NARSS
Scope and Objectives:
The workshop has the following objectives:
(1) To provide a forum for participating Egyptian policy-makers to discuss with international, regional and local experts the use of geospatial tools and information to address a broad range of planning and management issues. The ultimate motivation for this activity is harnessing the power of these technologies to better address multiple sustainable development challenges.
(2) To identify research questions and research projects of mutual interest to promote additional future collaboration between U.S., Egyptian and international scientific stakeholders
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(3) To present results, analyses and directions for the use of small satellite data and its application, specifically related to the use of the Egyptian satellite EgyptSat-1 and similar category satellites. The workshop will include both new and well established remote sensing methodologies and techniques related to the analysis and use of EgyptSat-1 and Land Sat data for different applications.
(4) To provide hands-on training for Egyptian government professionals in the use of remote sensing data, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Satellite Systems (GNSS) and their information output to address specific needs in the area of sustainable development.
Invited participants will include: scientists, technical experts, and representatives of international organizations, local and international universities, and U.S. and Egyptian government agencies.
Topics and Format:
The workshop is organized into 2 components: a two-day Forum for the exchange of ideas on applications of geospatial technology and information for sustainability, and a two-day training session on the use of GIS and GPS technology.
The following topics are focal points for Forum papers and discussion:
- Urban Planning
- Agriculture
- Water Management
- Environmental modeling and assessment.
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Disaster Management (including oil slicks and climate change)
- Desertification
- Archaeology
- Resource monitoring.
- Use of Land sat, EgyptSat-1 or similar satellite data for any of the above applications.
It is intended that each of the topics will be addressed by an Egyptian subject specialist and an international or regional subject specialist. The focus of the papers and the presentations will be more on applications of the technology, procedure or data to the proposed topics than on theoretical research. The papers and the workshop proceedings will be placed on the NARSS workshop website and the AAG workshop website. A workshop proceedings and CD will be available at a later date.
Paper Submittal:
To give a presentation on one of the 9 workshop focal topics, please submit by December 22, 2009 an abstract in English in MSWord of no more than 300 words. Abstracts will be evaluated based on their potential to meet the objectives of the workshop. Preference will be given to papers that present applications appropriate for use in environments similar to that of Egypt.
Acceptance notification for the selected abstracts will be sent no later than February 9. Selected participants will be asked to submit a complete paper detailing their topics by no later than March 9.
Final selection of speakers and notification of acceptance will occur no later than March 30th. If you are using PowerPoint, we strongly recommend that your submission be sent in PDF format to preserve its text and figures on different computer systems.
Deadlines:
To ensure that papers and presentation materials are available for the June workshop the following are key dates:
· December 2, 2009: Receipt by Coordinators of a note of intention to submit a paper.
· December 22, 2009: Receipt of abstracts by Coordinators
· February 9, 2010: Notification to author of abstract acceptance
· March 9, 2010: Receipt of complete paper by Coordinators
· March 30,2010: Notification of final acceptance of papers and travel funding
· April 15, 2010: Receipt of completed Power Point presentations by Coordinators
· June 14, 2010: Conference in Cairo, Egyp