An interactive cartography application designed to create online forest inventories has been profiled by the BBC.
Developer Helveta’s CI Earth program was featured on the BBC World Service’s Digital Planet and Radio Four’s From Our Own Correspondent show, focusing on the use of the technology by indigenous commnities, including in the CIB FSC-certified forestry operation in the Republic of Congo where it is used to identify areas for harvesting and protected zones.
CI Earth uses GPS technology installed on touch screen PDAs, coupled with the CI Mobile to record location specific data.
Using the nearest available internet connection, this information is then uploaded to the CI World servers, where it is made available over the internet to any registered users. The data is also compatible with other geographical information systems such as Google Earth and ArcView from software designer ESRI.
Helveta added that the technology has been designed to be operated by people with any level of literacy or technical knowledge, with customised icons replacing text for non-literate users.
CI Earth is currently operational in Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.
The CIB Republic of Congo FSC project and the Helveta technology it uses jointly won the TTJ Environmental Achievement Award in 2006.
