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| GLCN National Training Workshop, Montevideo, Uruguay |
4-15 May, 2009
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Introduction
A GLCN workshop was held in Montevideo, Uruguay to support the start
up of a national land cover mapping programme. Objective of the workshop
was to introduce and train a group of national photo interpreters and
GIS experts in the Global Land Cover Network (GLCN) mapping methodology
and standards, focusing on mapping software and procedures that implement
this methodology. The training has been conducted by two FAO's international
consultants, Ilaria Rosati and Ugo Leonardi.
UNESCO is the leader agency of the project together with UNEP.
The initiative is part of a wider programme started in 2007 with
closing date in 2010. Other UN Agencies are involved in the project:
FAO, OIM, WHO and UNDP. The activities are supported by the
national institutions below:
- MVOTMA, Ministerio de Vivienda, Ordenamiento Territorial y Medio
Ambiente (and its Direcciones Nacionales de Ordenamiento Territorial -
DINOT - y Medio Ambiente - DINAMA)
- MTOP, Ministerio de Trasporte y Obras Publicas
- MGAP, Ministerio de Ganaderia, Agricultura y Pesca
- DN, Topografica, Departamento Topográfico
- SGM, Servicio Geográfico Militare
Agenda
The training was conducted in two following weeks:
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the first week was dedicated at the introduction of the GLCN methodology,
procedures, tools and standards by using selected areas of Uruguay as example.
Lectures were combined with discussions on what was presented or
practised in order to address any possible issues that arose from
the activities;
- the second week was entirely dedicated to practise a complete mapping
process. Trainees were divided in groups and each group was tasked
to conduct its work independently, except for general gatherings
under the coordination of the trainers to address common issues,
correct errors and homogenize procedures.
Click here for
details on the agenda.
Training description and results
Twelve people from different national institutions and different
backgrounds (agriculture, forestry, etc.) attended the course.
Many of them had remote sensing and/or GIS skills and experience;
therefore, the new GLCN software, concepts and procedures were easily
assimilated.
A work plan had been set and some fundamental decisions were made
before starting the exercise:
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After the first week, 7 people were selected to conduct the interpretation
(3 full time and 4 part-time).
- The Minimum Mappable Area (MMA) and other cartographic standards were
also discussed. The decision was taken to apply the LCCS/GLCN method that
implies a concept of variable MMA (see adopted values below):
| • | Agriculture | 5 ha |
| • | Agriculture (Monte Abrigo class 1TPLma) | 2 ha |
| • | Natural Vegetation and Aquatic Natural Vegetation | 5 ha |
| • | Artificial Surface | 5 ha |
| • | Bare Area | 10 ha |
| • | Natural and Artificial Water body | 5 ha |
In the future work of the local experts, the main vegetation groups
will be mapped considering different MMAs.
- Finally, a first preliminary legend with a total of 49 classes was
prepared with the support and agreement of the national trainers.
It was built up utilizing the draft outcome of the previous training
course (2005). Each class was edited, discussed and corrected, and
user labels were defined. The local knowledge was synthesized and
combined together with the specific national cartographic needs.
- Interpretation strategies were also discussed as well as the approximate
final and interpretation scale. In order to quantify and plan the job,
an approximate number of objects (the starting point of the interpretation)
were calculated, and resulted to be 700.000 polygons. This value doesn't
take into account the cuts along the side and the overlaps.
- The second week was completely dedicated to a so called "on job training":
the mapping exercise started under the constant supervision and help of
the trainers. The group has obtained the double benefits to immediately
start the activity and progressively complete the training course on
Mad-Cat software. The final outputs of the training were distributed
to 3 different institutions involved in mapping activities.
Conclusions
Both trainees and management staff have expressed great satisfaction for the
accomplishment of the training. Ms Alicia Torres, National Director of
Environment has welcomed the start up of the project on behalf
of the National Institutions involved in the project and expressed
her appreciation for the opportunity offered by the UN agencies to
the country to participate in this multidisciplinary international
collaboration.
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