WKU Faculty Visit Colombia To Assist In GIS Training

February 28, 2008

Bowling Green, Ky. - Over the past week, Western Kentucky University Geography and Geology Department Head Dr. David Keeling and Kevin Cary, director of WKU’s Geographic Information Science (GIS) programs, traveled to Bogotá, Colombia, to work with a local research group (GEOSCIRE) to identify methods to improve its GIS capacity. 

Funded through a U.S. government grant, the WKU project is part of the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute’s global technology transfer initiative and is designed to assist other countries in developing their GIS capabilities.

The Hoffman Institute (http://hoffman.wku.edu/), supported by the Ogden College of Science and Engineering’s Applied Research and Technology Program (ARTP) and directed by Dr. Chris Groves, has research projects in China, England, Nigeria and Slovenia. This latest project in Colombia is in partnership with the American Geographical Society (www.amergeog.org) and has been designated the “Bowman Expedition to Colombia.”

The ARTP’s Marilyn Anderson provided critical administrative support last year to ensure that the competitive grant application met the submission requirements and was appropriately budgeted. The Bowman Expeditions are part of a global initiative by the AGS to build open source geographic knowledge about other societies and to help train the next generation of planners and policy makers.

Dr. Keeling and Cary spent one week working in Bogotá with GEOSCIRE research personnel to identify their GIS needs. Colombia has a history of urban and rural violence, stemming not only from drug-trafficking activities but also from left-wing guerilla groups like the FARC and ELN. Yet the Colombian national police force has no GIS mapping capabilities and has not yet developed methodologies for the spatial analysis of criminal activities.
The GEOSCIRE research group seeks to develop GIS capabilities to analyze data collected in Medellin and in Cauca Province, as a first step toward building a national GIS-based research program. 

WKU’s task is to develop a training program for the Colombian personnel and to help them build a GIS-supported research center in Bogotá. The long-term goal is to assist state and federal agencies in developing their GIS capabilities.
               
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact David Keeling at (270) 745-4555.