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Thursday, May 31, 2007

HUNAGI Secretary General invited for a Talk to the Ministry of Environment and Water

Messrs Pál Bozó (l) and Dezső Mikus in the UNEP GRID Budapest Office. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007
Pál Bozó, Head of the Informatics Division and UNEP GRID in Budapest received for a talk the SG of HUNAGI, acting head of UNSDI HUCO. The issues addressed were the state of the art and bottlenecks in geospatial data availability and access, the INSPIRE-related tasks and measures to be taken, the role of civil organisations, specificaly the involvement of HUNAGI. A need for closer cooperation was mutually recognised and the concept will be elaborated in the coming weeks. The talk was participated by Mr. Dezső Mikus, desk officer for INSPIRE in MoEW too.

eContentplus Info Day in Budapest

Conference room of the Ministry of Economics and Transport, venue of the InfoDay.
Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007

ELGI, HUNGIS, HUNAGI represented the geospatial community

ELGI is involved in the GeoMind project and Mr. László Vértesy delivered a good overview on the project based on the experiences of the first 8 months. ELGI plays an important role in the 12-member international consortium.
More info on that project:
HUNAGI and some of its members are consortium partners of an another project called eSDI-Net+ lead by the Fraunhofer Institute (where a hearing devoted to the eSDI-Net+ was succesfully held in Luxembourg at the DG InfSo yesterday)
SZAMALK' s expert in education Ms.Anikó Balogh shared her experiences how an independent expert works in the evaluation framework orchestrated by DG InfSo.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

HUNAGI/UNSDI HUCO presentation at the 1st GIS Congress in the Czech Republic

The Castle of Mikulov, venue of the GIS Congress.
Image: HUNAGI Visuals Resource, 2007

In the international session EUROGI, OGC, EARSeL, IGN Dresden and HUNAGI presented papers.

Invited by CAGI, Stakeholder of the UNSDI CZCO, paper on the Networking in Hungary was presented by the Secretary General of HUNAGI. Also the achievments reached by UNSDI HUCO Stakeholders were introduced around the Topics INSPIRE and NSDI. The First GIS Congress in the Czech Republic was attracted more than 200 participants. The full program is at www.cagi.cz Details will come soon.
The Hungarian paper is downloadable here:
www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/rfgHUNGARY.pdf
Photographic impressions around the Congress:
www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/photos/events/Mikulov/index.html

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Talks with FAO SEUR

Ms. Maria Kadlecikova (r) and Jelle U. Hielkema in the Office of FAO SEUR in Budapest. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007
Potentials of FAO (Sub)Regional Centres in the UNSDI context
Ms. Maria Kadlecikova, Representative of FAO at the Subregional Centre for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest received Mr. Jelle U. Hielkema, SDI consultant for the UN Geospatial Information Working Group and Gabor Remetey-Fülöpp, Secretary General of HUNAGI, acting head of the UNSDI Hungarian Coordination Office today.
The 90 minutes talk included the potentials of SEUR and the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in the UNSDI context. Ms. Kadlecikova was informed about the Digital Earth Conference in late 2009, which is a subject of decision in competitive environment at the ISDE 5 Conference will be held at the Berkeley University in 10 days. HUNAGI offered to arrange the event in Budapest since 2003 and there is a good chance to win the competition after Tokio (2005) and San Francisco (2007). The impact of climate change on agriculture in the SEUR region as well as the monitoring an geolocation of epidemic diseases harmful for the plants and animals are only two of the applications, where geospatial technologies can be applied effectively in the mitigation and policy planning, implementation and related controls.
Ms. Kadlecikova was informed on the UNSDI evolution and present stage including the review meeting based on the achievements of the Santiago UNGIWG Meeting and the UN SDI Global Partners' Meeting held in Frascati. The review meeting is scheduled for 7-8 June in New York hosted by OCHA (Operational Center for Humanitarian Affairs) at the UN HQ. Finally the IHLET Project proposal and its meeting scheduled for 20-22 June 2007 hosted by the European Parliament was mentioned as excellent initiative in the cross-border SDI supported sustainable development in a wide watershed area having anticipated positive results on both for socio-economic and environmental/natural preservations.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

UNSDI HUCO Meeting with the Delegation of the Chinese National SDI Coordination Committee

Head of the Delegation Chen Xuan Qing and Chen Changson of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007
Successful Meeting with the high-profile Chinese Delegation was hosted by the FÖMI RSC and co-chaired by Gabor Csornai and Chen Xuan Qing.
Moderators were Dezső Mikus of MoEW, Pál Lévai of MoARD FÖMI and Jelle U. Hielkema, UNSDI consultant of the UN Geospatial Information Working Group Secretariat.
News will come soon.
The final programme and all presentations will be available on this website soon.
The Chinese Delegation received one page introductory reference of the following stakeholders:
FÖMI
MoD Mapping Company
MoEW
Hung.Meteorological Service
University of West Hungary
VÁTI, the Town Planning and Regional Development Bublic Benefit Company
HUNAGI
A photographic portfolio of the event can be accessed at

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Joan Blaeu @ Prize Contest Deadline Postponed

The new deadline will be October 18.
Representatives of geospatial organisations and institutions will evaluate the applications
Award ceremony is planned for this year.

UNGIWG Meeting on UNSDI hosted by UN OCHA

UN Headquarters in New York Midtown.
Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2004

Short news on the meeting scheduled for June 7-8 will be available asap.
Host institution will be the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York City.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

SDI-related Workshop will be hosted by the European Parliament - news will come soon

The European Parliament in Brussels.
HUNAGI Visuals resources, 2005

News are waiting here for press release

UNSDI website and newsblog visited from all over the world

Visitors of the past 24 hours as shown by the website's Geolocation software, May 15, 2007
Our visitors in the last 24 hours
from Southern California to Tasmania
www.unsdi.hu was visited from 31 countries in the last two weeks.
http://hunagi.blogspot.com was referred from 39 countris during the past 14 days
Even the HUNAGI newsblog in Hungarian http://hunagi8.blogspot.com was visited from 26 countries in the first half of May 2007.
Every visitor can check even her/his visit by clicking the logo of Shinystat, the colour sign next to the figure of the number of visitors, the Misc.... Last 15 Visitors.... Description. Or, if you are looking for the listings of the visitors by countries, you can click the Referrers and the Countries. You do not need ID or password to do so.

Preliminary programme of the 3rd Meeting of the Stakeholders of UNSDI HUCO

Meeting with the Delegation of the Chinese NSDI Coordination Committee in Budapest
Hosted by the Remote Sensing Centre of the Institute of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing and chaired by Gábor Csornai, Head of FÖMI RSC and honorary co-chaired by Chen Xuanqing, Deputy General Director of the State Commission of Development and Reform, Head of the Chinese Delegation the meeting is scheduled for 23rd May, 2007.
As special guests, Jelle U. Hielkema and the FAO representative at FAO SEUR, Ms. Maria Kadlecikova were also invited. Alessandro Annoni, Head of the SDI Unit at the Institute of Environment and Sustainability of DG JRC was also informed. Moderators of the event include Jelle U. Hielkema, Pál Bozó, Pál Lévai and Zsolt Barkóczi.
The preliminary programme of this closed shop meeting is downloadable at
www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/HUCO3program.pdf
HUNAGI will use this opportunity to articulate the already expressed interest of some Hungarian SMEs who are active on the field of geospatial information management and are ready to cooperate with Chinese organisations.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Role of space technologies in the adoption of the Climate Change in Africa

From our daily mails:
Sharafat GADIMOVA wrote today from the UN Centre in Vienna
"Dear All,
Please find attached the first announcement of the International Workshop "Changements Climatiques et Adaptation en Afrique: Le Rôle des Technologies Spatiales", which can also be downloaded from http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/gnss/icg.html
The workshop will be heldin Algiers, Algeria from 25 to 27 June 2007.
If you wish to participate, please contact Mr. Abdelhaq TRACHE at trache@emi.ac.ma
It would be greatly appreciated if you would forward this information to colleagues who could contribute to this workshop.
With kind regards,
Abdelhaq Trache,
Deputy DirectorCRASTE-LF
(See attached file: Annonce CCAA - TS Alger, Juin 2007.pdf) "
Announcement CCAA - TS Alger, Juin 2007.pdf (109K )
View as HTML Download

OFFICIAL EU Journal text of the INSPIRE Directive

UNGIWG Secretariat Consultant Jelle U. Hielkema sent this information today:
EC-INSPIRE DIRECTIVE 2007-Official EU Journal Text.pdf (101K )
View as HTML Download

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Hungary: mid-term development programme will be supported by the EU

The New Hungary Development Strategic Framework for the years 2007-2013 will be significantly supported by the EU. The relevant contract was signed by Ms. Danuta Hübner, member of the European Commission and Mr. Gordon Bajnai Governmental Commissioner for Developments in Hof, Germany on 9th May 2007. The operative programmes having SDI-related actions and the official English version of the Hungarian Development Strategic Framework document is downloadable at the website of the National Development Agency www.nfu.gov.hu

Friday, May 11, 2007

Space Tools and Solutions for Monitoring the Atmosphere in Support of Sustainable Development

Use of space applications for sustainable development to support the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit onSustainable Development
From our daily mail:
"Dear Colleagues,
We would like to inform you that the United Nations/Austria/European SpaceAgency Symposium on “Space Tools and Solutions for Monitoring theAtmosphere in Support of Sustainable Development ” will be held in Graz,Austria from 11 to 14 September 2007.The Symposium is part of a series of annual symposia held in Graz since2003 concerned with the use of space applications for sustainabledevelopment to support the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit onSustainable Development. It will be hosted and co-sponsored by the FederalMinistry for European and International Affairs and the Federal Ministryfor Transport, Innovation and Technology of the Government of Austria, theState of Styria, the City of Graz and by the European Space Agency (ESA).Detailed information on the Symposium, including the application form, isavailable online at http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/SAP/act2007/graz/index.html.Within the limited funds available to the co-sponsors, a number of selectedparticipants from developing countries and countries with economies intransition, will be offered financial support to attend the Symposium.Applicants fulfilling the conditions and seeking financial support areinvited to fill out and return the application form by mail, no later thanFriday, 22 June 2007.If you or your organization wishes to contribute to the Symposium, e.g. bymaking a presentation or demonstration of relevant space applications, orby sending representatives, please also do not hesitate to contact us.We also kindly ask you to forward this announcement to anyone who might beinterested.With kind regards,Levent Canturk (Mr.)Associate Programme OfficerSpace Application SectionOffice For Outer Space AffairsUnited Nations Office at ViennaE-0974PO Box 5001400 Vienna, AustriaTel: (+43-1) 26060-5748Fax:(+43-1) 26060-5830Email: levent.canturk@unvienna.orgWebsite: www.unoosa.org"

Thursday, May 10, 2007

eContentplus Central Information Day

Jean Monnet Building on Kirchberg, Luxembourg. Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2006


eContentplus Central Information Day - Luxembourg, 24 May 2007
Recent mail from the eContentplus Secretariat:

"You have asked to be informed about the eContentplus programme.
Further to publication of the draft eContentplus 2007 work programme and call for proposals, we are pleased to inform you that the Commission is organising a Central Information Day in Luxembourg on Thursday, 24 May 2007.
The main items on the agenda will be the objectives of the target areas and actions open in this year's call, information on the project types and common requirements for all proposals as well as dedicated sessions by target area for potential proposers with a specific interest in any of the target areas.
Registration is open via the programme website
(http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/econtentplus/events/agenda/index_en.htm)
until 22 May 2007, 12:00 hrs.
Please note the possibility of requesting a bilateral meeting with an eContentplus Project Officer to obtain feedback on outline proposal ideas. To register for a bilateral meeting, please complete the bilateral meeting request that can be downloaded through the Information Day agenda from the programme website and send it to the eContentplus Helpdesk (econtentplus@ec.europa.eu ) with "bilateral meeting request" as the subject line. You will receive a confirmation of the time of your meeting with the acknowledgement of receipt.
In parallel, there will be the possibility for companies to present their organisation/project ideas to potential partners. The presentation template is also available from the programme website;
Should the date or place of this event not suit you, the National Contact Points of a number of Member States will also be hosting national Information Days; dates and venues will be published as they are fixed. Please check our website regularly for up-to-date information.
eContentplus HelpDesk
"
A very detailed news on this event and the Hungarian InfoDay organised by the Ministry of Economics and Transport with The Hungarian Association of eContent Service Providers MATISZ can be read in Hungarian on the http://hunagi8.blogspot.com

Sunday, May 06, 2007

UN Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response


UN SPIDER Updates - directly from UN OOSA, Vienna
From our daily mail:
"United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN SPIDER) April 2007 Updates
For those that were unable to access the April 2007 Newsletter we sentrecently it can now be downloaded from the UN SPIDER webpage: http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/unspider/index.html
Please forward the UN SPIDER Updates we have included below to colleagues who might benefit from receiving the information. If you wish to unsubscribe please reply to this e-mail and include UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject line. If you would like to subscribe to this list please visit the followingwebsite: http://www.ungiwg.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/unspider We also maintain a Calendar of Events with upcoming Conferences, Meetingsand Events relevantto the area of space-based solutions for disaster management and emergency response. Check out:http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=h1a93vb3rk6ud1tvrequjsfk8s%40group.calendar.google.com News included in this edition:
1. The United Nations General Assembly agrees to establish the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (SPIDER) as a Programme of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
2. ESRI - UC 2007 - UN Showcase - San Diego, California - 18 - 22 June 2007.
3. 2007 International Geohazards Week in ESRIN, Frascati, Rome (Italy) on 5-9 November 2007
4. Mekong from SPACE - The Mekong River Commission webpage now has an educational component "Mekong from Space".
5. National Research Council Report: Successful Response Starts with a Map: Improving Geospatial Support for Disaster Management.
6. Hurricane Data Portal. Check out NASA's Hurricane Portal which helps view and study hurricanes by utilizing various measurements by the NASA remote-sensing instruments.
7. Geoinformatics Forum Salzburg - Call for Symposium Participation - July 03-06, 2007
8. SWALIM Workshop - Potentialities and Limitations in the Use of Remote Sensing for Directing and Monitoring Environmental Change in the Horn of Africa – 12-13 June 2007
9. ISCRAM-TIEMS Summer School 2007 - Information Systems for Global Disaster Risks and Humanitarian Assistance - June 20 -27 2007
10. Implementation of the "Strengthening of a Municipal Information System for the Prevention of Disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean" by the Regional Disaster Information Center for Latin America and the Caribbean
11. Space and Information Technology for Disasters Risk Management: Seminar and Workshop, August 26 - September 07 2007.
Annex: Updates April 2007 (See attached file: UNSPIDERUpdatesApril2007.pdf) The Updates can also be downloaded from the UN SPIDER webpage @:http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/unspider/index.html
Georg MAGERL
Associate ExpertOffice for Outer Space Affairs /
UN SPIDER United Nations Office at Vienna
Tel: +43-(1)-26060-4472Fax: +43-(1)-26060-5830
E-Mail: georg.magerl@unvienna.org

Thursday, May 03, 2007

e-Public Administration - Sharing the Canadian Experiences

GTEC 2007
in Canada,
October, 2007
http://www.gtec.ca/index.html
HUNAGI was informed directly via the Canadian Embassy's Commercial Unit.
Two of HUNAGI partners were recommended to be contacted directly.
The subject e-Government and Citizens has also Digital Earth concept dimension, how the SDI can improve the development towards the information society.

e-Government and GI/GIS.

Relief Map of the DoD Geospatial Service and the study book Urban GIS Image: HUNAGI Visuals resource, 2007
Urban GIS - a new book in the E-Government Studies
Textbook on Urban GIS with separate chapter devoted to HUNAGI (also describing its link to UNSDI HUCO) was published by the E-Government Foundation in 2007. The lecture on HUNAGI was delivered today by the invitation of Prof. Dr. István Tózsa of the Chair of Public Administration and Urban Management at the Public Administration Faculty of the Corvinus University of Budapest.
After the lecture, an interesting talk addressed the issue of Digital Earth, where the information society and e-government could be a logical third theme for the next Symposium among Strategies and Implementations for the sustainable development and related to global change studies.
The presentation delivered in Hungarian today can be downloaded here:
www.fomi.hu/hunagi/pdf/2004/About/pptdocxls/Corvinus7m3RFG.pdf
The 12th publication in the serie deals with the subject Satellite Imageries in the Spatial Planning.
More information:
www.e-government.hu or www.mgsg.org