gSmart "get-together" at GI_Forum 2014

The University of Salzburg hosts again the international GI community from July 1 - 4, 2014. Several gSmart scholars and partner representatives visited this conference to share insights into trends and visions in GIScience. gSmart scholars took the chance to attend as many workshops as possible, to listen to presentations and to visit the Exhibition. >> GI_Forum 2014: Geospatial Innovation for Society.
The publication of the conference papers is included in Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index which can be accessed via Web of Science™ and Web of Knowledge™ and is freely available online! >> http://epub.oeaw.ac.at/gi_forum

GISCA 2014 Conference successfully completed in Urumqi, China

The Annual ‘GIS in Central Asia’ Conference - GISCA 2014 - unter the motto "Silk Road in space and time: the Urumqi node" has been held in May 29-31, 2014 at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. More than 80 participants came from Central Asian countries, Asia, Africa, Europe and USA.  The main objectives of this English language conference were to bring together GIS academics, researchers and practitioners from the Central Asian and other countries and to encourage international cooperation and knowledge exchange in GIS education.

GISCA 2014 was dealing with a range of themes:
•  GIS for Environmental Management
•  GIS for Disaster and Emergency Management
•  GIS for Regional Sustainable Development
•  GIS for Natural and Cultural Heritage management
•  GIS for Business and Logistics
•  GIS for Public Health
•  New Trends and Technologies in Surveying, Cadastre and Land Management. 
•  GIS and Ecosystem Modeling
•  Education programme in Geoinformatics
•  International networking in teaching and use of GIS technologies
•  Development of Spatial Data Infrastructures.

The GISCA conference series is organized by ACA*GIScience, in 2014 jointly with the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, CAS and supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Salzburg, Trimble, EPU and other partners. 

The next Central Asia GIS conference 'GISCA 2015' is planned to be organized May 14-16 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Conference website: http://gisca14.aca-giscience.org.
Photo Gallery of GISCA 2014

EM gSmart: Third Call for Applications

Join the Webinar on Tuesday, April 22, 2014 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CEST, to get more information on the Third Call for Applications.

The Erasmus Mundus Action 2 'gSmart' initiative currently launches its third call for scholarship applications. This webinar will offer orientation and advice to potential applicants considering to study at universities in Europe; their supervisors and contact persons at partner institutions across Central Asia. All webinar participants should explore http://em-gsmart.zgis.net in detail before this online event. Questions not answered on this website can be emailed before the webinar to aizhan.assylbekova@mail.ru.

GISCA'14 submission deadline extended!

The GIS-in-Central-Asia conference committee decided to extend the deadline for submitting abstracts and full papers for review until February 20, to allow for additional entries after the holiday season in the region.

Papers are welcome from all application domains of geospatial methods and techniques, in particular from fields which are highly relevant for the themes of land management, environmental studies, resource management, conservation and planning.

The conference is jointly managed by the Institute of Ecology and Geographie, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Urumqi and the Austria-Central Asia Centre for GIScience in Bishkek/Almaty with support from European institutions.

All relevant information can be found on the conference website at http://gisca14.aca-giscience.org!

Erasmus Mundus webinar series continues ...

Supporting the current call for scholarship applications within the Erasmus Mundus 'gSmart' initiative, the joint project coordinators in Almaty and Salzburg proceed with the webinar series introducing European host institutions offering to receive students and researchers from Central Asian partner universities and countries.

After webinars in December featuring the University of Salzburg and the VU Amsterdam, these online info events are continued on Friday, January 10th with the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (CUAS) in Villach, Austria. Vice Dean Prof Dr Gernot Paulus will discuss the study programmes offered at CUAS and will be available for questions.

To come well prepared to this online event, interested candidates and academic advisors at partner institutions are encouraged to explore the project info pages at http://em-gsmart.zgis.net in detail, carefully read the project brochure, and then register via https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/187804926.

Logo for ACA*GIScience - our first step into 2014

The Austria-Central Asia Central Asia Centre for Geoinformatics at KSUCTA and KazNU is well known for managing the annual GISCA conference, facilitating academic collaboration and initiating projects - all geared towards capacity building in Geoinformatics and supporting the development of SDI components across Central Asia. 

Right now, we want to select our new logo, and need your help! Below you can view two suggestions for the logo - then, please follow this link and select your preferred version: http://zgis.doodle.com/nbqcfuzyxdv77f3e 

Thanks, and let the logo guide ACA*GIScience into another successful year :-)

EM - gSmart: 2nd Call for Scholarships open until January 31, 2014!

The second call for applications within the Erasmus Mundus project ‘gSmart - Spatial ICT Infrastructures for Smart Places’ has opened on December 15, 2013 and is aiming at those students and faculty who are working (or planning to work) with spatial methods like GIS or Remote Sensing or GNSS on explicitly "spatial" problems!

These scholarships are for Central Asian students from Bachelor to PhD and Post-Doc levels, as well as academics to study/research/teach/work in one of the gSmart partner institutions in Europe. Before applying - please check your eligibility and scholarship conditions carefully on the Website: http://em-gsmart.zgis.net !
Or get advise from CA partner contacts, who are the primary contacts at partner universities in Central Asia, and familiar with opportunities, requirements and criteria within gSmart: http://em-gsmart.zgis.net/ca-partner-contacts

Project Office
University of Salzburg, Department of Geoinformatics, Z_GIS
Hellbrunner Strasse 34, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
http://em-gsmart.zgis.net