|
Resource Centers - South America Argentina IDRISI Resource Center Contact: Dr. Andres C. Ravelo CREAN is also a Reseller of Clark Labs products. The IRC in Argentina promotes the use of GIS in Spanish speaking countries of Central and South America in the applied fields of Geology, Agriculture, Biology, and Geography. Research projects at CREAN using IDRISI include forest fire forecasting, drought monitoring, vegetation mapping, and landuse zoning. They are currently working with the National Pest Control Agency in the cotton boll weevil eradication program. The IRC has translated the IDRISI Guide to GIS and Image Processing and it is available for purchase from Clark Labs. They also have partially translated the tutorial exercises of IDRISI and generated introductory and advanced exercises. The IRC web page has exercise samples. CREAN also holds training sessions on IDRISI. Brazil IDRISI Resource Center Contact: Dr. Heinrich Hasenack The IRC in Brazil was among the first five Resource Centers created in March 1995, and was the first established in Latin America. In its mission to spread the use of GIS in Portuguese speaking countries, the IRC translated several versions of the tutorial exercises of IDRISI and is in the process of translating the IDRISI User’s Guide. Their current research initiatives include the vegetation mapping of the Brazilian biomes—Pampa biome, regional and local mapping as support for environmental licensing of rural settlements of the agrarian reform in the state Rio Grade do Sul, and thematic mapping of the Municipality of Porto Alegre as support for planning and environmental management. Current activities/offerings include the dissemination of data, GIS support for urban and regional development plans, training courses in GIS and Image Processing, and the translation of IDRISI materials. Chile Contact: Dr. Fernando Peña Cortés The IRC in Chile is based at the Universidad Católica de Temuco, which provides academic instruction to undergraduate students in preparation of careers in the fields of Geography, Natural Resources Engineering, Environmental Civil Engineering, Aquaculture Engineering, and Pedagogy in History, Geography, and Social Sciences. A Master in Planning and Territorial Management graduate program is also offered. These courses of study are enhanced and supported by the IDRISI software modules related to GIS applications, spatial statistics and remote sensing. Ecuador IDRISI Resource Center Contact: Dr. Emmanuelle Quentin The IRC in Ecuador was established in 2009 with the support and collaboration of the IRC in Mexico. The IRC is based at the Integrated Center for Environmental Geomatics of the National University of Loja (CINFA-UNL), a well-established institution in the south region of Ecuador. The IRC offers IDRISI education and research support to the Spanish-speaking GIS community of Ecuador and the Andean countries (Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela). Application interests and research are generated from the following sub-groups: the Area of Agricultural and Renewable Natural Resources, the Area of Energy, Industry and Non Renewable Natural Resources, and the Area of Human Health. Upcoming workshops are planned for Ecuador and Peru on the topics of water and human health, water and land use planning, and the retreat of tropical glaciers and climate change. Geomatic methodologies, as well as remote sensing procedures, utilized for these topics, are under development and will be available as free add-on modules to be used with IDRISI. |