contentMain FeaturesLatin American GI challenges 2Distance education 5

Project NewsSomalian Urban Development programme 12Geo-ICT capacity building inRwanda 13

Education NewsStudy tour to Zwolle 14MSc day 2005 14New Master course inGeoinformatics 15EU funding MSc courseEnvironmental Modelling 16Flevoland snow tour 17

Research newsAdvanced spatial statistics for geodata 18

AnnouncementsHeilongjiang Bureau of Surveyingand Mapping host conference 18ITC appointed Associated Institution of the UN University 19HEF Indonesia 20How to produce a topographic relief map 21ITC 55 years 21

Partnership newsGeo-information for Disaster Management course, Indonesia 22RECTAS and ITC go ‘Francophone’ 22MoU RECTAS and ITC 24EREG MSc graduation, India 25

Staff NewsFarewell Niek Rengers 26Welcome to ITC - Staff leaving 27

Life after ITCITC Alumni Association:Mongolia 28Vietnam 29Indonesia 30Overview 31

Time, space, money: the eternal triangle of constraints that seems to dogour tracks. We meet it in our daily lives – perhaps snarled up in traffic, impa-tiently drumming our fingers on the wheel as the clock ticks closer towardsthat important business engagement. We meet it when drafting project pro-posals or strategic plans; and we meet it in the educational arena.Nowadays, while ongoing education is becoming a serious necessity in theeffort to stay abreast of rapid developments in the world of technology,mid-career professionals are finding it ever more difficult to take time outfrom family and work commitments to follow long educational programmesabroad. What to do?

Never one to shy away from challenges, ITC is seeking to harness technolog-ical advances to extend the range of options open to its clients, be they indi-viduals or organisations. For example, much work is afoot in the realm ofdistance education (p.5), and ITC News 2005-1 carries a progress report inthis respect, exploring the views on both sides of the table. Joint educationalprogrammes and projects are another feature of ITC’s portfolio, and in thisissue you’ll find details on various stages of such initiatives: from the signingof an agreement in Nigeria (p.24), to the opening project at the NationalUniversity of Rwanda (p.22), to the graduation ceremony of the EarthResources and Environmental Geosciences course in India (p.25).

All the same, there’s still much to attract students to Enschede: for example,the newly structured Master’s course in geoinformatics (p.15), which reflectsgrowing societal interest worldwide in spatial data infrastructures. Andthere’s the 2005/2006 MSc course in environmental modelling and manage-ment (p.16), which offers participants not only the chance to acquire newskills and abilities but also ample opportunity to experience the Europeancultural diversity – and the Erasmus Mundus scholarships on offer may bethe solution to someone’s constraint. But that’s for the future. What of thestudents at ITC now? What’s keeping them busy? If you turn to pages 14and 17, you’ll get some idea.

So although isolation is often considered one of the perils faced by studentsat a distance, it’s our hope that ITC News 2005-1, with its varied offering ofreports and articles, will bridge any such gap felt by our readers and over-come to a some degree the constraints of both time and space.

Janneke KalfManaging Editor

1ITC News 2005-1

I N T R O

introduction

Managing Editor: Janneke Kalf

Editing: Janice CollinsDesign&PrePress: Henk Scharrenborg

(Composer DTP service)Andries Menning

Printing: PlantijnCasparie Zwolle

Correspondence to: Managing EditorITC NEWSP.O.Box 6

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

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

The views expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect those of ITC2005number 1

Geo-information

sciences are dealing

with leading-edge

concepts such as

service chaining,

geographical

information (GI)

components, grid

computing, sensor

web, context-aware

tools, and location-

based services.

On the other hand, Latin American countriesare facing challenging and urgent problemsin terms of designing, implementing, andsupporting solutions to integrate and har-monise information from different sourcesand apply them to the protection of criticalinfrastructure such as highways and powerlines. Today’s markets offer huge amounts ofdata with different characteristics. To con-nect such data, markets also provide a set offunctions available on Internet with differentbehaviours. One of the main problems thatwe have to tackle is the different meaningsof data and functions, and their understand-ing among stakeholders. The opportunity tofollow an MSc programme at ITC in geoin-formatics offers the possibility to check onthe feasibility of applying geo-informationtools and methods in the Latin Americancontext, using an innovative, practical andmoderate-cost approach.

From an empirical point of view, in LatinAmerica a utility service is something thatpeople become conscious of when theydon’t have it. For example, it is generally ex-pected that when you arrive home, you canturn on your lights at the flick of a switch.The average person is not aware of the com-plex infrastructure behind the scenes. Onlypeople involved with the energy and gas in-frastructure realise the complexity of plan-ning, controlling and maintaining thenetworks and pipelines, and the great ef-forts required to offer and maintain goodquality and continuity of service.

In addition, Latin American companies facehuge pressure from both public opinion,

controlled by various stakeholders with avast diversity of interests, and privatisationprocesses, pushed by government open-market policies. In this context, utility com-panies have to rapidly define and implementstrategies to counteract their weakness andimplement ambitious plans to fulfil theirstakeholders’ expectations.

One of the main problems faced by these or-ganisations in establishing and maintainingany kind of solution to current problems isthe different meanings ascribed to the sameobject. Our interactions with each object arediverse, so each person can model objects inmany different ways. The result is that thesame object is represented with different at-tributes, descriptions, names and meanings.It is the context or type of application orproblem to be solved, as well as the detail ofthe information to be captured, that deter-mines which model is the more suitable.

This is the interoperability aspect of problemsolving. The Open GIS Consortium (OGC)defines interoperability as the capability tocommunicate, execute programmes, ortransfer data among various functional unitsin a manner that requires the user to havelittle or no knowledge of the unique charac-teristics of those units. Solving this subject ofinteroperability is a mythical issue that hasdemanded, and been supplied with, severalapproaches. The first approaches went forstandard formats and connectors betweenheterogeneous systems applications. This al-ternative solved some initial expectations,but maintenance and support costs werehigh. Actually the proposals deal with the

2 ITC News 2005-1

Applied Geoinformatics Research to Solve

Latin American GI ChallengesGustavo Zárrate zarrate07853@alumni.itc.nl

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

understanding between software compo-nents. In this context, the components areself-assembled in a dynamic way. The aim ofall these proposals is to fulfil the user's re-quirements and the expectations of business– ultimately, all technological advances haveto be business-driven and user-driven.

Web service is an additional element re-quired to gain the big picture of one set ofsolutions. A working definition of web serv-ice is network-resident software services thatare accessible via standardised protocols.This means that web services are availablevia the Internet and they are used on de-mand when the user requires the function.Service chaining is a way of organising orcomposing a set of functions and data setsin order to obtain a stronger solution. It is asynergetic approach: the combined interac-tion of two or more elements produces astronger result than their individual efforts.

There are two main proposals regardingcomposition: the business workflow ap-proach with BPEL, which has the support ofthe main technological companies; and thesemantic web approach with OWL, a contin-uation of artificial intelligence (AI), with themanagement of knowledge and its repre-sentation.

A current Geoinformatics (GFM) MSc re-search project at ITC is proposing to com-bine the strengths of these two approaches

in the composition and execution stages ofservice chaining. The aim is to introduce anextension to the service description used topublish a web service and include a link toan ontology (common understanding of adomain knowledge). In this way, organisa-tions that decide to implement geoinformat-ics solutions do not have to start fromscratch. Consequently, their projects will bemore focused on the domain area of theproblem, and the implementation of the so-lution will be the composition of servicechains. In addition to the semantic exten-sion, the composition process will bespeeded up because the person in charge ofthe composition will have the support of anontology to understand the behaviour of thedifferent components available on theInternet.

Figure 1 presents the outline of a real situa-tion faced by a user. The process starts bythe user defining his requirements in a busi-ness workflow. This user knows that in theworld of web services he can find the neces-sary components to meet his requirement,so he looks in the web service registry (UDDI)for candidate services available on theInternet. The UDDI searches in its repositoryfor candidate services and sends back thecorresponding service description. So far, theuser has to know the meaning, scope andbusiness use of the candidate service de-scriptions. The language used to describeservices or the business process itself is not

3ITC News 2005-1

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

Figure 1

declarative and does not facilitate symbolicmanipulation. So the link between the worldof web services and the world of declarativesemantics is an extension of the service de-scription included in the WSDL file.

Along with this proposed semantic exten-sion, a prototype harnessing the strengths ofthese two worlds is analysed and designedthrough a use case taken from a practicalapplication in the area of energy and gasknowledge applied in Latin America. Thestudy is working on the emergency line (e-line) to protect power lines and gaspipelines, with functions such as finding thelocation of the emergency with a geocodingservice, generating a map of the networkfeatures of the emergency area, obtainingthe connected service points infrastructure,and reaching the closest active crew in thefield.

Problems of this type and their potential so-lutions are the reasons why many LatinAmerican professionals apply to follow anMSc study at ITC. Students arrive with realsignificant problems and expect, given theITC expertise, facilities, environment andprogramme structure, to be able to figureout not just single solutions but various al-ternatives to propose to their home coun-tries and organisations. The support,guidance, and discussion with the researchsupervisors are very important, and are nec-essary to focus initial expectations. Studentswant to solve entire problems in one goafter scarcely six months of research. Buttime constraints and the complexity of un-derstanding, mixing, linking and proposingalternatives demonstrate that such problemsrequire a research bureau in charge of solv-ing Latin American challenges of this nature,with the support of different MSc theses inseveral fields.

Solutions are a set of different componentssuch as technology, management, data,methods, tools, cost, and domain knowl-edge. ITC offers programmes that cover allthese aspects, but each programme is fo-cused on only some aspects, not all of them.The combination of the Geoinformatics(GFM) and Geo-Information Management(GIM) programmes covers technology andmanagement issues, with the percentage offocus different in each. The GFM pro-gramme focuses more on technological toolsand methods, whereas GIM focuses more onmanagement, policies and financial issues.You have to check your professional back-ground to identify which component youwant to improve, update or develop in linewith your future plans. Nevertheless, youhave to realise that technology and manage-ment proposals evolve every day, so youhave to go to the root of the problem, andto accept that the current tools and methodsavailable can change in a very short time.The geoinformatics component of the prob-lem and its alternative solutions are the coreof the ITC knowledge transfer activity andthe core of MSc researches.

Industry is expecting real products from ourresearch work. Some companies organiseevents and seminars to present innovationsand solutions to deal with the current prob-lems of the geoinformatics community, or ofone specific interest group, in a fastercheaper way that combines high levels of re-liability and quality. With the support of ITC’srector and director of external affairs, thisproposal for a semantic extension to servicechain composition was presented at the ESRIEnergy and Gas User Conference 2004 (seehttp://www.esri.com/events/egug2004/presentations/focusing-on-utilitites.pdf). Thebig question from the audience was whenwould this solution be available to them.This question means that industry expectsresearch project results – the opportunitythat many of us have been waiting for, anda signal for ITC to encourage students topropose and develop challenging, innovativeand practical projects.

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

Biography

Gustavo Zarrate re-ceived his universitydegree in informationsystems and computa-tion engineering atthe UniversidadDistrital in Colombia.He received his certifi-cate in marketing andsales management atthe UniversidadIndustrial deSantander inColombia, and also hisspecialisation certifi-cate in business man-agement at theCentral University inColombia

At present Mr Zarrateis doing his research ingeospatial sciences atITC in the Netherlands.In his research, MrZarrate is working onmodelling and design-ing the integration ofbilling databases withgeospatial data, with acase study focused onenergy and gas com-panies. For this pur-pose, he is working onthe composition andexecution of distrib-uted geographical in-formation componentsthrough web services.

Mr Zarrate has workedin Latin America for 14years, where his workhas focused on publicutilities services such aselectricity and gas. Hehas designed and im-plemented solutionsfor billing processes inenergy and gas com-panies in Colombia,Ecuador andArgentina, usingOracle products inUnix and Windows en-vironments.

Gustavo Zarrate

ITC News 2005-14

It may seem like

yesterday that ITC

celebrated its 50th

anniversary but

actually it’s five

years ago, and

many changes have

occurred during the

intervening period,

both within the

Institute itself and

in the world about

it.

The lustrum year of 2005 is already witness-ing exciting developments in ITC’s educationsystem and, consequently, it was felt thatthe time had come for ITC News to talk toITC’s rector, Professor Martien Molenaar, onone particular area of development that wasmaking waves: the rise of distance educationand the importance of e-learning over thenext few years. It makes for interesting read-ing, as you will see.

“Recently ITC’s Strategic Plan 2005-2009:From Building Capacity to Building onCapacity was published. This follows onfrom the plan that terminated last year. Theleading theme of this new strategic plan re-lates to building a network of partnershipsthat will deliver joint educational pro-grammes. To date we have installed a totalof 15 such programmes, but our aim is to in-crease this number to 20 and then see howthe picture stabilises. This strategy was initi-ated four or five years ago, when it becameclear that, under changing conditions, stu-dents were unwilling to be away from theirwork and families for periods of long dura-tion. It was necessary to explore other waysof delivering programmes, such as distanceeducation and supervision supported by theappropriate tools. Although it is envisagedthat staff will continue to fly in and fly out,good tools are essential to ensure the effec-tiveness of such visits.

“The Blackboard digital learning environ-ment is already widely used within theInstitute, and this helps us to structure andshare lecturing material among staff and stu-dents. The next step will be to make thisavailable to partners in the network and as-sist them in setting up courses. In the third

stage it will be possible to supervise or offere-learning to individuals in the organisations.Over the past few years, various ITC staffmembers, individually and in different de-partments, have been working in this area.Now, with quite a few people in house withthe relevant experience, the time has comefor a more structured approach. And this willrequire a substantial investment from ITC.

“We’re not talking here of an ad hoc ap-proach; priorities will have to be clearly set.We have therefore decided to give it a moreenhanced project structure, with budgets formaterial and staff, and with a steering groupto determine policy and a project group towork out the implementation. And that’swhere we are now: initialising this projectstructure. The development of ITC servicesover a period requires cooperation from dif-ferent people from different departments.This means across-department discussions toset the right priorities and to ensure theright people are available. As chairman ofthe steering group, I would, after discus-sions, take the final responsibility for thewhole undertaking.

“While the tools concerned are importantfor distance learning and support, their pres-ence in house also gives us the possibility ofoffering sophisticated teaching facilities herein Enschede. But this means a different typeof interaction between staff and students, adifferent in-house approach – and that re-quires a real effort from the staff. Significantchanges then, which is why distance educa-tion is a central issue in our strategic devel-opment for the coming years.”

5ITC News 2005-1

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

Stage Set for DistanceEducation

Janice Collins itcnews@itc.nl

It was towards the end of 2001 that ITCdecided to embrace e-learning in a morestructural way by setting up a projectgroup to stimulatework in this area.

Until that time, individual staff members hadcertainly been involved in distance educa-tion, but mainly in the production or co-pro-duction of stand-alone learning packages forexternally funded projects. Such efforts hadbeen scattered over the ITC building, with-out any coordination. So there was much todo if ITC were not to fall behind in the de-velopment stakes and the advances in edu-cation offered by new technologies. Nowfour years on, that particular project grouphas served its term. What has beenachieved? What lies ahead? Drs Ineke tenDam, leader of the new project group re-cently established to carry on the work, picksup the thread.

Stagecraft“The first step was to introduce Blackboardinternally. This allowed not only students butteachers in particular to acquire experiencewith a digital learning platform, which wasused initially on a voluntary but later on acompulsory basis. Now every lecturer usesBlackboard as a database for courses, andnaturally this makes it easier for colleaguesto know what’s contained in the modules.So a quick and successful beginning. But thenext step, which entailed the move into dis-tance education, went less well – the mainreasons being those old adversaries lack oftime and lack of money.

“Now, however, we have a new strategicplan, a new steering group, a new projectgroup, and our sights clearly set on the firmestablishment over the next five years of e-learning as an educational tool. We have abudget and at least four fte’s until the endof 2005. That’s very important. And with lessstudents currently at ITC, we can invest in e-learning.

“Our aim then is to develop the distance ed-ucation programme, but let’s translate thisinto more concrete terms. Our goal this yearis to redevelop eight modules – modules onGIS and remote sensing, and one moduleper ITC programme – in an appropriate for-mat for distance learning. Develop them thisyear, and offer them in the course of the ac-ademic year 2005-2006 (September 2005 toJuly 2006). In practical terms, this means

chiefly the first half of 2006. We have of-fered one distance course on image fusionand one on remote sensing before. The firston image fusion went quite well, with adropout of 40%. That’s more or less the av-erage for this type of course but it’s notwhat we want. We want a completion rateabove 60%. The second course, on remotesensing, produced an excellent result: 11students started and 11 finished successfully.But – and this is a big but – it took morestaff time than needed for face-to-faceteaching.

“This brings us to the subject of multi-usablecourseware. It’s not easy to transfer course-ware designed for face-to-face teaching. Toomuch is in the head of the teacher; it is notmade explicit in the material. So a modulehas to be redesigned when there’s distancebetween student and teacher. To increase ef-ficiency, it’s easier to start with the formatfor distance education, and adapt it for face-to-face and joint support programmes. Andfor projects too – these are not a focus butcertainly nice if they come along, and thenwe’d be ready for them. Staff exchange mis-sions would still be important, but somecould be replaced by online support – forthe teachers not the students.

“Here in Enschede, we want to use e-learn-ing to create extra value in our face-to-faceeducation, and make the modules richer. Forexample, we would try to develop a simula-tion to help students to learn fieldwork tech-niques. This would mean the first fieldworkstage could be done by e-learning and thesecond stage, collecting data for a thesis,would be carried out in the field. In the past,two periods on location have been neces-sary. Thesis supervision is another good ex-ample of what can be achieved at adistance. All in all, ITC will be able to offer amore flexible product with more optionsand, in so doing, adapt to and survive in thisrapidly changing world.”

This year of 2005 looks well and truly set tosee some remarkable developments in ITC’seducational portfolio. Of course ITC Newswill continue to keep you posted in this re-spect, and a flier is planned in due course.

6 ITC News 2005-1

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

Behind the Scenes

ITC is receiving a growing number of requests from studentswho wish to writetheir theses at homesupervised by ITC at a distance.

After preparation andapproval of the thesisproposal, the studentsreturned home. Mr Dev Raj Paudyal isstill on leave and isworking full-time onhis thesis at home.

But, for immediacy of information, there’snothing to beat the Internet, so please keepyour eye on our website and read about ourprogress backstage.

ITC is receiving a growing number of re-quests from students who wish to write theirtheses at home supervised by ITC at a dis-tance. With the focus on e-learning gainingincreasing momentum, it seemed the appro-priate moment to test the feasibility of suchan approach and explore the ways of ensur-ing a successful outcome. So ITC allowedtwo MSc candidates to do their thesis intheir home countries: Ms AnuvapuraSeetharamaih Padmavathy from India and

Ms Anuvapura Seetharamaih Padmavathy isworking partly at the office and partly athome on her thesis. Students and supervi-sors communicate via chat sessions and e-mail at least once a fortnight, and usuallymore often. The planned webcam connec-tion does not work due to the firewall policyof the home organisation in India and thelimited Internet connection in Nepal.

The thesis period is structured in the sameway as the thesis period of the students atITC. It lasts six months, and includes a mid-term presentation and participation in theMSc Day. The students will return to ITC forthe thesis examination and the graduationceremony at the beginning of March. TheMSc Day presentations were recorded andoffered live on the Internet for the distantstudents to follow. Mr Dev Raj Paudyal quali-fied for a presentation on this occasion, andhe delivered it from a room in his house inNepal to the audience at ITC in Enschede.

The experiences until now are positive. Thesupervision is running quite smoothly, thestudents are making progress, and no seri-ous problems have been reported during thefirst two-thirds of the thesis period.

However, a few interesting learning pointscan already be highlighted:• Both students receive local support, but

since the relevance and direct applicabilityof the thesis topics in the respective organ-isations are limited, the local expertise andthe support given are limited as well. It canbe concluded that students should knowwell in advance whether they will be al-lowed to do the thesis work in their homecountry, so that the research topic andquestions can be chosen in consultationwith the home organisation.

• Chat and e-mail are seen as sufficient forweek-to-week or day-to-day contact be-tween supervisors and students. But stu-dents still feel a bit isolated; they miss theface-to-face communication and the ex-planations and figures on the white board.Contact with fellow students at ITC isscarce. ITC has therefore introduced newcommunication possibilities in the secondhalf of the thesis period, such as phonecalls and video connections on importantoccasions (as on MSc Day).

• The supervisors need more time for distantsupervision than for face-to-face supervi-sion of a student. Communication throughwritten text requires more time than

Mr Dev Raj Paudyal from Nepal. The ITC su-pervisors in this pilot project were Ir Walterde Vries and Dr Arbind Tuladhar. The shortreport below was prepared by Drs Ineke tenDam while the pilot was still in progress, soplease bear in mind that we’ve been over-taken by events. Nevertheless, it charts thelearning process, including the occasionalhiccough, experienced by both students andsupervisors, and provides valuable insightthat can be taken on board in future efforts

7ITC News 2005-1

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

Shifting the scenery

Lights, Camera, ActionIneke ten Dam tendam@itc.nl

Those of our readerswho have attended anITC graduation cere-mony – and that mustbe a vast number in-deed, given theInstitute’s globalalumni network –would have felt per-fectly at home in theauditorium on 11March.

speaking. The supervisors support the con-tinuation of the experiment with other stu-dents, but they do emphasise theimportance of selecting suitable candi-dates for e-supervision. Only students whocan work independently, who have suffi-cient discipline, and who are allowed to doa significant part of the work during officehours should be selected.

• The technical quality of the live presenta-tion and the real-time presentations on theInternet on MSc Day need to be improvednext year.

• The department secretary (in this particularcase Ms Laura Windig) plays a pivotal role.She is always on line and, consequently,often the first port of call if assistance orinformation is required.

ITC intends to offer thesis at a distance tomore students, but it will always be one op-tion among others – as reflected in the opin-ion of the two students. Halfway through

Flowers, colourful costumes, smiling facesand the intermittent flashing of cameras:nothing was missing on the day when theGIM and UPLA students received their diplo-mas. Moreover, as Rector Martien Molenaarpointed out in his opening speech, the offi-cial accreditation of ITC’s programmes andtheir integration into the higher educationsystem of the Netherlands meant that thesestudents – on the brink of becoming alumni– could be confident that their hard-earneddegrees were equal to degrees awarded inuniversities across Europe.

And then it was down to the core businessof the morning – presenting the diplomas,which included a fair sprinkling of “distinc-tions”. Moreover, it seems that the words ofDr Richard Sliuzas, one of those chargedwith this pleasant task, hit the mark whenhe referred to the “marriage of people andtechnology” and the role of MSc and PMgraduates “as agents of change, contribut-ing to the expansion and developmentwithin organisations”. Vocal confirmation ofthese sentiments came from the youngestattendee at the ceremony, who was all offour months. It seems that one or two stu-

the thesis period, we asked them what theirpreference would be if money did not play arole.• Mr Dev Raj Paudyal would again choose to

do the thesis at home: “I am close to myfamily (not the problem of being home-sick), my children are near my eyes. Nowasting of time on cooking, washing, etc.The most important advantage for me is tobe in contact with the research area, in-cluding the possibility to do field checkswhenever required and to discuss resultswith local experts. The main disadvantagesfor me are the lack of moral support andthe limited challenge to perform better, asa result of absence of face-to-face contactwith supervisors and fellow participants,and also the limited access to library mate-rials.”

• Ms Anuvapura Seetharamaih Padmavathywould prefer the opposite: “I think I preferITC only. This is because I could have spentall my time with the library, Internet, andother classmates who are also in the samesituation. The environment at ITC is meantfor studies and I would have enjoyed it.Here, there are a lot of responsibilities,both on the office front as well as on thedomestic front, and I have to put all my ef-fort to accomplish the task in time.”

8 ITC News 2005-1

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

In the SpotlightJanice Collins itcnews@itc.nl

“I regularly refer to daily news items, things which have been onTV, things which have appeared in e-mails or e-newsletters, orthings which have happened in Enschede or at ITC (party, sportsday, guest lecturer, comments during a discussion session, etc.),in order to explain the relevance of something. This is much eas-ier if you see the people regularly and face to face than if peopleare at a distance or on the webcam” (Walter de Vries).

dents had successfully managed to combinetheir technological studies with social re-newal and sustainability – sometimes nerve-racking but always rewarding!

Mr Paudyal has worked for the SurveyDepartment of Kathmandu, Nepal, for nineyears, and, since the ex-director and manysenior officials of the organisation had previ-ously graduated from ITC, the Institute wasnot exactly an unknown quantity when hearrived in Enschede to embark on his study.In fact, no less than five from his departmenthave been following ITC educational pro-grammes during this current academic year.

Although his government had nominatedhim for a PM degree, he had always been in-terested in research and a research fellow-ship, and an MSc would definitely beadvantageous in his future career.Nevertheless, there were always those te-dious practicalities that refused to go away:to put it simply, an MSc programme took sixmonths longer and was more expensive thana PM programme. But with his sights set onthat research component, as well as the pos-sibility of going on to study for a PhD at ITCor another university, Mr Paudyal was notabout to give up easily. Once he had settled

in, he broached the subject with ProgrammeDirector Kees Bronsveld, who set about ex-ploring the options available. The result? Hewas given the opportunity to take part in thepilot project on e-learning, the cost beingborne by the Institute. So the chance of anMSc! And he received the full backing fromhis organisation, even though it would meantaking extra leave.

Mr Paudyal had registered for the cadastrestream, and the electives he chose to followwere land administration, cost-benefit analy-sis, project formulation and internationalfunding. Now this newly acquired knowledgecould find an outlet in a thesis. “I spent a yearat ITC following the regular courses and thenreturned home for six months for the re-search component. One month was devotedto fieldwork and five months to writing mythesis. But as I was near the research area, Icould return whenever necessary to gatheradditional and up-to-date data. This was adefinite plus point.” During the first year hehad had all the documents from Blackboard –

So our congratulations to all those who re-ceived their diplomas on that day and weresoon to head back to their own countries.But this was a ceremony with a difference,because two people who mounted thepodium, Mr Dev Raj Paudyal from Nepal andMs Anuvapura Seetharamaith Padmavathyfrom India, had cooperated in an experiment– a pilot project in the context of e-learning.Both students had originally registered forthe GIM PM course but were given the op-portunity to do their MSc under e-supervi-sion. Distance education powered bye-learning is one of the main thrusts of ITC’sStrategic Plan 2005-2009, but how does ittranslate into practice? And how did our pi-oneers fare? We’ll leave them to tell theirown stories.

9ITC News 2005-1

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

GIM class of 2003-2005!

Mr Dev Raj Paudyal (right)receives his Degree from su-pervisor Ir. Walter de Vries

Mr Dev Raj Paudyal from NepalSupervisors: Dr Arbind Tuladhar and Ir Walter de VriesThesis: Evaluation of alternatives: district versus central cadastral information updating in Nepal

a system he finds very easy to work with, al-though “students need good support to workwith Blackboard in their own country. GoodInternet facilities and a large capacity to han-dle the files are essential.”

So back home alone for those last months.Did that oft-reported sense of isolation setin? Perhaps a little, but “I had regular con-tact with the supervisors, at least once everytwo weeks. And the provision was made

In taking up the challenge of e-supervision,Ms Padmavathy was thrice blessed when itcame to supervisors. Not only was she incontact with her supervisors at ITC but shealso found an encouraging guide in MrMukund Rao, her supportive boss at theIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) inDehradun, where she works as a scientistdealing with satellite data for a natural re-sources management system. Stimulation,

and an active personal interest in spatialdata infrastructure, yes, but his support alsotook a practical form and enabled her tocombine travelling to meetings with field-work. Although Ms Padmavathy received suchstrong official backing – indeed the sugges-tion to study at ITC came from her own or-ganisation – it was difficult for them torelease her for a period longer than one

that, if we mailed a document, they wouldacknowledge receipt within three days.Mostly it worked very well. And being withdifferent people and with the family wasalso a positive aspect.” Mr Paudyal is mar-ried, with two young sons of six and threewho readily understood his predicament:“You must do your homework or your su-pervisor will punish you!” There was also afair amount of e-mail traffic with othercourse participants at ITC: questions relatingto research, news and details of progress,and the sharing of problems. Nor did hemiss out on the MSc Day on 26 January, butgave a remote presentation from Nepal:“We used the web camera, and the conver-sation was via telephone; so two lines: onefor Internet and one for conversation. Youmay be sitting faraway in your own home,but in your mind you’re in the auditorium.”And reactions to his presentation came in viae-mail. All in all, you can say that Mr Paudyalcoped with the isolation amazingly well!

Mr Paudyal returned to ITC to defend histhesis on 9 March 2005 in company with hisfellow students. He was awarded his MScdegree with distinction, and is “very verysatisfied with e-learning, and the opportu-nity it gave me”. His advice to others whomay wish to follow this path: “Really wantthat research component, and carefully con-sider your research topic: does it benefit yourorganisation?”

10 ITC News 2005-1

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

Ms Anuvapura Seetharamaith Padmavathy from IndiaSupervisors: Dr Arbind Tuladhar and Ir Walter de VriesThesis: Developing and comparison of strategies towards market-driven NSDI in India

Ms Anuvapura Seethara-maith Padmavathy receivesher Degree from supervisorIr. Walter de Vries

year, and that’s why the original choice hadinevitably fallen on the GIM PM degree pro-gramme. So Ms Padmavathy arrived at ITCand began her studies. “It was thrilling. Iwas enjoying each and every module, andthings were going well. Some people had atough time with the core modules on re-mote sensing and geo-information systemsbut, with my work background, I was ableto help them and give guidance.” Then whythe change of plan? Enter fellow student MrDev Raj Paudyal from Nepal, whose strongmotivation to switch to an MSc programmeproved infectious. Still, there was much toconsider when the e-learning pilot was pro-posed as a solution. “I couldn’t spare thetime to stay longer at ITC for official andpersonal reasons – I’m married and have a17-year old son – but it would be quite a riskto switch from the PM to MSc and try tocombine work and study at home. Maybe Iwould end up with nothing.”

But permission was obtained from ISRO, in-ternal arrangements were made at ITC, andthe gauntlet picked up. “Combining workand study is not impossible and can even beenjoyable – I’m the living proof. I worked inthe evenings and during holidays, and as mywork is characterised by peaks and flows, Icould also take advantage of the occasionaldips. And you have a goal, and the end is insight. Besides, e-learning is certainly an inter-esting option from an organisation’s point ofview.” Although ISRO is very well equippedto handle e-learning on a technical level, MsPadmavathy did feel a bit isolated from timeto time. “I had a good relationship with mysupervisors and particularly enjoyed theInternet chat, but had little contact with co-students. Except Dev; we e-mailed eachother and spoke on the telephone once in awhile.” On the other hand, the experienceregarding fieldwork was “very positive, acontinuous process, and the thesis can incor-porate a lot of feedback from users”.However, she does think a five-month periodin the home country would be preferable tothe six months in the pilot. That extra monthat ITC would make it easier to manage andcollate the sizeable files before submittingthe final product – the thesis.

So it seems to be a case of swings androundabouts, of finding that delicate bal-ance, not only between the elements withinthe field of study itself, but also between thedemands of work and family and the pres-sure of time constraints. Still, at the end ofthe day did the risk turn out to be worth thetaking? Indeed it did: Ms Padmavathy suc-cessfully defended her thesis in March thisyear and gained her MSc degree with dis-tinction. “E-learning definitely has a future.ITC’s systematic approach is very clear, andplanning and a keen eye for managementare among the Institute’s strong points. I re-ally appreciate the efficiency I’ve found here.On a personal level too. Last August I lostmy mother and I had to return suddenly toIndia. Travel, tickets, taxis, all were arrangedfor me very quickly and to suit my pro-gramme.”

When all’s said and done, distance, it seems,is no barrier to (e-) learning!

11ITC News 2005-1

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

After many years of civil conflict,large numbers of internally dis-placed persons (IDPs) and returneesare migrating to the main cities andtowns of Somalia. Local authoritiesare unable to provide suitable land,financial resources or basic servicesto support these vulnerable groups(or the squatting of (public) land)without access to adequate watersupply, sanitation and job opportu-nities. This situation is a threat to the fragilepeace process and the general stabil-ity of the region. Development indica-tors rank Somalia among the poorestand least developed regions in theworld. The GNP per capita forSomalia as a whole was measured atUS$ 200 in 2001, with an average lifeexpectancy of 47 and an adult liter-acy rate of 17.1% (UNDP, 2001).

UN-HABITAT is supporting the devel-opment of urban governance, urbanland management and the upgradingof urban services and infrastructure.The Somalia Urban DevelopmentProgramme, with funding from theEuropean Commission and co-fund-ing from UNDP Somalia, is a continu-ation of these activities and started inApril 2005.

With the permission of ITC, I havebeen working for the Regional Officefor Africa and the Arab States of UN-HABITAT since February 2005, and Iam involved in the urban land man-agement and GIS component of theSomalia project (and also in a project

with the Urban Planning Agency ofLibya). The UN-HABITAT office is lo-cated in Hargeisa, the capital ofSomaliland, with declared independ-ence but lacking international recog-nition. The project covers some 14cities in the different regions ofSomalia (Somaliland, Puntland andSouth-Central Somalia).

Quickbird Satellite images have beenacquired for the cities and are used asbase maps and a data source to cre-ate a property database to increasemunicipal revenue collection. Thedatabase for the city of Hargeisa wascreated through field surveys usingPDAs – the survey started in July2004 and was finalised in March2005 – and contains almost 60,000properties. A property survey for thecity of Burao, another city inSomaliland, will start in May 2005. AGIS support office has been createdwithin the municipality of Hargeisa,functioning under the taxation, urbanplanning and land departments. Thechallenge is not only to install the GISdatabase (ArcGIS) in the municipalitybut to see that it becomes part of aprocess leading to an expanded num-ber of property tax invoices with up-

dated information on the properties,and ensuring that tax bills are paidand that the revenue, through trans-parent booking, is used by the munic-ipality for investment in public works– badly needed in this city lackingmany basic services.

12 ITC News 2005-1

P R O J E C T N E W S

project news

Somalia Urban Development Programme

Jan Turkstra jan.turkstra@unhabitat.org / turkstra@itc.nl

A squatter settlement in Hargeisa occupiedby returned refugees

Quickbird Satellite image of the State House,one of the large squatter settlements inHargeisa

Properties (building blocks and stand-aloneproperties are indicated) created through on-screen digitising of a Quickbird image andfield verification

ITC and the Centre for GIS at theNational University of Rwanda(CGIS/NUR) have embarked on anew NUFFIC-funded project, whichaims at the development at NUR ofeducational and research pro-grammes based on geographical in-formation sciences. The project, which officially openedwith an inception workshop on 2 and3 March 2005 in Butare, will last forfour years, until 2009. During the in-ception workshop, various aspects ofthe new programmes were discussed,including possible stakeholders andissues concerning the new educa-tional programmes, possible candi-dates for fellowships, and therelations of CGIS with regional part-ners.

The specific project objectives include:• Capacity building of CGIS-NUR

(1) staff upgrade to PhD (4) andMSc (10) levels

(2) curriculum development forthree new programmes: - MSc Environment and

Sustainable Development- BSc Urban Planning and Land

Administration- GIS short courses

(3) upgrade of didactical skills andmethodologies

• Organisation of physical infrastruc-ture for (GIS) training and educa-tion

• Promotion of the GIS educationaland research expertise of CGIS

within the university, at nationaland regional levels

• Improvement of CGIS managementcapacity.

The project will be implemented by aconsortium of partners:• Main partners

- Centre for GeographicInformation Systems and RemoteSensing (CGIS), NationalUniversity of Rwanda (NUR),Butare, Rwanda

- International Institute for Geo-Information Science and EarthObservation (ITC), Enschede, theNetherlands

• Project consortium- University of Utrecht (UU),

Utrecht, the Netherlands- Maastricht School of

Management (MSM), Maastricht,the Netherlands

- University of KwaZulu – Natal /Centre for Environment andDevelopment (CEAD),Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

- University College of Lands andArchitectural Studies (UCLAS),University of Dar es Salaam, Dares Salaam, Tanzania

- Regional Centre for Mapping ofResources for Development(RCMRD), Nairobi, Kenya.

Some of the main interventions andevents scheduled for the near futureare as follows:

• March 2005 Inception workshop: start of projectat NUR in Butare

• March-May 2005 Selection of PhD and MSc candi-dates

• May 2005 Stakeholders workshop for newcurricula (BSc and MSc), Kigali

• May-December 2005 Development and approval curricu-lum BSc Urban Planning andLand Administration

• May-October 2005 Purchase and installation of equip-ment and infrastructure

• September 2005 Start of PhD and MSc studies

• January 2006Start of BSc programme UrbanPlanning and Land Administration

13ITC News 2005-1

P R O J E C T N E W S

Opening Project at the National University of Rwanda

Walter de Vries devries@itc.nl

An inception workshop embarked the offi-cial opening of the project

Scenery of Rwanda National University of Rwanda

Contact persons: Director CGIS:Michelle Shilling(cgisnur@yahoo.fr)Team leader UPLA:Emmanuel Twarameneye(emmatwara@yahoo.fr)ITC project coordinator in Butare:Walter de Vries (devries@itc.nl)CGIS / NURPO Box 212 Butare / RWANDAPhone: (+250) 530 870;Fax: (250) 530 870; http://www.cgisnur.org/ ; ITC: www.itc.nl

On 17 February 2005, the groupsfrom Planning and Coordination inNatural Resources Management andfrom Urban Planning andAdministration joined in a studytour of the province Overijssel.

On the way to Zwolle, a photo stopwas made at the windmill nearWindesheim. At Province House inZwolle we were welcomed in thenicely decorated lounge with coffeeand a typical local treat. Then MrArjen Ottens gave a presentation onthe regional planning carried out bythe province and on policy changes inthis respect, finally zooming in on thespecial plans for the IJssel delta, ourafternoon destination. A lively discus-sion followed.

Owing to renovation activities, wecould not visit the GIS section, but in-stead were allowed a glance aroundthe meeting hall of the provincialcouncil. After enjoying lunch, we ex-pressed our thanks to our hosts.

In the afternoon we were guided by arepresentative of the municipality of

The eighth annual MSc Day tookplace on 26 January, and this eventhas become both a tradition and astructural part of the MSc coursecalendar at ITC. As in other years,the MSc Day is meant to be a day byand for MSc students, a day when

they can present their research re-sults and receive critical feedbackfrom the audience.

The MSc Day is organised in the con-text of the MSc award granted annu-ally to the best MSc thesis. This

award was presented for the very firsttime during the Opening of theAcademic Year in September 2001and has been made possible by a giftfrom former rector Professor KlaasJan Beek to the Schermerhorn Fund.

Zwolle to the newest town extension.This was followed by a tour of theadjoining polder landscape, wheremany of the participants not only sawa real dyke for the first time but alsowalked on it. A stop at the old andnew pumping stations of theMastenbroek polder served to illus-trate the amount of planning and co-ordination needed to create andmaintain a polder. A last stop wasmade at the village of Wilsum for ashort explanation of the system ofwinter and summer dykes along theriver IJssel, and other aspects of na-ture management. Thanks to ourguide for the afternoon, it was afruitful and educational day – butalso tiring.

14 ITC News 2005-1

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

education news

February Study Tour to Zwolle

Dick van der Zee vanderzee@itc.nl

On the way to Zwolle a photo stop wasmade at the windmill near Windesheim

A last stop was made at Wilsum for a short explanation of the system of winter and summerdykes along the river IJssel

MSc Day 2005

Joost Teuben teuben@itc.nl

This year the programme consisted of19 excellent presentations, represent-ing the six educational programmes.The presentations were grouped intofour sessions (Natural disasters,Biodiversity and wetlands, Geo-infor-mation and earth sciences, Urban en-vironment and transportation) andorganised in accordance with ITC’s re-

Since 1997, ITC has offered a success-ful Professional Master’s (PM) coursein geoinformatics, alongside an MScand a Diploma course in the samefield. The first part of this course(seven modules, which is more than50% of the taught component) hasbeen followed jointly with the MSccourse participants. In addition, partici-pants of the PM course in geoinfor-matics (GFM.3) could choose twoelective modules from those offered byall ITC departments. In the remainingthree modules, they could specialise ineither digital photogrammetry and re-mote sensing, GIS, or cartography andgeovisualisation, with the course fi-nally brought to a conclusion by anine-week individual assignment.

Triggered by:• technological and societal develop-

ments leading towards the desiredcreation of spatial data infrastruc-tures (SDI) everywhere in the world

• the growing integration of the for-mer specialisations in geo-informa-tion production

• the different education and trainingneeds of professionals and those in-volved in research in geoinformatics

• the reduction in NFP fellowshipsit was decided in autumn 2004 toadapt the GFM.3 curriculum and giveit a clear SDI and engineering flavour.

The new Master’s course in geoinfor-matics (GFM.3) now aims at “produc-ing” geoinformatics engineers whowill really be able to work in geo-in-formation production and give sup-port to the design and set-up of thetechnological components of a SDI.The course participants are intro-duced to modern integrated geo-in-formation production technology,including methods and techniques ofgeospatial data acquisition and geo-information modelling, storage,analysis, processing, disseminationand visualisation.

In the new GFM.3 course, only thefirst four modules (introduction togeoinformatics, principles of data-bases, GIS, and remote sensing) aretaken jointly with the MSc (GFM.2)course participants. After these fourmodules, all the GFM.3 course partic-ipants take six SDI-flavoured modulesthat expose them to the main techni-cal aspects of creating an SDI: • generating framework data• spatial data modelling• SDI technical design• SDI technical implementation• spatial data analysis• visualisation and dissemination.

The integration is effected throughpractical work in a major case study

that runs throughout all modules. Inthis case study they work on buildinga coherent system for spatial data ac-quisition, storage, access, analysisand dissemination which complieswith SDI quality standards.

For the new GFM.3 course partici-pants, there is still the possibility tospecialise and deepen their knowl-edge in various fields through the in-dividual final assignment and twoprogramme electives offered by thedepartments Earth ObservationScience (EOS) and Geo-InformationProcessing (GIP).

The new curriculum has already beenpartly implemented in the GFM.3course that started in September2004 and will be fully in place for theSeptember 2005 course. We expectmany applications.

search spearheads. All presentationswere chaired and judged by PhD stu-dents.

As a result of our efforts regardingjoint education with our partners anddistance support to our students, theMSc Day started with a remote pres-entation from a student in Nepal (Mr

Dev Raj Paudyal). Also all presenta-tions were recorded, and as stream-lining video offered to our alumni andother students studying remotely (seearticle elsewhere in this ITC News).

Again, the MSc Day was very success-ful, and we hope to include more im-provements in the near future.

15ITC News 2005-1

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

Engineering a New Master Course in Geoinformatics

Gerrit Huurneman huurneman@itc.nl

Corné van Elzakker elzakker@itc.nl

Klaus Tempfli tempfli@itc.nl

The European Union (EU) is fund-ing a major new scholarshipscheme known as the ErasmusMundus programme. This is evenmore valuable than the Fullbright,Rhodes and Rotary Internationalscholarships, and enables the beststudents from all over the world to study in Europe. To date, ITC in Enschede is one ofonly two Dutch universities that coor-dinate a prestigious Erasmus Munduscourse, being part of a consortiumwith Southampton University of theUK, Lund University of Sweden, andWarsaw University of Poland. Thecourses are chosen to demonstrateEuropean excellence in emerging top-ics of importance for the 21st cen-tury.

ITC’s Professor Andrew Skidmore,who is a programme coordinator,says that the new course is a boostfor the environment as well as forspace and GIS technology. The worldis faced with a plethora of critical en-vironmental problems, and the coursedeals with local hazards in the fieldsof geology (volcanoes, landslides,earthquakes, tsunamis), hydrology(river and coastal flooding), agricul-ture and forestry (famine, forest fires),and health (disease, whether sea-sonal, epidemic or endemic). Suchlocal hazards are of immediate con-cern to local populations, causingdeaths from famine and disease onan enormous scale (e.g. the WHO re-ports that 1.4 million deaths (mainlychildren) occur in Africa each yearfrom malaria). Other serious local en-vironmental concerns include pollu-tion (air, water, land) and inadequatewater resources, particularly in devel-oping countries but also in otherparts of the world, such as theMediterranean. Over and above theselocal environmental concerns, thereare global environmental issues that

have massive consequences not onlyfor our own generation, but more im-portantly for our children’s generationand the generations to come. Such is-sues centre on global warming, en-compassing, for example, loss of thepolar ice caps, sea-level rise, ozonedepletion, CO2 increases, deforesta-tion and loss of biodiversity.

Within the discipline of geo-informa-tion science, a set of tools is usedthat includes earth observation, GIS,and more general spatial analysistechniques. Earth observation pro-vides unique opportunities for meas-uring and monitoring the Earth’ssurface. Large areas can be measuredsynoptically, using a wide range ofspatial resolutions and sufficient re-peat coverage to provide outstandingmonitoring capabilities. Moreover,earth observation is the only way inwhich sufficient data on the Earth’ssurface processes can be acquired tomeet the challenge of dealing withmany of the environmental problemsoutlined above.

There will be 26 Erasmus Mundusscholarships offered for the course in

September 2005, as well as fundingfor eight visiting professors to assistin teaching various aspects of thecourse. In addition, full-fee-payingstudents are also welcome.

Graduates will emerge with a criticalunderstanding of technical and scien-tific tools, together with excellentmanagement abilities and personalskills. Upon completion of the course,they will have acquired: • understanding of the scientific

process and the ability to undertakescientific research

16 ITC News 2005-1

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

EU Funding for New MSc Course Environmental Modelling

Andre Kooiman kooiman@itc.nl

Professor Peter Atkinson (SouthamptonUniversity, UK), Professor Petter Pilesjo(University of Lund, Sweden) and ProfessorAndrew Skidmore (ITC, the Netherlands) designing the new course

Class of 2004!

• thorough awareness of Europeanand global environmental problemsand an understanding of the com-plexity of factors involved

• understanding of geographical in-formation management and theability to apply GIS, remote sensingand related tools

• familiarity with project and pro-gramme management

• leadership, negotiation and com-munication skills.

The total duration of the course is 18months, corresponding to 120 ECTScredits. The course is organised in 15modules, all linked through the com-mon geo-information and environ-ment theme. The course will betaught in English. Successful comple-tion of the course will lead to theaward of a joint degree in Geo-infor-mation Science and Earth

On 3 March 2005 the group fromPlanning and Coordination in NaturalResources Management, reinforcedby some Urban Planning and LandAdministration participants, went ona study tour to Lelystad, in theprovince of Flevoland, to learn aboutthe province’s experiences with re-gard to the Rapid AssessmentProgramme. After the presentationsand discussions, and after lunch, atour was arranged through thepolder to visit a special newly-builtenvironmentally friendly residentialquarter and a park of modern wind-mills that satisfy part of the provincialenergy demand in an environmentallyfriendly way.

The study tour happened to coincidewith the only week of heavy snow inthe Netherlands – injecting the fieldvisit with an exotic flavour as far asmany of the participants were con-cerned.

Observation for EnvironmentalModelling and Management. It is an-ticipated that 20 students will registerfor the 2005/2006 course.

The course is unique in that it followsa sequential pattern, with studentsresiding in the UK, Sweden and theNetherlands, and with fieldwork con-ducted in the Czech Republic andPoland. Students and scholars haveample opportunity to experience the

European cultural diversity, and willhave the chance to become familiarwith several European languages. TheGEM course involves two EU prioritythematic research areas – informationsociety technologies and sustainabledevelopment, global change, ecosys-tems – and highlights the Europeanvalue added to these priority areas.

17ITC News 2005-1

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

The Erasmus Mundus programme is a cooperation and mobilityprogramme in the field of higher education, which promotesthe European Union as a centre of excellence in learning aroundthe world. It supports European top-quality Masters Courses andenhances the visibility and attractiveness of European highereducation in third countries. It also provides EU-funded scholar-ships for third country nationals participating in these MastersCourses, as well as scholarships for EU nationals studying in thirdcountries.

For more information, visit our website http://www.gem-msc.org or e-mail us at info@gem-msc.org

Flevoland Snow Tour

Dick van der Zee vanderzee@itc.nl

The ITC graduate programme is in-troducing a flexible education cur-riculum aimed at giving promovendi(PhD students) the opportunity toboth deepen and broaden the skillsneeded to carry out efficient andrelevant research. The first coursewas offered recently.

This first course, which dealt with thetopic Advanced Spatial Statistics forGeodata, presented the tools andconcepts of advanced spatial statisticsto a small but interested group ofPhD students. The course focused onthe probabilistic background of mod-ern spatial tools, in such a way thatthe backgrounds of Bayesian statisticsand distributional inference could bebetter understood and appreciated.Statistical methods were presented toenable spatial data to be analysed inthe best possible way. Furthermore,PhD students discussed their own re-

From 2-5 February 2005, theHeilongjiang Bureau of Surveyingand Mapping (HLJBSM) hosted the“International Conference on LandCover and Land Use ChangeProcesses” in the North East AsianRegion.

The conference was sponsored by theHLJBSM, as well as several other ITCpartners in China such as the Instituteof Geographical Science and NaturalResources Research (IGSNRR) and theInstitute of Remote SensingApplication (IRSA), both institutes ofthe Academy of Science. There were

about 130 participants including avery large delegation from the U.S.A.,Russia and Japan, as well from someEuropean countries.

The conference was very well organ-ised by a number of ITC alumni andother staff of the HLJBSM. ITC was

search in as far as it could benefitfrom a quantitative, statistical ap-proach. The course included theory,applications, software, scientific pa-pers and demos, as well as some selfwork.

After an introduction to Bayesian the-ory, a refresher on geostatistics wasgiven, followed by an expansion onmodel-based geostatistics. Model-based procedures are much moresuitable for analysing count data orfor taking spatial uncertainty fullyinto account. Markov-Chain MonteCarlo procedures were included aswell. This was followed by inferencemethods for other types of spatialdata, in particular spatial point dataand lattice data, including spatial re-gression. Examples from ITC studieswere used for illustrative purposes.Fractals were included and viewedwith regard to their mathematical

background as well as from an ap-plied perspective (“How should Imodel a fractal pattern from im-ages?”). The course concluded withsome analysis procedures for multi-variate data.

Software in this course consisted ofgenerally available public domainpackages such as R, WinBugs and1stBayes, while excursions towardsSPlus and SPSS were also made. It isforeseen that in the near future,when the course is repeated, atten-tion will also be given to space-timestatistics, to monitoring and – if thereis particular interest – to spatial andtemporal sampling.

18 ITC News 2005-1

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

research news

Advanced Spatial Statistics for Geodata

Alfred Stein stein@itc.nl

announcements

Heilongjiang Bureau of Surveying and Mapping hosts International Conferencein Harbin, N.E. China

Mrs. Tang Yanli (ITC Msc EREG 2) tyangli@yahoo.com

represented at the conference by pro-fessor John van Genderen, of the de-partment of Earth ObservationScience. Professor Van Genderen is afrequent visitor to China, and to theHeilongjiang Bureau of Surveying andMapping. Which has sent many of itsstaff to ITC for both short and longterm training programmes.

In addition to the well attended andinteresting scientific sessions, severaltechnical and social tours were or-ganised for the participants. These in-cluded a visit to the National DigitalSurveying and Mapping productionbuilding, a six stories modern build-ing, with five floors full of the latestdigital mapping facilities, one of thelargest and most advanced mappingcentres in China.

On 4 April 2005 the United NationsUniversity (UNU), represented by itsrector Professor Hans van Ginkel,and ITC, represented by its rectorProfessor Martien Molenaar, en-tered into an agreement appointingITC as an Associated Institution.

The UNU mission, which is "to con-tribute, through research and capac-ity building, to efforts to resolve thepressing global problems that are theconcern of the United Nations, itsPeoples and Member States"(http://www.unu.edu/unu.html), is

essentially identical to the mission ofITC.

With this agreement, ITC has secureda prestigious position in the networkof academic institutes and scholarsthat forms a think-tank for the United

The social tours included an after-noon visit to the famous Harbin“Snow sculpture exhibition”, and anevening visit to the impressive “Iceand Snow Festival”, world famous for

its enormous array of buildings, com-pletely made of blocks of ice. The CD-Rom with the proceedings ofthe international conference has beenplaced in the ITC Library.

19ITC News 2005-1

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

Conference participants, well wrapped up against the cold, in front of the main building ofHLJBSM

Some of the ITC alumni from Harbin. From left to right: Xing Yanqin,NRM.3-2003, Professor John van Genderen, ITC staff, Tang Yanli,EREG.2- 2002, Chi Xiaoming, GFM.3-2002 and Tan Jiqiang, WREM.3-2003

Snow sculpture of the “Year of the Cock” heralding the Chineselunar New Year, which started on the 9th of February

ITC Appointed Associated Institution of the United Nations University

Sjaak Beerens beerens@itc.nl

Nations system and which pursuesthe building of capacities, particularlyin developing countries.

The agreement was signed during theConference of Directors of UNUResearch and Training Centres andProgrammes that took place at theUNU Institute for Environment andHuman Security in Bonn, Germany. Ithas an initial duration of five yearsand is directed at developing and car-rying out a joint programme on ca-pacity building in disastermanagement and in land administra-tion, and at disseminating knowledgeon these and directly related issues.

From 29 January until 6 February,the Holland Education Fair (HEF)took place in Indonesia. The eventwas organised by the NetherlandsEducation Centre in Jakarta, andwas held in five different cities:Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Semarang,Bandung and Jakarta. It turned outto be a very well organised and wellvisited event.

This was the first time for a numberof years that ITC again took part inthe education fair, and the Institutewas represented in all five cities byAnneke Nikijuluw and Tom Loran.Many people visited the ITC booth toenquire about the programmes onoffer. The interest in short courseswas especially noticeable. The num-ber of short courses has increased,and the practical focus on issues suchas environmental concerns, hazardand disaster management, and deci-sion support systems in support ofgovernance attracted many ques-tions.In addition to the ITC staff manningthe booth in the five HEF cities, alarge number of ITC alumni were

highly active. The photographs showalumni busy explaining to HEF visitorsthe programmes that can be followedat ITC, and what it is like to be in theNetherlands.

Because the timing of the HEF is a lit-tle unfortunate – being so close tothe deadline for fellowship applica-tions – the Netherlands EducationCentre is shifting the HEF to anotherdate. The new date is still under de-bate but it is likely that the next fairwill be held earlier in the year.

20 ITC News 2005-1

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

Information on ITC’s education andtraining programmes can be found onthe ITC website (www.itc.nl/education) orthrough the office of Atlas Education &Services:

Ms. L. Malonda, Atlas Education & ServicesJl. Otista 3, Komp. 2 No. 8Jakarta 13340, INDONESIAPhone/Fax: +62 21 8195458E-mail: lisa@atlas-edu.com

Indonesian participants can apply to several fellowship programmes to study atITC. Besides the Netherlands Fellowship Program (NFP), the STUNED programmealso provides financial support for study in the Netherlands. Information aboutthe fellowship programmes can be obtained from the Netherlands EducationCentre (www.nec.or.id):

Gedung Citra Graha, 7th Floor (Room 702)Jln. Jend. Gatot Subroto kav. 35-36Jakarta 12950, INDONESIA

Holland Education Fair in Indonesia

Tom Loran loran@itc.nl

Professor Hans van Ginkel (UNU rector) and Professor Martien Molenaar (ITC rector) sign-ing the agreement

21ITC News 2005-1

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

At congresses, conferences and seminars the

world over - in fact wherever those with past or

present associations with ITC come together -

we hear the cry for more news of ITC alumni.

The readership is out there but it’s you we need.

Could you help us to meet this demand? …

and maybe, at the same time, take the opportu-

nity to renew old friendships.

In issue 2005-3, we publish stories of ITC alumni(max. 1000 words) reflecting on 55 years of ITCand/or writing about their present work experi-

ence, the effects of their study at ITC, their cur-rent interests and their suggestions for changes.

Please do not forget to:• include at least one (high-resolution 300 dpi)

photograph of yourself• mention your course and study year and - to

stimulate interaction -• how you can be contacted.

Your article could be another step towards mak-ing ITC News a lively forum for the exchange ofnews and views from around the globe.

So why wait?

ITC 55 years

How to produce a topographic relief map

Following the article “Maps of Bhutan” in ITC News 2004-4 (p6) the practical guide explaining and

illustrating the whole production procedure for a topographic relief map is now available online

http://www.itc.nl/library/SRTM.asp

The step-by-step explanation starts by describing how to download the SRTM DEM images from the

World Wide Web, and then moves through the processing steps with the software used until the final

cartographic representation is obtained. A PowerPoint presentation on SRTM and the hillshading model

are also found online.

We would welcome your contributionsfor the special jubilee issue of ITC News.

If you would like to contribute to this special issue please write to or preferably e-mail (itcnews@itc.nl) Janneke Kalf, Managing Editor: ITC, P.O. Box 6, 7500 AA Enschede, The Netherlands.Deadline for submission is 14 October 2005.

A new cooperation programme isdue to start later this year betweenthe Faculty of Geography, GadjahMada University (UGM), Yogyakarta,Indonesia, and the departmentApplied Earth Sciences at ITC.As of September 2005, theGeography Department at UGM willbe offering a new MSc degree pro-gramme on natural hazard and disas-ter management, and ITC staffmembers have been invited to pro-vide input in a number of coursemodules.

UGM and ITC are no strangers toeach other, and their history of coop-eration goes back a long way. Thetwo institutes have worked togetheron many occasions. For example, ITCstaff were involved in a large institu-tional cooperation programme in the1970s, when the UGM GeographyDepartment was the main counter-part. Again in the ’80s, ITC was in-volved, together with Bakosurtanal inIndonesia, in a cooperation pro-

ITC has collaborated with theRegional Centre for Training inAerospace Surveys (RECTAS) since itsestablishment in 1972. Located on the Obafemi Awolowo University Campus, Ile-Ife,Osun State, Nigeria, RECTAS(www.rectas.org) operates under the auspices of the UN Economic

Commission for Africa, with a man-date for training, research, consul-tancy and advisory services ingeoinformatics. The Centre is a jointproject of several African countries(Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Ghana,Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal) andhas traditionally offered training andeducation at technician, technologist

and diploma levels in both Englishand French.

Apart from collaboration in joint edu-cation, RECTAS and ITC have recentlystarted to share complementary re-sources to provide advisory services togeo-information organisations, partic-ularly in Francophone West Africa.

gramme that saw the establishmentof PUSPICS (the Training Centre forRemote Sensing and IntegratedSurveys). Needless to say, some ofITC’s professors, such as ProfessorVerstappen and Professor Meijerink,have always maintained strong tieswith UGM. More recently, UGM andITC have been working together in anEU-sponsored cooperation pro-gramme on hazard and risk manage-ment for local authorities (the CASITAand CASITA II projects).

In September this year, a new MScprogramme that aims to attract par-ticipants from the Southeast Asian re-gion will take off.

Using a multidisciplinary approachwith an emphasis on the use of GISand remote sensing, the objective ofthe programme is to develop aca-demic and professional skills for themanagement of disasters. This newprogramme, lasting 18 months andtaught in English, will be open to stu-dents from Indonesia as well as fromthe Southeast Asian region.

Discussions are ongoing betweenUGM and ITC, with a view to extend-ing the cooperation still further andachieving a full joint educational pro-gramme on geo-information for dis-aster management in the near future,and possibly also covering other sub-ject areas.

22 ITC News 2005-1

P A R T N E R S H I P N E W S

partnership news

New MSc Programme Geo-Information for Disaster Management, in Yogyakarta,Indonesia

Tom Loran loran@itc.nl

Information on the new programme can be obtained from: Secretariat Postgraduate Studies (Sekretariat S2)Faculty of Geography, Gadjah Mada UniversitySekip Utara, Yogyakarta 55281Phone: +62-274-902348; Fax: +62-274-902348/589595E-mail: sekret-s-2@geo.ugm.ac.id

RECTAS and ITC Go “Francophone”

Sjaak Beerens beerens@itc.nl

Over the past couple of years, geo-information organisations in Fran-cophone (West) Africa have increas-ing approached ITC with requests forsupport. Some decades ago, ITC de-cided to discontinue its practice of of-fering a limited number of courses inFrench. Traditionally, GDTA(Groupement pour le Développementde la Télédétection Aérospatiale) ofFrance has catered for theFrancophone countries of Africa, butthis organisation terminated its activi-ties on 1 January 2005 – which seemsto explain the renewed interest in ITCfrom Francophone Africa.

Rather than developing its ownFrench language capacity in this re-spect, ITC has decided to enter intoassociation with its partner RECTAS,which not only has the technical, pro-fessional and scientific capacities, butalso traditionally has the requisiteEnglish and French language capabili-ties in house.

After contemplating such collabora-tion for some time, it was decided toput intention in practice by jointly un-dertaking advisory missions. A firstmission was carried out at the end ofJanuary this year to the Institute ofGeography (Topographical Survey) inBurkina Faso, and a second mission inMarch to Benin at the request of UN-ESCO, Paris.

Burkina FasoThe Institute of Geography of Burkina(Institut Geographique de Burkina:IGB) (www.igb.bf) was established in1976 with the support of ITC andfunded by the Dutch government.Since then, it has catered for thetopographic mapping needs ofBurkina Faso, making use of its ownfacilities, including aeroplane, pho-tography and printing facilities, forthat purpose. In spite of difficult eco-nomic conditions, IGB has been ableto continue servicing the country,gradually shifting from traditionalanalogue technology to modern digi-tal systems. With the rapidly emerg-ing requirement for a national spatialdata infrastructure (NSDI) in Burkina

Faso, IGB is facing the challenge offinding itself a position in such anNSDI, defining its role, task and re-quired capacities.

At the request of IGB Director-General Clause Obin Tapsoba,Massaer Mbaye, RECTAS departmen-tal director, and Sjaak Beerens, ITC di-rector external affairs, paid a visit toIGB in Ouagedougou to discuss waysof assisting IGB in defining its role inan NSDI. In close consultation withIGB staff, a work programme wasdrawn up, consisting of three work-shops scheduled for 2005, wherebyRECTAS and ITC will facilitate in theprocess of formulating a strategic de-velopment plan for IGB. The supportof the UN-ECA (United NationsEconomic Commission for Africa)under CODI-GEO will be sought tostrengthen this initiative still further.

BeninWithin the same framework of col-laboration between RECTAS and ITC,Massaer Mbaye and Sjaak Beerensvisited Benin last March to meet withProfessor Norbert Hounkonnou,International Chair in MathematicalPhysics and Applications (ChaireInternationale en PhysiqueMathématique et Applications(CIPMA)) at the Université d’Abomey-Calavi in Cotonou. This initiative wasin response to a specific request from

23ITC News 2005-1

P A R T N E R S H I P N E W S

Institute of Geography of Burkina in Ouagedougou

RECTAS and ITC visitors with CIPMA staff and students

On 15 March 2005, the RegionalCentre for Training in AerospaceSurveys (RECTAS) and ITC signed anagreement relating to a joint educa-tional programme in geoinformat-ics. The agreement was signed atthe RECTAS headquarters in Ile Ife,Nigeria, by Dr Olajide Kufoniyi, ex-ecutive director of RECTAS, andSjaak Beerens, director external af-fairs of ITC.

RECTAS (www.rectas.org), located onthe Obafemi Awolowo UniversityCampus, was established in 1972under the auspices of the UNEconomic Commission for Africa,with a mandate for training, research,consultancy and advisory services ingeoinformatics. The Centre is a jointproject of several African countries,the participating countries at the mo-ment being Benin, Burkina,Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Niger,Nigeria and Senegal.

The collaboration between RECTASand ITC dates back to the establish-ment of RECTAS in 1972. Since thattime ITC has supported RECTAS in

strengthening its capacity in organis-ing training courses at technician,technologist and diploma levels inboth English and French. Over theyears, the collaboration has evolvedinto a partnership that provides aproper basis for a joint educationalprogramme, comprising a joint post-graduate diploma programme ingeoinformatics carried out entirely atRECTAS, and a joint MSc programmein geoinformatics, leading to an ITC

MSc degree, which is carried out atboth RECTAS (seven months) and ITC(11 months).

Actually, a first group of 17 candi-dates enrolled for the joint pro-gramme in September 2004. Fivecandidates from this group – twofrom Ghana and one each fromBenin, Burkina Faso and Nigeria – will continue their MSc studies at ITC,starting in May 2005.

UNESCO: Dr Justin Ahanhanzo, UN-ESCO Paris coordinator, and the proj-ect management of the GOOS-AfricaProgramme and the UNESCOCrosscutting Project on theApplication of Remote Sensing forIntegrated Management ofEcosystem and Water Resources inAfrica.

In 2004, CIPMA embarked on an in-ternational MSc programme in geoin-formatics for water and ecosystemmanagement (with 11 students) and

a doctoral programme in water andecosystems sciences (with 10 PhDcandidates). In a series of meetingswith Professor Hounkonnou and hisstaff, as well as courtesy visits at pres-idential office level, it was agreed topursue collaboration, starting withsoftware support and guest lectures,in preparation for exploring the possi-bilities for funding collaboration inorder to further strengthen the MScand PhD programmes.

24 ITC News 2005-1

P A R T N E R S H I P N E W S

IGB: Moving from analogue to digital

RECTAS and ITC Sign Agreement for Joint Educational Programme

Sjaak Beerens beerens@itc.nl

Dr Olajide Kufoniyi (executive director of RECTAS) and Sjaak Beerens (director external af-fairs of ITC)

On Friday, 11 February 2005, thefirst MSc graduation ceremony ofthe Earth Resources andEnvironmental Geosciences (EREG)course was held at the IndianInstitute of Remote Sensing (IIRS)(NRSA), India. Seven students who had completedthe first joint MSc course run by IIRSand ITC in Environmental Assessmentand Disaster Management receivedtheir MSc degrees in the presence ofProfessor Freek van der Meer and DrCees van Westen of ITC and Dr B.R.Arora, director of the Wadia Instituteof Himalayan Geology, India, whowas the chief guest.

This MSc course is the first course ofthe Earth Resources andEnvironmental Geosciences educa-tional programme (to be renamedApplied Earth Sciences in October2005) to be conducted outside theNetherlands. The joint course was in-troduced at IIRS in India as a result ofthe joint collaborative GEONEDISproject between IIRS and ITC duringthe period 2000-2004. The coursestarted on 7 July 2003 and lasted 18months. The first nine months, cover-ing 12 modules, were spent at IIRS;three of these modules were sup-ported by ITC faculty in India.Afterwards the students visited ITCfor three months (29 March to 22June 2004) to follow four modulesand also to write and defend theirproposals. The necessary funds wereprovided by the GEONEDIS project.After their return to India, the stu-dents spent about six months work-ing towards an MSc research thesis at

IIRS, Dehradun, supported by ITC fac-ulty via e-mail. The MSc thesis was re-viewed midway by Dr van Westen inOctober 2004. Finally, the MSc thesiswas defended on 10 February 2005in front of an examination boardchaired by Professor van der Meer.The research topics reflect the diverseapplications of geoinformatics tech-nology in various disaster-relatedfields: • Seismic response analysis of

Dehradun city• Urban multi-hazard risk assessment

using remote sensing and GIS: acase study of landslide, earthquakeand fire in a part of Kohima town,Nagaland, India

• Impact of coal mining on vegeta-tion: a case study in Jaintia Hills dis-trict of Meghalaya (India)

• Analysis of uncertainties in digitalelevation models in flood (hy-draulic) modelling

• Salinity mapping in coastal areasusing GIS and remote sensing

• Spatial modelling of Hoplocerambyxspinicornis infestation for hazardprediction, management and con-trol in Sal forests of Uttaranchal

• Generation of geological databasefor seismic microzonation ofDehradun.

The ceremony opened with the pres-entation of floral bouquets to thechief guest and visiting ITC faculty. Aspeech of welcome was made by DrV.K. Dadhwal, dean of IIRS.Programme Coordinator Dr V. HariPrasad of the Water ResourcesDivision explained the course con-tents to the gathering. In addition, Drvan Westen gave a report on the partof the course held at ITC, andProfessor van der Meer spoke aboutthe joint MSc course in general. Thestudents were awarded the ITC MScdegrees by Dr Arora. This was fol-lowed by a ceremonial address, andthen a vote of thanks from Dr HariPrasad brought the ceremony to aclose.

Clearly, the joint efforts in conductingthis course of IIRS and ITC – and oftheir faculty staff in particular – wentvery well, and, furthermore, the ex-perimental remote supervision of thestudents by ITC faculty, relying on theregular and skilful use of Internet ande-mail facilities, proved successful.Once again it is evident that IIRS is anatural partner for ITC, and in theyears to come the challenge will be tosecure and expand the relationshipand further true capacity building.

25ITC News 2005-1

P A R T N E R S H I P N E W S

EREG MSc Graduation Ceremony at Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun

V. Hari Prasad prasad@iirs.gov.in

Cees van Westen westen@itc.nl

MSc graduates with the chief guest, ITC faculty, dean of IIRS, and IIRS pro-gramme coordinator

Niek Rengers retired on 1 December 2004. On this occasionthe symposium “New Developmentsin Geospatial Information Handlingfor Engineering Geology” was or-ganised to commemorate his workfor ITC and his engineering geologyactivities in the Netherlands andaround the world.

A series of distinguished speakerscame to Enschede and gave presenta-tions on the different subjects inwhich Niek had been involvedthroughout his career. Under thechairmanship of Klaas Jan Beek andTheo van Asch, the day was openedby Paul Marinos, former president ofthe International Association forEngineering Geology and theEnvironment (IAEG). He discussed therecent developments in rock mechan-ics and the importance of engineer-ing geology in the design of roadsand road routing. Helmut Bock talkedon the common ground in soil and

rock mechanics and engineering ge-ology, and Keith Turner gave a pres-entation on the benefits of moderncomputer facilities for engineeringgeology. The morning was concludedby a speech by Jacob Fokkema,Rector Magnificus of the TechnicalUniversity of Delft, who commemo-rated the excellent cooperation be-tween the Technical University ofDelft and ITC in the field of engineer-ing geology, and the role of Niek inthis cooperation.

After lunch, your reporter continuedthe scientific programme, speakingon the importance of accuracy andlikelihood quantification in digitaldata in engineering geology. MartinCulshaw, director of the BritishGeological Survey, continued on thetopic of the use of digital data in geo-logical surveys and, in particular, thebenefits and drawbacks for engineer-ing geology and geotechnical engi-neering. The scientific part of the day

concluded with two presentations onhazard studies and hazard manage-ment by Cees van Westen and SergioMora. A last-minute change in theprogramme was caused by the arrivalof Joseph Akinyede, Niek’s first PhDstudent, who had been able to comeover from Nigeria especially for thisday. He presented the options andapplications of remotely sensed dataobtained by the first Nigerian satel-lite.

After the scientific programme, Joostvan der Schrier (Haskoning) thankedNiek on behalf of the Ingeokring (theDutch Association for EngineeringGeology) and the former Dutch stu-dents of Niek; your reporter on behalfof the Section Engineering Geology;and ITC’s rector Martien Molenaar onbehalf of ITC. As one of the lastspeakers, Chris Bremmer, president ofthe Ingeokring, announced that theIngeokring had decided to awardNiek the status of Honorary Memberof the Association for his exceptionalcontribution to the science of engi-neering geology at large and to thedevelopment of the Ingeokring.

Not everything presented during theday brought pleasure. The troublesexperienced at the TechnicalUniversity of Delft in attracting andkeeping a professor, as well as thedeclining number of students, bothDutch and international, have led en-gineering geology education and re-search in the Netherlands into seriousproblems. Those involved in engineer-

26 ITC News 2005-1

S T A F F N E W S

staff news

Symposium “New Developments in Geospatial Information Handling for Engineering Geology”: Farewell Niek Rengers

Robert Hack hack@itc.nl

Niek Rengers, his wife Muck and ITC’s rector Martien Molenaar

ing geology in the Netherlands knowthat some 30 years of very successfulcollaboration in education and re-search between the TechnicalUniversity of Delft and ITC recentlyended owing to various political de-velopments in the Dutch universitiesand ITC. In the future, two quite simi-lar educational sections will exist,which will basically work in competi-tion. Whether this is beneficial or sim-ply an enormous waste of resourcesremains to be seen, but the generalfeeling is that two educational sec-tions in a small country such as theNetherlands may well be too many.On the other hand, the fact that en-gineering geology education exists inthe Netherlands is largely due to theefforts of Niek Rengers, and notmany in the world can boast a legacyof two sections of engineering geol-ogy. Niek is still president of theworldwide International Associationfor Engineering Geology and theEnvironment, and in that function he

will be active in the years to come.Thereafter, he has announced, he willquietly retire to his house in France –however, your reporter expects thatwe will hear a lot more of him. After

such a busy life, it is unlikely that hewill be found quietly sitting in his gar-den in France with his lovely wifeMuck and a bunch of children andgrandchildren.

27ITC News 2005-1

S T A F F N E W S

Prof.dr. Z. Su Professor of Spatial Hydrology and Water Resources Management department ofWater Resources (per 1 October 2004)

Dr.-Ing. S.R.K.B. Heuel Assistant Professor department of Earth Observation Science (per 1 March 2005)

J. Timmermans Promovendus department of Water Resources (per 1 March 2005)

Dr. T.W.H.J. Hobma Assistant Professor department of Water Resources (per 15 November 2004)

Ing. W.A. Hugens Lecturer department of Earth Systems Analysis General (per 1 December 2004)

Dr. N. Rengers Associate Professor department of Earth Systems Analysis (per 1 December 2004)

Prof.dr. C.V. Reeves Professor in Exploration Geophysics department of Earth Systems Analysis (per 1 December 2004)

Dr. M.C. Ellis Assistant Professor department of Geo-Information Processing (per 1 February 2005)

D.F. Jager Research Assistant department of Water Resources (per 1 February 2005)

W. Kramer Staffmember Maintenance and Service department Facility Management (per 1 March 2005)

Ir. M. Huisman Assistant Professor Department of Earth Systems Analysis (per 1 March 2005)

Drs. G.W. van Dorp Director Internal Affairs (per 1 March 2005)

Welcometo ITC

Staffleaving

STAFF NEWS

Robert Hack speaking on the importance of accuracy and likelihood quantification in digital data in engineering geology

On 24 December 2004 the ITC AlumniAssociation of Mongolia received itsofficial government licence as anNGO. Its main role is to promote theuse of remote sensing and GIS forthe socio-economic development ofMongolia. The executive director of the alumniassociation is Ms Davaa Narantuya(itc_alumni@mongol.net).

To celebrate the formal establishmentof this alumni association, a nationalworkshop on GIS/RS applications forsustainable development in Mongoliawas organised on 21 January 2005.This workshop, which was held in theprestigious Chingis Khaan Hotel inUlaanbaatar, attracted some 100 par-ticipants. Among these participantswere many high-level decision makersfrom international organisations suchas the World Bank, UN agencies andGTZ, as well as representatives fromgovernment agencies, research insti-tutes, universities and the private sec-tor (mainly mapping and miningcompanies). An opening plenarykeynote address was given by DrNarantsatsralt, former prime ministerof Mongolia and current Member of

Parliament. Ms Oyundar, director ofstrategic planning and policy coordi-nation at the Ministry of Nature andEnvironment, also addressed theworkshop participants.

The workshop consisted of four ses-sions: • Session 1: RS/GIS Education in

Mongolia, chaired by ProfessorJohn van Genderen of ITC’sDepartment of Earth ObservationScience, who has been a frequentvisitor to Mongolia since 1992

• Session 2: RS/GIS Application inResearch, chaired by Ms D.Odonchimeg (GIR.3, 1995), nowworking as national project coordi-nator for UNDP and the GlobalEnvironment Facility

• Session 3: RS/GIS in Business,chaired by Dr Amarsaikhan (in 1989the first Mongolian to study at ITC),now working at the Institute ofInformatics and Remote Sensing atthe Mongolian Academy ofSciences (which has sent many ofits staff to study at ITC)

• Session 4: GIS/RS in NaturalResource Management, chaired byProfessor Bayasgalan (GEO.2, 1995)

of the Mongolian University ofScience and Technology.

Three or four presentations by ITCalumni were given in each of thesesessions. Ms Altantsetseg (MEX.3,1994) acted as mistress of ceremoniesduring the day, and introduced thevarious speakers. In addition,Professor Bayasgalan gave an open-ing and a closing speech, while asummary of the main issues dealtwith during the day was given byProfessor John van Genderen just be-fore the closing ceremony.

The workshop was sponsored by or-ganisations such as ITC, UNDP andEurosense, as well as by several localcompanies and organisations such as

28 ITC News 2005-1

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

life after itc

ITC Alumni Association of Mongolia Formally Established as NGO

Professor Bayasgalan bayas@must.edu.mn

Participants at the workshop

Some of the ITC alumni at the workshop

Professor Bayasgalan giving his opening speech atthe workshop (seated from left to right: MsAltantsetseg, Professor John van Genderen and Dr Narantsatsralt)

Geomon. Dr Jack Dangermond ofESRI in the USA, and a fellow of ITC,kindly sponsored the wonderful re-ception and workshop banquet heldin the Chingis Khaan Hotel at the endof the workshop. This gave all theparticipants the opportunity to min-gle informally with the ITC alumni.Not all alumni were able to attend

A large number of ITC alumni par-ticipated in the 1st Scientific Confer-ence on Geodesy, Cartography andLand Management (13 to 14 Decem-ber 2004), which was organised bythe Vietnam Research Institute ofLand Administration (VIRILA) on theoccasion of the 45th anniversary ofthe Vietnam Survey and MappingDepartment.

The recently installed alumni coordi-nator for Vietnam, Tran Nhu Trung,saw the presence in Hanoi of PaulSchoonackers and Dick van der Zee,who were also attending the confer-ence, as a good opportunity to or-ganise the first formal meeting of theVietnamese ITC Alumni Associationon 16 December 2004. Business andpleasure – this initial meeting washighly successful on both counts. MsDang Thi Lien was selected to be theassociation’s financial, budget andsponsors manager, and some 15alumni enjoyed a very pleasant dinnerwith the two guests. For the want ofGrolsch, substantial quantities ofHeineken were imbibed!

this most successful workshop. Forexample, Ms Tsolomongerel (GFM.2,2004) is currently doing an ITC in-ternship at ESRI, and various otherswere also on international missions.

The alumni association has plans forseveral more activities and eventslater this year, and is also involved in

helping to host and organise the 27thAsian Conference in Ulaanbaatar inOctober 2006.

For more details on the ITC AlumniAssociation or on RS/GIS activities in Mongolia, please contact Ms Narantuya (association-mongolia@alumni.itc.nl)

29ITC News 2005-1

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

First Meeting of Vietnamese ITC Alumni Association

Dick van der Zee vanderzee@itc.nl

ITC Alumni Association of VietnamMr. Tran Nhu TrungMinistry of Natural Resources and EnvironmentProject Consultancy Division6-N7 NGO 90 Nguyentuan Thanh XuanHanoi, VIETNAME-mail: association-vietnam@alumni.itc.nl

On 7 February a group of ITC alumnitook the initiative to launch theIndonesian ITC Alumni Association(IIAA). This alumni association was officiallyestablished during a seminar held atthe Indonesian Agency for theAssessment and Application ofTechnology (Badan Pengkajian danPenerapan Teknologi, BPPT). Alumniattending the first meeting, whichwas held in Jakarta, gave presenta-tions reflecting on what it was like tostudy at ITC and live in theNetherlands. The oldest alumnuspresent was at ITC in 1977, whereasthe alumni who took the initiative toestablish the association were at theInstitute more recently, between2000 and 2002.

With a total of almost 1,500 people,Indonesia has by far the largest con-tingent of alumni within the globalnetwork of ITC graduates. Mr RiadikaMastra, who studied cartography atITC in 1977, and Dr Ridwan

Djamaludin, who studied mass move-ment hazard assessment in 1993, ad-dressed the meeting to show theirsupport for the association. They ex-pressed the hope that the associa-tion, through its widespread networkof contacts within Indonesia (bothgeographically and in organisationsand institutes across the country),would contribute to the developmentof the nation.

All alumni present formally voted infavour of the proposal to officially es-tablish the association, which was ac-

cepted by acclamation. The initiativeto establish the IIAA was taken by MrHartanto Sanjaya (BPPT), Mr SyarifBudhiman (LAPAN) and Mr IwanSetiawan (SEAMEO Biotrop), and theyalso constitute the daily board of theassociation.

ITC congratulates the alumni inIndonesia and is happy to welcomethis youngest alumni association intothe ITC family.

30 ITC News 2005-1

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

Indonesian ITC Alumni Association (IIAA) Launched

Tom Loran loran@itc.nl

ITC alumni during the first meeting of the Indonesian ITC Alumni Association in Jakarta

All ITC alumni in Indonesia are encouraged to contact the boardand join the association. Contact details for the IIAA Secretariatare:

BPPT, Gedung I Lantai 20Jln. M.H. Thamrin No. 8Jakarta 10340, INDONESIAPhone: +62-21-3168914Fax: +62-21-3918066E-mail: association-indonesia@alumni.itc.nlwww.itc-alumni.or.id

BANGLADESH ITC Alumni Association of BangladeshMr. Bazle Rashid House #29, Road no. 5, Block-'Kha'Pisciculture Housing, Mohammedpur Dhaka 1207, BANGLADESHE-mail: association-bangladesh@alumni.itc.nl

BOLIVIAITC Alumni Association of BoliviaMr. Ronald Job Vargas RojasFortin Conchitas st #866Cochabamba, BOLIVIAPhone: +591 4 4282445 (home) / +591 44540750 (office)Fax: +591 4 4256551E-mail: association-bolivia@alumni.itc.nlWeb site: www.clas.umss.edu.bo

BURKINA FASOITC Alumni Association of Burkina FasoMr. Koudougou Zowinde09 BP 172 Ouagadougou 09, BURKINAFASOPhone: +226 50362744 / +226 70292596E-mail: association-burkinafaso@alumni.itc.nl

CANADAITC Alumni Association of CanadaMr. Rex CamitApt 1108, Rose Avenue 135M4X 1P1 Toronto, CANADA E-mail: association-canada@alumni.itc.nl

ECUADORITC Alumni Association of EcuadorMr. Paul Arellano MoraMoreno Bellido 127Quito, ECUADORE-mail: association-ecuador@alumni.itc.nl

EGYPTITC Alumni Association in EgyptMr. Aiman SolimanGessr El Zuez St. 145, HeliopolisCairo, EGYPTE-mail: association-egypt@alumni.itc.nl

ETHIOPIAITC Alumni Association of EthiopiaDr. Tenalem AyenewC/o Department of Geology and GeophysicsAddis Ababa UniversityP.O. Box 1176Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIAPhone: +251 1 553214Fax: +251 1 553214E-mail: association-ethiopia@alumni.itc.nl

FIJIITC Alumni Association of FijiMr. S.B. NaiceguceguMinistry of Lands, Energy & MineralResourcesAerial Survey SectionP.O. Box 2222Suva, FIJIE-mail: association-fiji@alumni.itc.nl

INDIAITC Alumni Association of IndiaProf.Dr. Mahavir Professor of Planning and Head of Centre forRemote Sensing c/o School of Planning and Architecture 4-B, I. P. Estate New Delhi 110002, INDIAPhone + 91 11 23702378 / 23702375 80(office)Fax: + 91 11 23702383 (office)E-mail: association-india@alumni.itc.nl

INDONESIAITC Alumni Association of IndonesiaMr. Syarif BudhimanBPPT Gedung 1 Lantai 20Jl. MH Thamrin no. 8Jakarta 10340, INDONESIAPhone: +62 21 3168914Fax: +62 21 3918066E-mail: association-indonesia@alumni.itc.nlWeb site: www.itc-alumni.or.id

KENYAITC Alumni Association of KenyaMr. D.O. OmoloNature KenyaP.O. Box 4448600100 GPO Nairobi, KENYAE-mail: association-kenya@alumni.itc.nl

MONGOLIAITC Alumni Association of MongoliaMrs. D. NarantuyaP.O. Box 758Ulaanbaatar 210646, MONGOLIAPhone: +976 99187780E-mail: association-mongolia@alumni.itc.nl

NEPALITC Alumni Association of Nepalc/o GPO Box 9046Kathmandu, NEPAL Phone: +977 1 251625 / 482903Fax: +977 482957E-mail: association-nepal@alumni.itc.nl

NICARAGUAITC Alumni Association of NicaraguaMrs. S. Mejia Mendoza MScP.O. Box OR-22Managua 14, NICARAGUAE-mail: association-nicaragua@alumni.itc.nl

NIGERITC Alumni Association of NigerMr. Mahaman Lawali WaziriE-mail: association-niger@alumni.itc.nl

PAKISTANITC Alumni Association of PakistanMr. Falak NawazNational Centre of Excellence in GeologyUniversity of Peshawar, PAKISTAN Phone: +92 91 9216427 / 9216429E-mail: association-pakistan@alumni.itc.nl

PERUITC Alumni Association of Peru Mr. Hildebrando Palacios BerriosPsje Hermanos Carcamo 175, UrbanizaciónAsteteLima 32, PERUPhone: +51 1 4606827E-mail: association-peru@alumni.itc.nl or

Mr. Luis Urbina ZárateMunicipalidad Provincial de TrujilloPizarro 412Trujillo, PERU Phone: +51 44 293119 (trabajo) / +51 44 9653683 (móvil)Fax: +51 44 261122E-mail: association-peru@alumni.itc.nl

SURINAMITC Alumni Association of SurinameMs. Virginia P. Atmopawiro, MScc/o CELOS – Narena DepartmentProf. Dr. J. RuinardlaanP.O. Box 1914Paramaribo-South, SURINAMEE-mail: association-suriname@alumni.itc.nl

TANZANIAITC Alumni Association of TanzaniaMr. Alphonce Tiba5 Mwandege VillageP.O. Box 14Mkuranga, TANZANIAE-mail: association-tanzania@alumni.itc.nl

31ITC News 2005-1

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

ITC Alumni: A Worldwide Network

Forging links, forging friendships

Since its foundation in 1950, ITC has built up an extensive network of international contacts withformer students – a network that today numbers more than 17,000 alumni spread over 165countries. ITC's mission stresses the vital importance of its alumni relations, and accordingly theInstitute provides ongoing services and benefits to support the alumni community in developing

and strengthening their production, teaching and management capabilities.

Maybe you’re interested in joining an ITC alumni association in your home country. ITC gives activesupport to those alumni who wish to establish national ITC alumni associations in their own countries.

Quite a challenge, and perhaps one that attracts you. For more information, please contact the ITC alumnioffice (alumni@itc.nl).

TURKEYITC Alumni Association of TurkeyProf. Dr. A. SesorenPhone & Fax: +90 212 42177393E-mail: association-turkey@alumni.itc.nl

UGANDAITC Alumni Association of UgandaDepartment of Forest Products EngineeringFaculty of Forestry and Nature ConservationMakerere University P.O. Box 7062Kampala, UGANDA Phone: +256 41 543647 / 543648Fax: +256 41 533574

UNITED ARAB EMIRATESITC Alumni Association of United ArabEmiratesMr. Amir Zeb KhanUniversity of the United Arab EmiratesDepartment of GeographyP.O. Box 17771Abu Dhabi, UNITED ARAB EMIRATESE-mail: association-unitedarabemirates@alumni.itc.nl

VIETNAMITC Alumni Association of VietnamMr. Tran Nhu TrungMinistry of Natural Resources and

EnvironmentProject Consultancy Division6-N7 NGO 90 Nguyentuan Thanh XuanHanoi, VIETNAME-mail: association-vietnam@alumni.itc.nl

ZIMBABWEITC Alumni Association of ZimbabweMr. Kudzai Musiwa21 Tamarind Court, Cheryl Road 4Harare, ZIMBABWEE-mail: association-zimbabwe@alumni.itc.nl

32 ITC News 2005-1

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

Dear Editor,

I visited ITC Delft in 1975 for a 12-month diploma course in mining exploration while I was at theGeological Survey of India. I was young then and found life wonderful, especially because of the prox-imity to Rotterdam, the Hague and Amsterdam. Prior to visiting ITC I had done a one-year diplomacourse at IPI (sister institute of ITC). Professor Mekel and Professor van der Meer Mohr (best teacher,whose style I followed later at IIRS) visited IPI at that time to take special classes on microwaves and re-mote sensing, then new subjects. Professor Mekel therefore permitted me to follow advanced classesin structural geology at Leiden University and in sedimentology in Enschede. Professors Dijkstra (direc-tor), Botman and Ketlaar were wonderful teachers.

I also remember the nice company of friends from Thailand, Vietnam, Ghana, the Philippines, Nepaland of course India. I could attend only four Dutch language classes by Ms Malegrom, the student af-fairs officer, and still remember counting up to 100, niets te danken, kheboren, jufrau – mefrau, wel-trusten etc. I loved to eat a dish in the canteen with bread and ham and cheese and omelette, butwith a complicated name (red. uitsmijter), biscuits with honey in the Hema store, and even raw fish atthe Sunday market (not tasty). Sometimes I felt I knew more about the Netherlands than the Dutchdid, since none of those I met had ever read or heard the story of a Dutch boy who put his finger in adyke to stop leakage! The Keukenhof is a paradise that no visitor to the Netherlands should miss.

I felt I was an unfortunate Dutchman born in India. It meant I desperately required more air-water-foodfrom the Netherlands for sustenance. As lady luck was smiling then, I joined IPI (now IIRS) in 1980 andwas promptly dispatched in 1983 to ITC, this time in Enschede, but alas only for a six-week course onremote sensing – and that in the peak of winter, which meant it was always dark outside, whether youwere entering or leaving the classrooms. I remember that period for its good associations withProfessors Rengers, Soeters and Koopman. The rector of ITC, Professor Beek, always impressed mevery much.

Later in 1993 I was supposed to visit Canada for a seminar, but my Dutch links were pulling me like amagnet and Professor S.K. Bhan, the then dean, made me a member of a team that visited ITC regard-ing collaboration on introducing GIS into the IIRS course curriculum. Alas, that was again for 15 daysonly, but stay and interaction – everything was perfect. Subsequently, I was involved in many IIRS-ITCworkshops organised in Dehradun, including an international course on neotectonics where I got toknow a very tall Dutchman, Professor Diederix, and Dr Woldai – very nice people.

After having a great time teaching at IIRS for 24 years, I am now with the Regional Remote SensingService Center, Department of Space, working on remote sensing and GIS projects and Rand D.

I could go on writing like this …. Sometimes I wonder if I really did visit ITC and the Netherlands, abeautiful country with nice people, or was it merely a dream? Memories linger on, maybe until my lastbreath.

Sincerely,V.K. JhaHead RRSSC, Dehradun, India.Email: vkjha48@yahoo.com

letter to the editor

V.K. Jha, 2005

V.K. Jha, 1975