Preparation of a GIS ready digital atlas of the important sites for ecotourism in the western desert – Egypt Description

The work deals with the registration of the natural caves location recorded in the Western Desert of Egypt in addition to some other significant geomorphic features, such as water springs, natural lakes and the White Desert and sites as Wadi El Hitan (the valley of Whales) in the Fayoum region, which displays striking geomorphologic features and the various oases which are associated with environments, displaying remarkable landscapes of high esthetic value. This work will produce a GIS ready database for caves with stalactites and stalagmites in Western Desert in addition to information on lakes and peculiar physical geologic features pertaining to the development of landscapes with high esthetic value providing a solid basis for planning and promoting ecotourism and desert safaris. This project will also consider the enhancement of the capacity of the scientific research staff of the Geological Applications Division of NARSS by introducing training courses in various aspects of IT Applications which could help in refining the produced databases to enable more efficient manipulation of data