“The challenge is to enhance the data exchange and sharing between the organizations to avoid duplication, increase the cooperation and coordination of efforts in collecting data and make them available to benefit everybody, saving resources and at the same time preserving data and information ownership,” according to GeoNetwork opensource.

To meet this goal, a new version of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's spatial data catalogue, FAO GeoNetwork, which provides agricultural information to decision-makers, allowing them to access satellite imagery, interactive maps and spatial databases from FAO, WFP, CGIAR and others, was launched on 24 April 2006.

"This new version of GeoNetwork is faster and more reliable than the previous one. In addition, several other UN agencies have joined the network, thus adding an impressive amount of valuable UN system-wide geospatial information," according to Mr Alexander Müller, Assistant Director-General of the FAO Sustainable Development Department.

The launch coincides with the release of a new version of the World Food Programme GeoNetwork, which contributes substantially to the effective sharing and dissemination of geographical datasets with major emphasis on food security and vulnerability issues. The WFP network includes nodes at WFP headquarters, regional bureaus and country offices.

The joint launch marks the start of a new era for spatial data sharing among UN agencies, allowing users to instantly see maps and related information from the different agencies together in one search.

Satellite imagery and spatial databases assist countries to fight hunger and rural poverty. Users overlay maps from multiple servers housed at development institutions worldwide to create customised thematic maps on their own computers covering such variables as land cover, soil quality, vegetation and population density and marketing access.

FAO GeoNetwork is a collaborative effort to provide a free and open source software based spatial data management system that is widely distributed and used. It adheres to international standards for geographic data sharing.

A combination of maps

"When an emergency occurs, the maps created by the different agencies in their respective fields of expertise can be combined to see the relationship between different factors affecting the populations and the environment," according to FAO's expert in remote sensing, Jeroen Ticheler.

Spatial data sharing among UN agencies will help developing countries' decision-makers isolate the causes of food shortages in their nations. It is a multidisciplinary approach to sustainable development that allows FAO, WFP, other UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and research institutions worldwide to share and distribute geographically referenced data more easily.

NOTE:  More information about the About the GeoNetwork opensource is available below the contact information for this news release.

For more information :

Contact:
Pierre Antonios
Information Officer, FAO
pierre.antonios@fao.org

(+39) 06 570 53473
(+39) 348 25 23 807

The UNFAO is solely responsible for the contents of this press release.

About the GeoNetwork opensource.

The following is from GeoNetwork opensource 2.0.0:

GeoNetwork opensource is a standardized and decentralized spatial information management environment, designed to enable access to geo-referenced databases, cartographic products and related metadata from a variety of sources, enhancing the spatial information exchange and sharing between organizations and their audience, using the capacities of the internet. This approach of geographic information management aims at facilitating a wide community of spatial information users to have easy and timely access to available spatial data and to existing thematic maps that might support informed decision making.

Maps, including those derived from satellite imagery, are effective communicational tools and play an important role in the work of various types of users:

• Decision Makers: e.g. Sustainable development planners and humanitarian and emergency managers in need of quick, reliable and up to date user-friendly cartographic products as a basis for action and better plan and monitor their activities.
• GIS Experts in need of exchanging consistent and updated geographical data.
• Spatial Analysts in need of multidisciplinary data to perform preliminary geographical analysis and reliable forecasts to better set up appropriate interventions in vulnerable areas.

The main goal of the GeoNetwork opensource software is to improve the accessibility of a wide variety of data, together with the associated information, at different scale and from multidisciplinary sources, organized and documented in a standard and consistent way.

GeoNetwork opensource has been developed to connect spatial information communities and their data using a modern architecture, which is at the same time powerful and low cost, based on the principles of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and International and Open Standards for services and protocols (a.o. from ISO/TC211 and OGC).