UNDP JMA Standalone Demonstration Project continues its capacity building support for the Joint Management Area with ArcGIS Pro Training.

From Wednesday the 13^th to Friday the 15^th of October 2021 twelve participants from Seychelles will get the opportunity to attend the ArcGIS Pro training from Environment Science Research Institute (ESRI) the global GIS software supplier. This 3-day training will be conducted at the Eden Bleu Hotel, with the trainer coming from ESRI South Africa, the distributor for the Southern African Region.

The Director General for Maritime Boundary Management Division, Ms Francesca Adrienne explains that, “This training adds to two the previous ArcGIS training provided in developing the two countries’ GIS capabilities for marine spatial planning, and other research and scientific activities for the Joint Management Area between Seychelles and Mauritius”. This is a key component the “Demonstrating Innovative Ocean Governance Mechanisms and Delivering Best Practices and Lessons for Extended Continental Shelf Management within the Western Indian Ocean Large Marine Ecosystem Project” or UNDP-JMA Standalone Demonstration Project. UNDP the implementer of the project is funding the training as part of its ongoing commitment towards the establishment of a management framework for the jointly managed extended continental shelf.

The participants of the training are staff from the Centre for GIS from Ministry of Lands and Housing, Maritime Boundary Management Division from Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy, Seychelles Coast Guard, Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment and National Bureau of Statistics.

ArcGIS is a Geographical Information System platform used by spatial professionals and organisations to create, manage, share, and analyse spatial data. It consists of server components, mobile and desktop applications, and developer tools. ArcGIS Pro is a powerful single desktop GIS application supporting data visualisation, advanced analysis and authoritative data maintenance in 2D, 3D, and 4D. It supports data sharing across a suite of ArcGIS products such as ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise, and enables users to work across the ArcGIS system.

The training would extend on the participant’s foundational GIS knowledge, allowing them to become more comfortable with the ArcGIS Pro application. The course will introduce techniques and general best practices to map, manage, analyze, and share data and other GIS resources.  They will learn the essential concepts and workflows for solutions to any spatial project, how to streamline the editing process and to accurately manage updates to geographic data and GIS databases.