Technology Transfer: Assessing the Impact of ITC/RECTAS Desktop Cartography Course on Mapping Professionals in Nigeria

Journal article

Authors/Editors

Akinyemi, Felicia

Research Areas

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Frascati classification)

Publication Details

Subtitle: Technology Transfer: Assessing the Impact of ITC/RECTAS Desktop Cartography Course on Mapping Professionals in Nigeria

Author list: Akinyemi, Felicia

Publisher: Taylor & Francis: STM, Behavioural Science and Public Health Titles

Publication year: 2003

Journal: Cartography and Geographic Information Science (1523-0406)

ISSN: 1523-0406

eISSN: 1545-0465

URL: http://www.isprs.org/proceedings/XXXIV/6-W6/papers/Akinyemi_cor.pdf

Languages: English-United States (EN-US)

Abstract

The introduction of digital cartographic processing is a recent phenomenon in Nigeria as in most developing countries in Africa. Much of cartography in its teaching and practice is still in the realm of manual (traditional) mapping. Conversion from analogue to digital mapping as exemplified by the activities of the Federal Surveys (Nigerian national mapping agency) is a phenomenon of thelate 1990s. This has necessitated the need for training and retraining of cartographers in the tenets of digital mapping in Nigeria. This paper is an overview of the effectiveness of training mapping personnel ‘on-the-job’ vis-à-vis its impact on training needs and benefits to trainees and their organizations. In this regard, participants at the ‘Desktop Cartography Course’ (DCC) organized by the Regional Centre for Training in Aerospace Surveys (RECTAS, Nigeria) and the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC, The Netherlands) from January 12 to 23, 1998, were surveyed. A follow-up was undertaken to assess the programme’s impact on trainees’ performance in the execution of their mapping assignments in various public and privatemapping organizations in Nigeria over a three-year period. This paper provides feedback on the DCC based on trainees’ responses. Such feedback will invariably prove invaluable in planning for and executing future short-term courses by international institutions and organizations keen at fostering international cooperation and promoting technology transfer through training and retraining of mapping professionals in developing nations such as Nigeria.

Keywords

No matching items found.

Documents