The CISCAI, in cooperation with the NetNam Corporation of Vietnam and the  Information Centre of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam (CIREN), are organizing the CISCAI Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Training, to be held from 3 “ 28 August 2009 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The CISCAI GIS Training is one of the projects scheduled milestone activities, and is aimed at the effective technology transfer of ICT-based technologies among   CISCAIs  stakeholders. The GIS Training has the following objectives:  

1) To train CISCAI partners in the use  and development of   Free and Open Source GIS Software  (FOSS) , map servers and other  related  GIS  Servers, based on international open GIS standards; 2) To  build GIS database systems for particular use  and application to the CISCAI project and its related activities; 3) To train  on the development of  Web-based  and Mobile GIS applications;  4) To train and transfer the developed GIS technologies  among identified CISCAI stakeholders.

The choice on  the use of  FOSS for GIS applications was plain and simple - They are  free, highly replicable,  and scalable.

As part of CISCAIs continuing   development of  both ICT infrastructure, the project is  also heavy on developing  human capacity to  ensure project sustainability, as well as, its  continuity.  The four-week long CISCAI GIS Training  is specially designed for  technical staff of the  Information Technology Research Institute  (ITRI) of  Laos PDR and the  CISCAI Project Coordination Unit  (PCU).  A series of  echo trainings   will, likewise be conducted by the  ITRI and CISCAI-PCU staff,  upon their return to their respective countries and within the frame of the  CISCAI project duration.

For this  highly technical Training, the CISCAI has tapped the expertise of CIREN, which has  a long-time experience in  exploiting   FOSS for GIS development  and mapping applications.  CIREN  was set up pursuant to the Decree No.13/2003/QD-BTNMT dated 09 January 2003, under the  Vietnamese Ministry of the Natural Resource and Environment, which has the mandate  to  establish, integrate, process, manage and develop national natural resources and environment databases for State management and community; support to develop ICT applications and common database for the Ministrys units and Natural Resources and Environment State management offices of provinces and cities; and archive and maintain information to the Ministrys assignment.  (CISCAI-PCU) .