A discovery geospatial portal for promoting Geo-ICT use in Rwanda

Journal article

Authors / Editors

Akinyemi, Felicia

Research Areas

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Frascati classification)

Publication Details

Subtitle: A discovery geospatial portal for promoting Geo-ICT use in Rwanda

Author list: Akinyemi, Felicia

Publisher: IGI Global

Publication year: 2013

Issue number: 13

Start page: 245

End page: 262

Number of pages: 18

ISSN: 1947-3419

eISSN: 1947-3427

URL: http://gsdiassociation.org/images/publications/Spatial_Enablement_GSDI14_2013.pdf

Languages: English-United States (EN-US)

Abstract

The level of awareness with regards to the use of spatial data for nationaldevelopment is high in Rwanda. Within the context of Geo-information andCommunication Technologies (Geo-ICT), various institutions, especially government ministries and agencies are aspiring to use spatial data in their day-to-day activities in order to fulfill their various mandates. Efforts in this direction include the production of different types of spatial data sets. Alongside, they are organizing customized shortterm training and refresher courses for their staff in different aspects of spatial data production and management, as well as geographic information technologies such as GIS, Cartography, Surveying and Remote Sensing. To implement different Geo-ICT based applications and projects, there is increasing demand for the use of geographic information (GI). Considering that spatial datasets are produced by different ministries and the inability of a single department or organization to meet its spatial data needs,it is necessary to share data and information with different organizations. As an option for facilitating this process of data access and sharing, we consider the development of a geoportal to organize Web-based content and services. This chapter describes the content and features of the Rwanda geospatial portal as a discovery portal to promote GI use, access and dissemination. It also demonstrates the technological feasibility of implementing web-based mapping services in Rwanda at minimal cost using both commercial and free open-source software (FOSS) to achieve the goal of performance. The application of FOSS is particularly noted as financial considerations are a major deterrent to developing geoportals and other Geo-ICT applications in developing countries.

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