UN-SPIDER is hosting a side event of the FOSS4G conference. The side event, conducted in the UN Campus in Bonn, Germany, on 24 August 2016, is part of the activities conducted by the International Working Group on Satellite Emergency Mapping IWG-SEM.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), UN-SPIDER’s Regional Support Office in Nepal, together with YoungInnovations, is organising a Hackathon: The International Space Apps Challenge in Kathmandu. It will take place this weekend from 11 to 12 April. ICIMOD is organising this event through its SERVIR-Himalaya initiative. SERVIR connects space to villages by generating geospatial information, including Earth observation data from satellites, geographic information systems, and predictive models useful to developing countries.
As part of the Advisory Support that UN-SPIDER provides to Member States, the Programme conducts training courses on both the regional and national level for selected representatives of relevant institutions. These training courses are usually follow-up activities of UN-SPIDER's Technical Advisory Missions. They convey technical expertise and know-how in processing, interpreting and the use of satellite-derived data.
The International Charter Space and Major Disasters was activated because of ongoing heavy storms have caused flooding across the UK. One person has been reported killed and more than 300 properties flooded so far.
Flooding is expected alongside the big rivers – Thames, Severn and Stour. Roads and train services have been disrupted.
From 14 to 17 of August 2012, UN-SPIDER conducted the Capacity Building Programme “Space Technology for Improving Hazard Mapping in Sri Lanka”, as a follow-up to the Technical Advisory Mission (TAM) that took place in Sri Lanka in October 2011. The expert team had enlisted in their TAM report a number of recommendations to the Government to strengthen disaster management using space-based information. One of the most important recommendations was to improve the capacity of national agencies in understanding the advances in space technology and its applications in hazard mapping.