Biodiversity Monitoring Project launched in Salzburg

Z_GIS is coordinating a new 17-partner consortium working towards remote sensing – based monitoring of conservation areas. NATURA 2000 areas are critically important ecological spaces protecting species and natural systems, and the project MS.MONINA will contribute relevant management tools.

With the recent kickoff meeting in Salzburg, a first step was taken towards defining and implementing new concepts and methods combining remote sensing data and thematic geospatial data with the aim of supporting public agencies in their policies and measures. European nature conservation certainly will substantially benefit from this initiative.

The University of Salzburg with Z_GIS as its geospatial centre of competence are proud to lead this project with partners from 9 European countries. Soon first pilot applications in a range of study areas will demonstrate the value and importance of monitoring for the conservation of biodiversity.

Career moves towards Middle East

Adrijana Car, senior researcher at the ÖAW GIScience Department and director of international UNIGIS programs at the University of Salzburg, has been appointed to the position of Associate Professor in GIS at the Faculty of Economics, Department of Sustainable Tourism and Regional Development, German University of Technology – GUtech, Muscat, Oman (GUtech is affiliated with RWTH Aachen University).

“GUtech is not completely new to me; as a visiting lecturer I have already taught students at the Faculty of Economics and Faculty of Science. I will now represent GIS at undergraduate and graduate levels. My research will focus on GIScience & Technology, in particular related to conceptual modeling, spatio-temporal analysis and geovisualization with GIScience acting as a common spatial language“.

Prof. Car will continue to be connected with Salzburg as chair of the GI_Forum program committee, through research in Space-Time projects and within the international UNIGIS framework. We wish her all the best for establishing a strong education and research presence in Oman! Congratulations, Adrijana – and thanks for contributing so much to Z_GIS and ÖAW over many years!

"Alpine tourism in a media age"

EGEA workshop 2010

In April 2010 research assistant Florian Fischer (ÖAW-GISciene) led a workshop on the role of geographic information media in alpine tourism at the Western Regional Congress (WRC) in Steinach, Tyrol organized by the European Geographers Association (EGEA). This video is a documentary about all workshops starting with Fischer’s contribution."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72uI6E_CGVM

Practical Guide to Bing Maps

Together with Microsoft and Deutsche Post AG, ÖAW researcher Florian Fischer publishes a practical guide to the Consumer-SDI Bing Maps in order to ease getting started and stimulate the application of geoinformation technology in the economic sector.
This guide provides an overview of the wide use range of consumer-oriented, business oriented and non-profit geomedia on the basis of 19 best practice contributions to the practical use of Bing Maps. Enriched with an assortment of commented training materials for Bing Maps the book allows the reader a quick introduction to application development and shows the possibilities of the Bing Maps API (Bing maps API).

ISBN 978-3-87907-503-4
Wichmann, to be published 1st quarter 2011

GIScience PhD Program funding for University of Salzburg

A new long term GIScience doctoral school was awarded to the University of Salzburg under the prestigious and highly competitive 'DK' framework of Austria's National Science Fund (FWF). The program titled "Geographic Information Science. Integrating interdisciplinary concepts and methods" will select an initial set of fully funded PhD candidates in mid 2011.

Prof. T.Blaschke

Prof. Thomas Blaschke, lead PI and speaker of the successful bid, comments: "This is a key achievement towards establishing the University of Salzburg as a leader in Geoinformatics and GIScience: building on our successes in GIScience research and Masters' programs, this award recognizes our PhD program on a leading international level and will facilitate research-driven career development for top-notch candidates".

The University of Salzburg Centre for Geoinformatics is a highly regarded centre of competence in GIScience attracting international research funding, leading the worldwide UNIGIS MSc and diploma programs, and is widely known for the annual AGIT and GI_Forum conferences.