo inlandwater monitoring network.

life after itc

Copy of Nobel Peace Prize Award Certificate for Carmen Lucia Midaglia

Janneke Kalf itcnews@itc.nl

Carmen Lucia Midaglia holding a copy of theaward certificate for the Nobel Peace Prize

Copy of the award certificate for theNobel Peace Prize

28 ITC News 2008-2

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Since my graduation in 2003, I haveworked as a university teacher, anurban planning consultant for localgovernment, and an organiser of alarge-scale investigation campaigninvolving university students. Basi-cally, my research career has notbeen interrupted, and the PhD lifeat ITC has contributed much to myresearch activities. Actually, life de-voted to scientific research is as hardas life in many other professions. Inthe scientific sphere, the biggestchallenge in many cases is how tocompete for research projects. Major operational issues related tothis challenge may include determin-ing the devotion to a scientific life,looking for a suitable position, mak-ing appropriate use of institutional re-sources, and fostering a competentresearch team. These issues might dif-fer considerably from one PhD’er toanother, and might also be influencedby the practical working environ-ment. Also, different activities are ac-tually interconnected and contributeto scientific research in one way oranother. Based on my personal expe-riences, as well as the observations ofseveral other PhD’ers from ITC, somedetails of the operational aspectschallenging scientific life are pre-sented below.

Introduction On 28 March 2003, I defended mydissertation and gained a PhD title atUtrecht University. This defence alsoconcluded my four-year life as a PhDstudent at ITC, which was sponsoredby the DSO Sino-Dutch project. Theproject was implemented betweenITC and the then School of UrbanStudies, Wuhan Technical Universityof Surveying and Mapping (WTUSM),China. WTUSM was merged withother universities to form the newWuhan University in 2000, and theSchool of Urban Studies was renamed

the School of Urban Design (SUD) in2005. During my PhD study under thesupervision of Professor Ian Masserand Professor Henk Ottens, I focusedmy research on information supportfor urban transport planning. My PhDcareer lasted exactly four years, withone year in Wuhan for data collectionand some teaching activities at theuniversity. On graduation, I went backto Wuhan to continue my career as auniversity teacher.

My CareerThe cooperation between ITC andWuhan has lasted for almost 20years, and I have witnessed the wholeprocess. There were three major eco-nomic financing periods: 1986 to1990, 1992 to 1996, and 1998 to2003. Interestingly, I was an under-graduate student of urban planningduring the first period, I was ap-pointed an MSc student at ITC duringthe second period, and I worked formy PhD during the third period. Nowthere is a joint MSc programme be-tween SUD and ITC.

Eight months after my return toWuhan, the university assigned me toa two-year part-time post as deputy

director at the High-Tech Develop -ment Zone, Nanchang city. My mis-sion mainly concerned the strategicspatial development of the whole dis-trict (213 km2). The mission was car-ried out satisfactorily, and at the endof 2005 I returned to WuhanUniversity as a full-time professor.

In 2006, the dean of SUD initiated alarge-scale campaign to explore thehuman settlements and architecturalstyles along the national border. Thiswas known as “Marching along theBorder of China”. I was appointed tothe organising team as acting direc-tor, responsible for coordinating activ-ities in scenario development, forteam construction and training, andfor seeking sponsors. The programmewas composed of 108 students, di-vided into 18 teams, who travelledsome 60,000 km in 38 days duringthe summer holiday of that year. Itwas a successful programme, and re-ceived an award from the nationalyouth committee for being an excel-lent holiday programme.

But the scientific research goes on. Ihave completed several peer-re-viewed papers and have taken part insome academic conferences.Academic life in China is not as sim-ple as it used to be. Looking for re-search projects has become a majortask. In 2006, I wrote a proposal forthe National Science Foundation(NSFC) and it was approved. The pro-posal dealt with optimising urbanpublic transport travel with the sup-port of a multi-tier transit data model- so also an extension of one part ofmy PhD work. While the NSFC em-phasises theoretical improvements,the high-tech 863 development pro-gramme emphasises innovative inven-tions using modern technology.Transport is a sponsored field in thisprogramme, and public transport

Operational Aspects of Research: Challenges in Scientific Life after PhD at ITC

Zhengdong Huang hzhd@alumni.itc.nl

Dr Zhengdong Huang

29ITC News 2008-2

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plays a role. In 2007, I wrote a pro-posal on optimising the transit routenetwork from the perspective of tran-sit planning and deployment. Thiswas also approved, but with chal-lenging requirements. As an urbanplanner, it is important to take part inactivities of the planning society. In2007, I passed the test to become acertified urban planner in China.

My current job also involves taskssuch as the qualification and develop-ment of the urban planning discipline,and the application of PhD certifica-tion. These are time-consuming yetfundamental issues that will promotethe future development of the school.

Challenges in Scientific LifeThere are quite a few challenges inscientific research, such as competingfor research projects, building a re-search team, training students andcollecting data. Of these issues, thebiggest challenge is to construct acompetent research team. This is verydifficult in some cases because of thepoor ability of the institute or the lackof suitable professionals. Some goodideas might be thwarted by the in-

ability to build a good research team.Therefore, when it comes to lookingfor a job, it is always a good idea tofind an institute with profound scien-tific activities and outputs.

Research problems exist at differentlevels: for example, within the inter-national, the national and the localcontext. The concerns at internationallevel might be quite different fromthose at national and local levels.Normally, a Request For Proposals(RFP) or proposal guide will identifythe major focal points. These need tobe carefully analysed before fingeringthe keyboard.

ReflectionsMy story seems to demonstrate thatthere are close connections betweenPhD research at ITC and the scientificlife afterwards. These connections arereflected in the following aspects.First, to a large extent a PhD researchis a process of improving scientificthinking. A critical attitude and a sys-tematic concept have to be formed.Second, effective cooperation andcommunication among our colleaguesis indispensable. Third, gaining a PhDis also a process that improves scien-tific techniques such as GIS, quantita-tive and qualitative methods. Last butnot the least, a heart with ambition isalways necessary.

Let’s be more specific and make aSWOT analysis of being a PhD stu-dent at ITC:

• Strength: We can deliver a strongacademic output based on the re-search context.

• Weakness: We may need to travelfor at least two hours before set-ting our feet towards efficient link-ages with some advanced researchbodies.

• Opportunity: Through the ITC plat-form we have access to the hugeITC alumni network, as well as aninternational network.

• Threat: This relates to the connec-tions with the ITC research agenda.Some candidates may come withgood ambitions but may not satisfythe ITC research context. Extra ef-forts are needed to cope with thissituation.

Suggestions to Fellow PhD StudentsMany routine suggestions can bemade to the average PhD candidatewith regard to tracing the frontiers ofresearch: for example, take part in ac-ademic conferences and read confer-ence proceedings and papers in re-cent journals. But two more issuesare also worthwhile pursuing: (i) be-come more involved in the Dutch ac-ademic network, especially the re-search schools, (ii) start building someinternational connections through theITC platform, particularly connectionswith advanced institutes with whomthere might be cooperation aftergraduation. In addition, candidatesshould be relaxed enough to enjoythe academic life in the Netherlands.

Dr Zhengdong Huang received his PhD degree from Utrecht Universityand ITC in 2003. He is now a professor at the School of Urban Design,Wuhan University, and a registered urban planner in China.

School of Urban Design, Wuhan University

Dr Zhengdong Huang with his promotor, Professor IanMasser, during a visit to China

30 ITC News 2008-2

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“Young” and “old” ITC students meet in Stockholm

Jacqueline Mol jmol@itc.nl

Just three days before the devastat-ing cyclone struck Myanmar (Burma)on Saturday, 3 May, a group of ITCalumni brought together by Mr UThein Lwin and Marjan Kreijns, ITCrepresentative for Southeast Asia,met for dinner at the Traders Hotelin Yangon. Most of the 159 regis-tered ITC alumni were trained at ITCin the ‘70s and ‘80s, when Myanmarwas still eligible under the Nether-lands Fellowship Programme (NFP).

It is extremely sad that these naturaldisasters strike in countries wherepeople already live under difficult cir-

The Working Week of the Interna-tional Federation of Surveyors (FIG)from 14 to 19 of June 2008 in Stock-holm, with its conference theme In-tegrating Generations, was an excel-lent opportunity for ITC to invite“young” and “old” ITC students andstaff for an informal get-together.

On Tuesday 17 June an alumni recep-tion was organized In the lobby ofthe Conference Hotel the ITC alumniwere welcomed by ITC Master andPhD students and staff. The presenceof the President of FIG, Professor StigEnemark, and Vice-president

Professor Paul van der Molen, as wellas Bas Kok President of the GSDIAssociation was highly appreciated byeverybody.

cumstances. According to the statemedia in Myanmar, more than22,000 people were killed in thestorm and more than 40,000 othersare missing. The authorities say thatmany lost their lives in a huge tidalsurge that swept inland during thestorm. The international communityin Bangkok reports that the death tollis probably much higher, and it is al-ready being seen as the worst naturaldisaster in East Asia since the tsunamiof 2004.

Millions have been left homeless andwithout food and water. The rice har-

vest of this year has been completelydestroyed, and Burma faces a seriousshort-term and possible long-termproblem in feeding its people. “Thisdisaster is going to last,” said oneEuropean diplomat. “It’s not some-thing that is going to be over in acouple of weeks or months. It willhave far-reaching consequences untilthe next harvest.”

Five days after the disaster, MarjanKreijns was able to get in contactwith Mr U Thein Lwin, who reportedthe chaos in Yangon.

ITC Alumni Meet in Yangon Just before Devastating Cyclone Struck Myanmar

Marjan Kreijns kreijns@itc.nl

ITC alumni (1974) with Ms Marjan Kreijns Group of ITC alumni Mr U Thein Lwin and Ms Marjan Kreijns

31ITC News 2008-2

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On Thursday, 13 November 2008,parallel to the ACRS 2008 inColombo, Sri Lanka, ITC will organ-ise a one-day tutorial. Of the 20places available, 15 are reserved forITC alumni.

Hyperspectral remote sensing dealswith data from instruments acquiringreflectance images in a large number(>40) of narrow (<0.01 to 0.02 µm inwidth), contiguous (i.e., adjacent andnot overlapping) spectral bands, en-abling the mineralogy of objects tobe derived or obtaining informationon soil, water and biochemical com-position.

What Is This Tutorial About?Participants in this one-day tutorialwill be exposed to the basic physicsof spectroscopy and learn how to in-terpret spectra derived in the labora-tory and field and integrate thesewith image data. The full processingchain, from data acquisition throughcalibration to thematic mapping, will

be covered in the tutorial. Electivecase studies will serve to instruct par-ticipants in the use and application ofhyperspectral data, covering real-lifeexamples from the fields of geologyand exploration, environmental sci-ence, geoengineering, vegetation sci-ence, agriculture and water qualitystudies.

For Whom Is This Tutorial Relevant?This tutorial is designed for students,researchers and practitioners in thefield of remote sensing who have abackground and interest in earthand/or life sciences and who want tolearn the basics and prospective ap-plications of hyperspectral remotesensing. Basic knowledge of remotesensing is required.

CostsThe course is fully sponsored by ITCand no tuition fee or additional costs

are charged. Participants need toarrange and finance their own traveland accommodation.

Apply now for the one-day tutorial

Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

Spectroscopy, calibration, validation, mapping and modelling high spectral resolution images for environ-mental studies

For more information and registration: www.itc.nl/news_events/archive/alumni/_registration_sriLanka/default.aspx

The presence of Professor Paul van der Molen,President of the GSDI Association Bas Kok andProf Stig Enemark was highly appreciated

Professor Paul van der Molen, Director of theUNU-ITC School for Land Administration Studies(left)

Prof Stig Enemark, President of the InternationalFederation of Surveyors (FIG) and vice PresidentFIG (2nd from right)

32 ITC News 2008-2

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From: sekeleti@alumni.itc.nlSent: 18 March 2008 13:17To: alumni@itc.nl;

itcnews@itc.nlSubject: RE: ITC Update 2008-01

Dear Janneke

There is one thing that has kept meconnected to ITC all the time since Ileft the Netherlands in March 2004:the ITC News magazine. I am very im-pressed that it is available online be-cause now I may not have to miss asingle issue.

Since I left ITC, I have changed postaladdress more than three times andITC has had only one address update.This means in many instances thehard copy of the ITC News goes miss-ing along the way and I also losetouch with ITC for that moment.

Through the online version, I readabout Saskia Groenedijk winning theHenk Scholten award for 2007. In myown view, Saskia’s winning of theaward was long overdue. She simplydeserves the award and I am sure myfellow alumni will totally agree withme. Not only is she hard-working, sheis also charming and makes the stu-dents feel well attended to and easilyat home away from home. Throughthis mail, I would like to say: Saskia,congratulations and keep on promot-ing the “we” spirit of ITC! It is noteasy but you can also stimulate oth-ers to believe in it and act in such amanner that gives a feeling of one-ness and of being home.

One of my best lecturers was EmileDopheide. He just made me feelgood in many aspects, both in andoutside class. I remember his lessonsin project planning, especially the logframe analysis and project funding. I

came from the project world and hislecture provided me with one of mybest times at ITC. Besides the aca-demic work with Emile at ITC, weshared some sporting moments, anda beer of course, during many ITC or-ganised events. Isn’t that a lovely wayto get along with students? By far, heis one of the people that have influ-enced my work and I want to thankhim for his character and effort.Please pass on my heartfelt congratu-latory remarks to him.

Besides the award-winning membersof ITC staff, I know there are so manymore people at ITC who work veryhard to make other people’s livescomfortable. I know this from my ex-perience as a member of the ITCStudent Association Board (SAB). Icame to know a lot of people whoare very humble, selfless and commit-ted, and together they keep the ITCspirit alive and moving. Examples arethe organisers of Run4fun, SAB ex-cursions, the spring party, gradua-tions, the end-of-module parties andfieldwork, as well as the staff at theITC restaurant and helpdesk.

Janneke, thank you for the goodwork you are doing, and I shall al-ways keep in touch with ITC throughthe ITC News magazine.

Best regardsMartin SekeletiFormer SAB President 2003

@ Letter to editor