Enrolment to the 3rd edition of the Dive GIS course is open. The
course will be held from the 22nd to the 31st of July 2008 at the
Marine Protected Area of Capo Rizzuto in Italy. Special rates for
early subscriptions. Next deadline is January 31st.
Read what journals wrote about the course below. Updated information,
more reviews, photo galleries and the online registration form
available at:
www.mappamondogis.it/divegis.htm
DIVE GIS PRESS RELEASE
Students from all over the world gathered last summer in Crotone at
the Capo Rizzuto Marine Protected Area to attend the second edition of
the Dive GIS course that will be held again next year from the 22nd to
the 31st of July 2008. The course, organized by Mappamondo GIS,
represented a unique training initiative that offered the chance to
learn Geographic Information Systems methodologies while becoming a
certified SCUBA diver. Participants learnt to use state of the art
technologies and combined them with passion oriented sport and field
activities in the context of marine environment management and
science. The challenging objective of the organizer was to provide the
bases for a multi-skill career.
Participants were introduced to the underwater world through PADI Open
Water Diver and specialty courses, to the digital cartography and
imaging world through classes based on training material from ESRI,
the world-leader in the GIS field, and to in depth applications of
Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing tools for marine
scientists. The course involved computer lab and field sessions and it
was well suited for people novice to both GIS and diving, as well as
for people that had already some knowledge and skills in both fields
but that wished to gain an additional experience.
During the course, the participants worked on a real case study
concerning the mapping of marine habitats using on-screen visual
interpretation of satellite images. This allowed identifying and
quantifying vulnerable areas with high environmental value. Students
also learnt to identify marine flora and fauna, to collect scientific
data about their distribution and to use handheld GIS and GPS units.
Biodiversity and species distribution data were entered in the GIS to
study their correlation with the habitat and other biotic and abiotic
environmental parameters.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computer-based tools used to
effectively visualize and analyse data based on their location on
earth (so called geo-referenced data, spatial data or geographic
data). About 80% of existing data can be considered spatial data as
they can be referred to a location on earth. GIS are often associated
to digital maps but this is only one of the products GIS can provide.
GIS allows to link information to a location on earth and then to
analyse the spatial relationships among different types of information
stored in layers that share a common location and to study the
occurrence of events in space and time. GIS allows answering questions
like what is the nearest location, what can you find within a certain
distance, or determining quantities of a certain variable, its
distribution or temporal pattern.

Remote sensing is the science of acquiring information about the
Earth's surface without actually being in contact with it. This is
done by sensing and recording reflected or emitted energy and
processing, analyzing, and applying that information. Images acquired
by Earth Observing satellites, aerial photos acquired by aircrafts,
acoustic sounding acquired by sensors on board of ships are all
examples of remotely sensed data. Earth Observing satellites for
example allow collecting data of large areas of the earth surface,
including remote areas, and to monitor phenomena like climate
processes, ocean dynamics, land cover changes (deforestation, urban
development), or to map natural resources such as marine habitats.

GIS and Remote Sensing are rapidly growing technologies that have
endless fields of applications including business development, public
works, transportation, urban planning, homeland security,
telecommunication and other utilities, environmental management and
conservation.

In the latter context, it is rapidly increasing the use of GIS and RS
as support tools for the management of marine natural resources and
marine environment conservation.
The basic requirement for the effective management of a resource is to
understand the extent and the location of the resource (e.g.
identification of the location and extent of sensitive marine habitats
like Posidonia meadows) and its relationship with potential threats
(e.g. highly dense populated areas). High resolution satellite images
are increasingly being used to map marine habitats in shallow water
areas while multibeam acustic surveys from ships are used to acquire
bathymetry and habitat data in deeper water areas.

Biodiversity and species distribution data are collected by field
surveys and introduced into GIS systems to study their relationships
with environmental parameters like habitat type, ocean dynamics,
physical parameters, climate etc.
Fishing activities are studied by mapping spatial and temporal
dynamics of fishing effort and success to obtain important
information about fishing stocks availability, threatened species and
vessel utilization.
Ecological data together with social and economic data are then
combined using GIS to identify most suitable sites for marine reserve
areas (for example popular projects like PANDA, Protected Areas
Network Design Application and Marxan).

GIS and RS are thus key evolving industries with plenty of
opportunities as a career path for marine environmental scientists. In
this context the Dive GIS and Marine GIS courses introduce
enthusiastic marine oriented students to GIS-based tools and methods
related to marine environmental management.

For further information about the course and online registration visit
the following website:
www.mappamondogis.it/divegis.htm
or write an email to

Interview to Montserrat, GIS Manager, Cancun - Mexico

Why did you enroll in this course?
I work with GIS focused towards the conservation of marine protected
areas. It is important for my work to learn more about the
applications of GIS to marine environments. Many people in my
department had looked for courses on this subject for a long time and
had never found anything. Then we learned about Dive GIS we realized
it was exactly the kind of course we were looking for. We considered
it had the exact combination of information that we needed: marine
applications of GIS, field work, and improvement of scuba skills.

Do you think it was useful to attend it?
Very much so. By moving to the next level of my PADI certification, I
feel more confident when scuba diving (for work or for fun). The
combination of the PADI certification with field work gave me the
opportunity to test the new skills I was learning. At the same time,
getting to know ArcGIS 9.2 was very useful. Each new version of ArcGIS
has many new things, and having a hand on course on it was the best
way of making sure that I use version 9.2 to its fullest
possibilities. Learning different concepts of remote sensing focused
on marine environments was very interesting and will be very useful
for my work.

What did you learn?
I learned a lot of new scuba skills as well as gaining more confidence
when diving. I learned how to use very many of the applications
available in ArcGIS 9.2, along with many tips and tricks that
significantly reduce the time needed to carry out several procedures.
I learned the basic principles of remote sensing, the different kind
of sensors available, habitat suitability models, and much much more.
I also learned several words in Italian!

What did you like the most and why?
There are several things that I liked most about the course. The
instructors were very good and were clearly very proficient with these
subjects. The location and the dive shop were amazing. But most of all
I think that being able to do all the exercises with real-world data
that we all collected, as opposed to theoretical exercises was great.
Also, being able to get to know and interact with people from
everywhere in the world that work with similar things was great. All
in all, it was a very useful and wonderful experience.


Interview to Patrick, GIS Engeneer, United Kingdom

Why did you enrol in this course?
I could find no other course which offers such a practical and in
depth application for GIS. With the 'Dive GIS' course I gained
valuable GIS training in the field and how the technology can be
applied within Marine Conservation objectives in mind. This combined
with expert Scuba diving tuition were exactly what I was looking for
from an applied GIS course.

Do you think it was useful to attend it?
Not only did I learn a great deal about how GIS can be applied in a
marine conservation field but I also learnt why it is important to use
GIS for such projects and the effectiveness of GIS in managing such
projects. I took away so much from this course that can now be used in
my daily work.

What did you learn?
I learnt so much about Remote Sensing techniques for marine surveys
and how aerial photography can be manipulated to map the sea bed. Not
only that but I also learnt a great deal about marine habitats and
fish identification techniques.

What did you like the most and why?
The diversity of what the course had to offer is what I really enjoyed
about the course. From Scuba diving to fish and habitat identification
to the class lessons where we brought it all together and really
learnt how GIS is used to manage the marina. There was a really good
mix of theory and practical application everything that was done had a
purpose in fulfilling the project objectives.

Interview to the organizers and instructors

How did the course go?
Dive GIS 2007 was a great success. All expectations were satisfied and
the program was carried over completely.The interest and enthusiasm of
all participants was very rewarding for them and for the organizers.
The coordination of such a variety of activities was challenging but
thanks to the support of the Capo Rizzuto Marine Protected Area and
Tiris Diving Centre we carried over successfully the entire set of
scheduled events.

Who were the participants?
Course participants arrived from all over the world (Italy, New
Zealand, Mexico, Norway, United Kingdom, India, USA etc) and they have
in common the interest for Marine GIS applications. They are
professionals, university students, researchers of different age and
background that wish to become experts in marine applications of
Geographic Information Systems or to learn to use GIS and remote
sensing tools to support their daily work.

What was the objective of the course and did you achieve it?
The course objective is to teach to the participants a method to
develop a real project on marine habitat mapping, dealing with all
theoretical and practical aspects of the subject. The various steps
included satellite image analysis, ground thruthing on the field,
collection of scientific data about marine flora and fauna and the
study of the associations among biotic and abiotic components using
GIS. The final results obtained by the students together with the
enthusiasm expressed demonstrate that the objective was fully
achieved.

Why did you choose the Capo Rizzuto Marine Protected Area?
The choice of the course location was driven by several factors. From
an educational point of view, the sea habitats of the Capo Rizzuto
Marine Protected Area perfectly suit the course objectives. The beauty
and variety of the sea habitats and the richness of the marine flora
and fauna of the area provide great diving sites where both expert
divers as well as novices can carry out interesting surveys and enjoy
themselves. The tourist infrastructures of the area allow us to
provide high quality services like accommodations, diving facilities
and a wonderful asset for the recreational time.
The Capo Rizzuto MPA is also highly supporting this type of events and
the development of new research activities linked to the course.

Are you going to offer this course also next year?
Yes, enrolment to next year edition is already open. Updated
information and online registration is available at:
www.mappamondogis.it/divegis.htm