Presented by Nadia Manning (IWMI) at the CGIAR-CSI Annual Meeting 2009: Mapping Our Future. March 31 - April 4, 2009, ILRI Campus, Nairobi, Kenya

1. CSI--- BIG Ideas!!

2. Sharing (Internal to CSI)
• Set up a platform targeted to GIS professionals to:
– Find data
– Guidance
– Discussions
– Directory of people
• Is it possible to set up a facility to share the source of data, e.g high res RS
data
• Develop platform to exchange information, data or develop tools
• Alot of information and databases exist that needs to be shared more.
• Lots of web-based mapping, data reporting, modeling sites. Possibly make a
list of all CGIAR web-pages presented and their links and put this on the
new CSI website
• Build center server informatic to share GIS information for all CSI members
• All presenters to put main info, name, email and URL (to data or report) on
1-3 ppt slides. The combine all slides and put on CSI website
• Set up a blog to facilitate discussions amongst CSI‘ers
• Share codes, methods and experiences
• Pull together a list of applications
• Willingness to document methods, procedures—to share

3. Topics to collaborate on
• Poverty
– Consistent data (?)
– Poverty page on CSI website to collate poverty data
– Need to collaborate with FAO, UNDP etc
• Land Cover
– Re-classify in earlier Ag extent version
– Use MODIS for monitoring, develop tools
– Make use of Afri-cover data sets-can use for calibration and re-classification
• Drought
• Roads
– Data for Africa and Latin America out of date—CGIAR can help collect better data due to
wide presence
– Need to collaborate with other initiatives (e.g Tracks for Africa)
• Prices
– Need work on local scale
• Climate change
• Identification of homologue areas for certain crops
• Mapping the current and potential extent of crop production constraints- drought,
pests and disease using standardised web, Google, tool interfaces
• Genetic resources (crops, livestock, trees) and matching to environment

4. Climate and Climate Change
• Daily, monthly still lacking
• Datasets could be made available through portal
• Climate Geo information service
• How do we use/provide climate information to help farmers make decisions
• Impact of climate change on crop suitability
• Impacts of climate change on pests and diseases
• Collaboration between GIS and crop breeders preparing for climate change
• Accessing climate change models
• Downgrading climate data at regional/national level
• Downscaled climatic data are useful input to many analyses
• Climate change modeling
• Climate change scenarios on CSI portal—consolidate what we do
• Mapping pest and risk to be extended to other key items in climate change
activities
• Pull together what we have
• Convert to simple formats
• Early warning systems

5. Tools, software, methods
• DIVA
– Note if DIVA had possibility to give attributes to shape files—it would
be almost perfect—so can we organise for this to be done??
– Or look for open source alternative that already has a following and
support
• GOBLET
• Increasing use of Google Earth as visualisation tool
• DTMA- Standardised for trial site/ground truth information
sharing
• Adding NIR land data to (Google maps, Google Earth)
• ArcGIS Server playground (dev. Server)
• Field-survey aiding tools (tablet, GPS, mobile network)
• Geo-referenced photography

6. Crowd Sourcing
• Technology and partnerships necessary to
do this need to be figured out
• Key for reaching ‗last 10 Km‘
• Crowd sourcing—pilot this for data
collection and research
• Crowd-sourcing- we should think seriously
of how to best use these technologies
(DTMA maps and researcher upload)
• Need to make sure of credibility

7. Outreach
• Products
– Atlas
– How-to and awareness publications on certain tools, methods, experiences
– Create guidelines for use of appropriate tools for certain problems (documenting experiences and
processes of members of CSI)
– Develop an edited volume of GIS applications in international agriculture research
– Database or catalogue of projects, with ―what‘s new‖
– Create technology/analysis briefs
– Spatial guides – documents that explain the steps to solve a problem
• WEBSITE
– Short-term—needs a quick fix-up
– Long-term—needs revamping, restructuring
– How to sustain?
– How to make it more active
– How to increase visibility of this
– What should web presence be like?
– Delegate development and loading of content to members—then need CMS
• Need to outreach to key institutions etc that take actions, move this further (e.g CAADP)
• Targeting users:
– Define our stakeholders and what they need
– Establish key relationships
– Organise CSI Geospatial information and present it from a user perspective
– Need for more participation of stakeholders in preparation of outputs (e.g local farmers; in PGIS).
Promotes ownership
– Providing market price and access data to farmers, location-specific
– How to make data available and useful to others
– How do we know we are reaching and influencing stakeholders –need good M&E
• No consensus us to whether CSI should focus on a single software solution for low-cost extension of GIS

8. Atlas
– Produce an Atlas for all crops, livestock and fisheries
– Commodity Atlas
– CSI Crop Atlas
• Linking together the crops at each center
• Cross-cutting pest/disease mapping
• Distribute via CD –update annually
• Or web-based with text and map
– Explanations
– Analysis
– Be able to print to PDF
– Incentives to encourage others to upload data
• Make it free
• Should be dynamic
• Need to figure out ways to get feedback

9. CSI promotion
• Identify collective action benefits
• Present the community
• Use funds to promote CSI
• Branding needed
 Newsletter or marketing brief (thumbnail, URL,
contact)
• CSI could create products for others to use in
promoting targeting in CGIAR Mega-programs
• Put together a brief on what CSI can do/offer

10. Training and capacity building
• GPS training to help farmers use and/or benefit GIS data
and analysis
• Various Centres have developed training materials. Collect
and put on CSI website
• CGIAR-CSI Internship program
– 1 year working in a CG Centre program
– Certificate
– Form alumni group—to draw upon for future work
• Training for National Institutes
• Support Universities
– Link with other initiatives E.g AGRA investing in Universities
• Set up GIS-user group in locations where we work
• Make use of programs supporting training e.g GO-Course

11. Partnership
• With initiatives, programs, funding
• With Professional Associations
• Collaboration with WFP
– on drought, etc
• Need to identify and work with key
intermediaries

12. Other
• Data licenses—looking for other options
– Feasibility study on appropriate and effective license system
• Open Geodata license and/or open methodology where geodata license has
restrictions
• Open boundaries
• Identify common activities (overlaps) to become service providers
• Research geo-referencing
• Linkage between CGMAP and ESA map so there is connection between
plan and existing activities
• Much GIS stuff needs to be done on top of current work. Why not establish a
―donate your GIS time‖ initiative. Participants can be from CGIAR as well as
Local Government GIS units (also Europe and USA). People will appear on
web page with name and amount of time and short description of what they
have done.
• Map should not be end product
• Where is the data and knowledge exploitation?
• There exist gaps between spatial and other institutional data management