Des Plaines, Ill. – URISA’s GISCorps announced
its milestone 100th mission. Since GISCorps was founded in 2003, 362
GISCorps volunteers from over 35 countries have been deployed to 100 projects
in 46 countries. They have collectively contributed over 11,500 hours to these
projects.
The
100th mission, "WatchTheMed", is in partnership with
several academic and research organizations led by the Forensic Oceanography
(FO) research project (GISCorps’ second project with this group). They
requested volunteers for a project concerning the death of migrants at sea
(Mediterranean). Three volunteers are
providing remote sensing, data mining and data conversion services to
their team.
In
addition to this project, GISCorps has recently launched several new projects
and have concluded a few others. These include: A three-phased project with
USAID resulting in deploying 58 volunteers; deploying 20 additional volunteers
to DRPK project; conclusion of a K-12 mission in Albania;
and finalizing two remote sensing related projects in Mozambique and Oklahoma (Wichita Mountains Wildlife
Refuge). Several more missions are also underway at this time.
Earlier
this year, GISCorps was recognized by the White House with the
2012 Presidential
Volunteer Service for ‘making a difference through volunteer
service’ and also received a Daily
Point of Light award.
URISA’s
GISCorps will be well-represented at the 2012 Esri User Conference, with a
substantial display in the Map Gallery and several planned activities. Of
course, the celebration will continue this fall during GIS-Pro 2012: URISA’s 50th
Annual Conference in Portland,
Ore.
“It
is amazing what volunteers can do to make the world a better place. So many
individuals have given their valuable time since 2003 to make GISCorps the
successful program it has become. From responding to disasters like Hurricane
Katrina and the earthquake in Japan, to mapping health clinics in Mexico and
teaching GIS to kids in Albania, they are truly making a difference with GIS,”
noted Greg Babinski, URISA president.
For more information about the mission and
operations of GISCorps, visit
www.giscorps.org.
URISA's GISCorps Launches Milestone 100th Mission
July 17, 2012
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