USE OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS AS TOOL FOR EFFICIENT URBAN MANAGEMENT EMPHASIZED AT CAIRO SEMINAR

Press Release
DEV/2084*

USE OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS AS TOOL FOR EFFICIENT URBAN MANAGEMENT EMPHASIZED AT CAIRO SEMINAR

NEW YORK, 14 December (DDSMS) -- A five-day International Seminar on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), City Sustainability and Environment ended in Cairo today with recommendations for both the developed and developing nations, in particular stressing GIS training, expanding "sister city" programming, promoting GIS and data sharing standards, and creating GIS awareness and coordination among levels of governments and agencies that will benefit in the use and sharing of technology.

GIS is a combination of software and hardware technologies that facilitates data collection, storage, integration, depiction and analysis of geographically-based data, providing a common language for sustainable and environmental management of urban centres.

The Seminar, which attracted some 250 participants from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, and particularly city managers from Islamic cities, was organized jointly by the Division for Environment Management and Social Development of the United Nations Department for Development Support and Management Services (DDSMS) and the Organization of Islamic Capitals and Cities (OICC), a non-governmental organization accredited with the Economic and Social Council, under the auspices of the Egyptian Government.

The event was organized within the framework of the preparatory process for Habitat II, the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements to be held in Istanbul from 3 to 14 June 1996, and is included in the Habitat II calendar of events entitled, "the learning years". It is also within the DDSMS mandate to assist with legal and organizational aspects of establishing national cartographic institutions and GIS infrastructure, taking into account cooperative arrangements and cross-sectoral issues.

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* Press Release ENV/DEV/343, dated 6 December, should have carried the symbol DEV/2083.

In addition to making recommendations for developed and developing countries, the Seminar urged the United Nations in general and the DDSMS in particular to:

-- Build on the outcome of the United Nations regional cartographic conferences organized in Asia and the Pacific and the Americas;

-- Promote and expand the GIS tool for sustainable development in that context, while also sponsoring GIS awareness, technology, and GIS organizational impact workshops in various regions and countries of the world;

-- Promote GIS data sharing by requiring that geospatial data development efforts funded by the United Nations result in documented and accessible data sets, and

-- Use the upcoming Habitat II to promote GIS in the debate and deliberation of world leaders.

The Seminar was officially opened by Mahmoud Sherif, representative of the Prime Minister and Minister of Local Administration of Egypt. Venice Jawda, Minister of Scientific Research, also made a statement.

During the Seminar, common principles for system implementation were presented, including a strategic plan for building strong political support at the project's outset, identifying realistic goals, producing early and meaningful products from a phased implementation, establishing standards of data to minimize redundancies, and building partnerships within the community to include other users and the educational sector.

The Seminar highlighted the capability of advanced technology to integrate information and provide dynamic visual models of the long-term outcomes of current decisions. GIS was regarded as being capable of providing local decision-makers with a powerful tool for making local planning decisions within holistic frameworks, and as an important technology that could integrate information necessary for effective decision support as communities face the unprecedented challenges of sustainability.

It was noted that GIS technologies were within the reach of all developing countries, as the newest systems are personal computer-based and might be purchased incrementally. Further declines in prices would combine with continuing advances in the underlying technologies to make that a development tool for all jurisdictions.

The Seminar agreed that GIS brought a powerful technology to the understanding of the complete relationship between urban and rural sustainability issues. The sustainability of each of the sectors was intertwined with the other.

The Cairo Seminar was regarded as an overwhelming success by the participants and an important landmark along the road to Istanbul.

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