The Canadian Connection of HUNAGI - opportunities and challanges

Welcome speech of the Ambassador Mr. Pierre Guimond. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2009

On the occasion of Canada Day, the 100th anniversary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as well as the 45th Anniversary of Canadian-Hungarian diplomatic relations, the ambassador of Canada Mr. Pierre Guimond and Mrs. Louise Parent gave a reception today afternoon in the garden of the Residence in Buda. Secretary General of HUNAGI was also invited.

His relation goes back to the early 90's, when the ISPRS Commission VII held its symposium in Victoria, B.C. with Hungarian participation.

Professional links emerged via settled Hungarian geodetic surveyors as well as professionals in photogrammetry and remote sensing such as Frank Hegyi, Andrew Jánó, Victor Zsilinszky, Eugen Derényi, Dennis Bajzák and many more.

As discussed with Ms. Éva Bősze, commercial commissioner of the Embassy of Canada in Budapest, HUNAGI could play a facilitator role paving the way for building closer relations between the Canadian and Hungarian enterpreneurs in the field of geionformatics/geomatics.

Potential areas of applications and joint ventures include the sustainable agriculture and forest management, e-governmental services, renewable resources, environmental protection and nature conservation, energetics with special emphasis on alternative energy sources, thematic mapping, geoportals and location based services.

There are many novel solutions offered by Canadian companies eg. the geospatial web conference technology as announced by PCI Geomatics recently, which - integrated with spatial data accessibility - enables improved effectiveness in decision making in critical situations such as disaster response (for more information please click on the header). Mention should be made, on behalf GSDI Association HUNAGI just advised CEOS WGISS and the UN SPIDER to formulate the needs of end users in disaster response situation. Requirements on spatial data availability, accessibility, usability and quality. Needs related to technological, institutional, organizational, legal, financial matters and measures as well as education and training which all compose the spatial data infrastructure.

HUNAGI Task Force on PSI re-use in Hungary

The news can be read on the ePSI Platform website (by clicking on the header).

National EURADIN Workshop in Budapest

Title	National EURADIN Workshop "EURADIN Magyar Nap"
Location	Budapest (HU)
Start Time	02/Sept/2009 10:00
End Time	02/Sept/2009 15:00
Description	European Address Infrastructure (EURADIN) and the Hungarian context. Supported by the European Umbrella Organisation for Geographical Information (EUROGI), the event is organized by the National GI Association (HUNAGI) in conjuction with EURADIN consortium members EUROGI, FÖMI and Geox Ltd. The website of the "EURADIN Magyar Nap" will be published soon at the address http://EURADINHU.blogspot.com Proposals of presentations can be sent to gabor.remetey@gmail.com Venue: FÖMI Budapest xIV. Bosnyak ter 5 Host contact: palya.tamas@fomi.hu
All Day Event	Yes
Recurrence	-
Workspace	-
BEGIN	-

EUROGI flashback on GSDI11

Beurs World Trade Center in Rotterdam, venue of the GSDI11. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2009
From our daily mail. Joao Geirinhas, Secretary General of EUROGI sent the following information for HUNAGI:

"Dear Member of EUROGI,
* Impressions from the GSDI 11 World Conference
For more information on the event, please visit: http://www.eurogi.org/pooled/articles/BF_NEWSART/view.asp?Q=BF_NEWSART_313324

* Pictures and other exchanges from GSDI 11
For more information, please visit: http://www.eurogi.org/pooled/articles/BF_NEWSART/view.asp?Q=BF_NEWSART_313326

* Webcast of the INSPIRE Conference 2009 Plenary Sessions available (Video & Slides)
For more information, please visit: http://www.eurogi.org/pooled/articles/BF_NEWSART/view.asp?Q=BF_NEWSART_313284

* Italian Senator Candido De Angelis meets AM-FM GIS Italia Association
For more information, please visit: http://www.eurogi.org/pooled/articles/BF_NEWSART/view.asp?Q=BF_NEWSART_313282

Kind Regards,
EUROGI Secretariat
EUROGI-European Umbrella Organisation for Geographic Information
Rua Artilharia Um, 107
1099-052 LISBOA
PORTUGAL
Tel: +351 213 819 635/624; Fax: +351 213 819 668
email: eurogi@eurogi.org
WEB: www.eurogi.org "

In a recent overview of the host Geonovum reference was given to the HUNAGI/UNSDI HUCO blog:

The Socioeconomic Effects of Public Sector Information on Digital Networks

Edited version of the OECD- US National CODATA Committee Workshop devoted to the topic values of the impacts of different policies on public sector information access and re-use.

Harlan Onsrud (Executive Director, GSDI), Chris Corbin (PSIplus, former EUROGI ExCom member) and Prof. Max Craglia of DG JRC are among the contributors. The introduction of the publication in Hungarian has been posted at http://hunagi8.blogspot.com

To download the free pdf document please click on the header.

What do Dutch-students think about Geo-information?

In the morning plenary session of the last day of the GSDI11

Conference, the views of the Dutch students on Geo-information were also articulated. Arguments are shown on the larger image.

Response was given by Paul Kelly (small picture), Chair of the SDI WG of the FIG Commission 3 Geographic Information Management).
Executive Director of EuroGeographics Dave Lovell urged after the Conference and the follow-on GSDI Board Meeting to pay more attention to this situation. Promotion should be made and awareness should be raised much earlier as in the higher education. As an example, the Geography Ambassadors program under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society was called referring to the URLs:

http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/ambassadors/introduction/
http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Action+Plan+for+Geography/Geography+Ambassadors.htm
Mention should be made, orchestrated from Rotterdam on the same morning, HUNAGI just initiated to establish links between the 77-years old Farkasréti Primary School and the Chair of Cartography and Geoinformatics of the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in order to share geography-related knowledge for the interested pupils. On the same day, a lecture was delivered by Dr. Előd Juhász, geologist, scientific traveller of our blue planet organised by the SASFA Board of the School's alumni (as posted on June 18 in the HUNAGI Newsblog at http://hunagi8.blogspot.com).

The 24th ICA World Conference in Santiago

The Conference will be hosted by IGM (click on the header) at the Military School in Las Condes, Santiago, Chile between 15-21 November 2009
Image source: Ms. Maria Loreto, IGM, 2009

GSDI President-elect is David Coleman from Canada representing the Atlantic Institute

Prof. Dr. David Coleman, Dean of the Faculty Engineering at the University of New Brunswick in Canada has been voted as President-elect of the GSDI Association. For more information on his bio and pioneer role in the evolution of GSDI initiative simply click on the header line.

GIS and Security - CEE Conference in Prague in late September

Partner organizers include SAGI, HUNAGI and OGC. For the latest information (date, venue, agenda, registration etc) please click on the header line.

By the way please find below the press release just received from the organizers:

" The central & eastern European member states are currently re-designing and developing their GIS strategies in line with the new requirements of the EU and NATO. Challenges such as achieving cross-border interoperability, tackling refugee and narcotics trafficking, supporting in-theatre operations in Afghanistan, Iraq require strategic support from GIS services of each European nation. This is why heads of GIS in central & eastern Europe are meeting at DGI CEE 2009, September 29^th -30^th, in Prague. Top level defence and national security GIS experts will be sharing their interoperability, in-theatre support, GIS growth and development strategies to ensure that their country is fully integrated into the EU and NATO operations across the globe. The conference is fully supported by NATO, EU, NGA US and will be welcoming speakers and delegates from MoD across Europe, including: Pavel Skala, Head of GIS, MOD Czech Reupblic, Janko Rozman, Head of GIS in Slovenian MoD, Col. Jaroslav Piroh, Head of Geo-Support Services, TOPOGRAFICKY USTAV, SLOVAKIA and many of their colleagues from the region.

Two of the key issues covered at the event are: 1. supporting NATO and EU in their their GIS strategies in Europe and 2. supporting soldiers in-theatre. Most eastern European countries are working hard to ensure their efforts are in line with the western GIS infrastructure, however, there is still a long way to go. If you are interested in finding out what NATO and EU expect from the new member states and how these expectations are being fulfilled, join DGI CEE 2009 in Prague.

Visit www.dgicee.com, call +44 (0) 20 7368 9465 or email info@wbr.co.uk for further information. "

UNGIWG/UNSDI, NLCO and HUCO informal talks in Rotterdam

Former Head of the UNSDI Secretariat Mr. Suha Ulgen and Mr. Jan Cees Venema. image_ HUNAGI, 2009

GSDI extended ExCom meeting on 19 June

The extended ExCom Meeting was Chaired by President Prof. Abbas Rajabifard

GSDI11Closing Session

GSDI11 SDI Future

GSDI11 Workshop on capacity building

The Workshop was chaired by Prof. Milan Konecny. HUNAGI, 2009

GSDI11- Vision of the private sector

HUNAGI-HUCO blog visitors today

HUNAGI"s photo gallery directly linked from INSPIRE website

The linked photo galleries are of Greg Yetman (Columbia University) and of HUNAGI

GSDI11 Social Evening

GSDI11 Social Evening: Beach Club Royal in Hoek van Holland. Images: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2009

INSPIRE and Institutional and Community issues

Images of the Workshop on INSPIRE and the communities. HUNAGI, 2009

Images on the GSDI11 Exhibition and Silent Auction's items

Workshop on SDI Cookbook Technical Issues

Co-chairs Doug Nebert (FGDC) and Greg Yetman (Columbia University). Image: HUNAGI, 2009

From Metadata_GSDICookbookWorkshops

In some months, the first annual snapshot of the Cookbook Wiki in pdf form will be disse-minated. Referring to the HUNAGI's question in the discussion, translation into additional languages will be facilitated by the editors. The candidate SDI standards were also discussed.

INSPIRE Metadata Workshop

INSPIRE is about data sharing. But where, what, how? The answer is given by the Metadata services having a deadline in 2 and 5 years in cases of the Annex '-II and Annex III data respectively.

The 3rd INSPIRE Conference in Rotterdam

Highlights of the presentation of Prof. Max Craglia of DG JRC on INSPIRE and Hugo de Groof of EEA on SEIS.

GSDI11 Opened!

Selected pictures of the Opening Session, keynote speech and the follow-on Plenary Session. HUNAGI, 2009Some of the images will be annotated asap

The blog with GSDI11-related news - collected in conjuction with GSDI Secretariat - attracts visitors from all over the world

Geographical distribution of the blog visitors as of 16 June 2009

Images of the INSPIRE Sessions 1.3-4.3

Images:HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2009

INSPIRE CONFERENCE WILL BE WEBCASTED ON WEDNESDAY

To see the webcast simply click on the header. You can consult with the detailed full-day agenda here even today.
Additional information: http://nspire.jrc.it

Translating the data with the Snowflake approach in 4.3 INSPIRE Workshop at the GSDI11

Eddie Curtis in action. HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2009

HUMBOLDT presented at the 3.3 INSPIRE Workshop

GIS4EU introduced in the 2.3 INSPIRE Workshop

Session organizer Ms. De Zorzi, Stefania of the GIS4EU project formulated the following message of the session after the event:
"GIS4EU presented its first year of results:
The Inspire procedure for developing a common data model was successfully tested for the elevation model;
The INSPIRE model for administrative unit and hydrography were tested with real datasets, providing results for the INSPIRE TWG as feedback. The procedure for data harmonising were presented and preliminary results allowed to visualise the first version of geoportal"

EURADIN introduced at the 1.3 INSPIRE Workshop

The message of the session was formulated by Ms. Vanda Lima of the DG JRC, IES, SDI Unit as follows:
"Important is the synergy between TWG and EURADIN project. There is no duplication of work but to complete each other working program and experiences.
Project has more partners reflecting different national realities than TWG, which makes the project ideal for testing data specification and data model prepared by TWG."

GSDI Board and Council Meetings held In Rotterdam

Images of the first GSDI Board Meeting in Rotterdam. HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2009

GSDI Council meeting took place on the same day. Both events were hosted by ESRI Netherlands.

Images of the GSDI Council Meeting. HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2009

Some important decisions made by the Council:

New members of GSDI Association:

Central Informatics Organization, Bahrain

Chinese Taipei GIS Center

Public Management Institute, K.U. Leuven,

Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Kenya

Singapore Land Authority

A HUNAGI képviselőjének mandátuma a második periódus lezárásaként ma lejárt.

According to the rotation policy 6 new Board members have been elected:

President-elect/Vice President: Prof. David Coleman, Atlantic Institute

Non-profit Chris Holmes, Open Planning Project

Region Africa: Hussein Farah, RCMRD, Kenya

International Geographic Organization: Prof. Josef Strobl, EAG

Region North America: Ivan Deloatch, FGDC

Region South America: Juan Vidal Garcia Huidobro, IGM, Chile

Mention should be made, the snapshots were taken by request of the GSDI. During the Conference Week this HUNAGI-UNSDIHU blog will be edited in conjuction with the GSDI Secretariat and will serve as recommended website highlighting e.g. messages of the 10-track sessions of the GSDI Conference. President Bas Kok announced, the number of the registered participants reached 1000.

Round-table discussion on SDI and the electronic presentation of the eSDI-Netplus posters were canceled at GINNT Expo due to the lack of audience

Too few people were attracted by the topic "SDI and spatial data" scheduled for the second afternoon of the two-days event GINNT Expo in Budapest. Although all the invited speakers and the Moderator were present, the round-table discussion and the electronic presentation of the eSDI-Netplus posters submitted by the organizers of the International Poster Exhibition were canceled on the spot due to the lack of audience.

Innovative technologies and solutions - GINNT Expo 2009

Report will be given tomorrow after the Round-table discussion on SDI. Three of the eSDI-Netplus posters are physically displayed, the rest of the Prague eSDI-Netplus International Poster Exhibition sent to the GINNT Expo in digital form will be introduced by large size electronic display.

GISDATA Newsletter

Report and illustrations courtesy by Ágnes Kis, PR Manager, ESRI Hungary, 2009
To download the Report in Hungarian, please click on the header.

VÁTI of Hungary won the second prize in the GISDATA Poster Contest held in Opatija last month.

VÁTI CIO Mr. Zsolt Barkóczi (President of HUNAGI) and GISDATA officers at the Poster ceremony.

Prof. Mauro Salvemini welcomes GSDI11 Conference

To download the Welcome address please click on the header.

Courtesy by EUROGI Secretariat, 2009

Members of the European Umbrella Organization for Geographic Information (EUROGI)

To download the document please click on the header.

Courtesy by EUROGI Secretariat, 2009

NATURE-SDIplus Newsletter 2009

To download the Newsletter, please click on the Header.

Submitted for wider dissemination by Prof. Dr. Béla Márkus

Flashback: GSDI's past 10 years in photographs

Images: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 1999-2009
Please be advised, the photo gallery will be gradually enriched in content.

National Ragweed Registry Information System - an eSDI-Netplus thematic SDI displayed at GINNT Expo 2009

Snapshot of the PIR poster. Courtesy by FÖMI RSC, 2009

PIR will be introduced at the GINNT Expo on innovative solutions and technologies between 10-11 June, 2009 at the Europa Congress Center in Budapest. Actually three of the six Hungarian thematic SDIs selected for the EU eSDI-Netplus project will be displayed: PIR (a GPS and Earth Observation supported National Ragweed Registry Information System), VinGIS, (Vineyard Registry Information System) both of the FÖMI RSC, as well as TeIR (Territorial Information System of Hungary) of VÁTI. It is anticipated, the PIR poster will join the International eSDI-Netplus Poster Exhibition in Rotterdam during the GSDI11 Conference a the fourth of the Hungarian contributions besides MÉTA, TeIR and VinGIS. For details related to PIR please click on the header or contact gabor.csornai@fomi.hu.
PIR is an excellent example on operational thematic SDI, which has significant socio-economic impact providing benefit in the fields of public health, agricultural and environmental policy planning, implementation and control. HUNAGI promoted this innovative approach at the Side Meeting on Environment and Health organised by EPA at the GEO- V Plenary in Bucarest last November.

Online! HOME - a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand on our Planet Earth

Today, we all have the opportunity for a date with the Planet Earth. To watch on-line the film entitled HOME by the worldwide acknowledged aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand please click on the header. Further information: www.home-2009.com
During the first six hours this spot was read by 60 visitors mainly from GSDI, EUROGI, eSDINetplus and CEOSS communities. Their geographical distribution is shown on the map here.