At the St. Augustine campus of the University of West Indies, host of a UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office, more than 40 Caribbean data managers, IT specialists and software developers concluded this weekend a one-week advanced training in "GeoNode". This open-source platform allows national ministries and agencies to populate, catalog, view, and share geospatial data on a central repository to increase the access and use of data to inform decision-makers. The training was sponsored by the World Bank, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), and the University of West Indies. Participants learned how to manage, share, and increase the use of spatial data to reduce disaster risk in the Caribbean. “By promoting open data and making use of spatial data and analysis, the region is likely to benefit from better decision-making processes to improve resilience to current and future climate impacts,” said Bishwa Pandey, World Bank Senior Data Management Specialist.
