Geospatial Practitioners Worldwide Tap GSDI Small Grants

In the third year of its Small Grants Program, the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association (VA, USA) received nearly 100 applications representing practitioners from around the globe. The grants are aimed at assisting member organisations in building key components of their countries’ emerging Spatial Data Infrastructures. Grants may be awarded to convene national or sub-national seminars or workshops, produce training manuals and modules, establish metadata and clearinghouse nodes, deploy Web mapping services and applications, complete surveys or inventories, produce and disseminate newsletters and awareness-raising materials, or draft policy and legislation.

Patterned after the US Federal Geographic Data Committee's Cooperative Agreement Program (CAP Grant) program, the Small Grant program review team selects 40 proposals from those received for further consideration. These are distributed to designated SDI regional committees for further review and selection. This year those 40 applications came from Africa (19), Asia-Pacific (10), The Americas (7) and Europe (4). The goal is to award grants by the end of September.

The GSDI Association, with its partners, has allocated resources from the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee and the GISCorps of URISA to fund the grants. Awards are limited to US$ 2,500 and up to an equivalent amount in SDI/GIS consulting and development services. The SDI/GIS consulting services will be coordinated by GISCorps (www.giscorps.org), an international initiative that offers GIS consulting and development services by qualified volunteers to civil society organisations.