KENYATTA UNIVERSITY

ARCGIS training GIS training Room

ArcGIS is a geographic information system (GIS) for working with maps and geographic information. It is used for creating and using maps, compiling geographic data, analyzing mapped information, sharing and discovering geographic information in a range of applications, and managing geographic information in a database. The system provides an infrastructure for making maps and geographic information available throughout an organization, across a community, and openly on the Web.

Kenyatta University GIS club was formed in January 2017, by students who were eager to learn and spread the gospel of spatial information. Initially the club had 15 members, but when the students discovered what GIS is, its importance and the job opportunities waiting for them after completing their studies, its members has now shot up to 123and continues to grow as a result of creating awareness of the club to the entire University students fraternity on the availability of job opportunities for the graduates undertaking the GIS course.. The main goal of the club is to ensure that members are trained to become skilled and knowledgeable on GIS and Remote sensing systems. They also organize for training and make products on what they have learnt.

DAY 1.18/05/2017

This was the first day of the training. Trainers from ICRAF (world Agroforestry Centre) were in attendance and their main goal is to generate and apply the best available knowledge to stimulate agricultural growth, raise farmers’ incomes, and protect the environment. They arrived early for the training and found KU GIS members from all the schools in the University, who have realized the essence of spatial information in their daily lives, waiting with enthusiasm to learn from them. They were received by the University GIS champion Prof. Simon Onywere, who introduced them. The training began at 9. a.m with at least 30 students in attendance. The students were given an opportunity to introduce themselves and say what they expected at the end of the training.

The training began by a review of the Collect Earth methodology for LULUCF assessment and Introduction to Remote Sensing, where the trainers taught the students on how to produce digital images of the earth by remote sensing. This is the basis for modern mapping, and the creation of valuable information of products across a wide spectrum of industries. They also took the students through hands on examples of image viewing using band combination in their computers. The participants were trained on Agroforestry Monitoring Assessment and pilot Land Use/cover trends. They learned why planning is important in developing agroforestry practices and how to use Landscape assessments maps, identify resource conditions and problems in the surrounding designs, and monitoring to determine if an installed practice is successful.

The participants listen keenly to the trainers on remote sensing

DAY 2 19/05/2017

The morning session of day two was a lecture and hands on practical intensive, which saw the participants taken through image processing on the computers. A qualified team of technicians from the GIS lab Kenyatta University helped the students (participants) to follow through the imaging. The participants had an opportunity to do a Hands-on presentation on Collect Earth features and its support software (Google, Earth, Bing Maps, Google Earth Engine, Saiku, .Hands-on training on Collect Earth + Bing Maps + Google Earth Engine.  This was a really thrilling experience for them to know how the web map contains the Bing Maps aerial imagery web mapping service, which offers worldwide orthographic aerial and satellite imagery. Coverage varies by region, with the most detailed coverage in the area like Tsavo National Park.

Coverage in different areas within a country also varies in detail based on the availability of imagery for that region. Bing Maps continuously adds imagery in new areas and updating coverage in areas of existing coverage. This map does not include bird's eye imagery. Information regarding monthly updates of imagery coverage are available on the Bing Community blog. Post a comment to the Bing Community blog to request imagery vintage information for a specific area.

Participants participate on Hands on practical intensive experience which took them through image processing on their computers

DAY 3. 22/05/2017

This was another great day of training with Mr Okoth James. The Participants were trained more on the usage of collector earth, which had proved to be user friendly. They learnt more on how collector earth facilitates the assessment of deforestation in a region and various forms of land use change, monitoring of various land use change by writing the observation, after comparing the land use of different plots of land over the years as per the high resolution images. SAIKU was introduced to them and after using it they realized it’s a tool that allows users to explore on the complex data sources and visualize the data in a user friendly way. After analyzing the data it uses interactive charts that are easy to understand and interpret the data displayed.

DAY 3. 23/05/2017

Participants listen keenly on SAIKU n-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP

This was a day that students went through a recap of what they were taught on the previous day on SAIKU n-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) which is a category of

software technology that enables analysts, managers and executives to gain insight into data through fast, consistent, interactive access to a wide variety of possible views of information that has been transformed from raw data to reflect the real dimensionality of the enterprise as understood by the user. OLAP functionality is characterized by dynamic multi-dimensional analysis of consolidated enterprise data supporting end user analytical and navigational activities (The OLAP Council)

Finally their chairman of the GIS Kenyatta University GIS club James Magige gave gave his closing remarks and welcomed students and staff members to join the club and participate in achievement of its goals and vision he thanked all organizations i.e ESRI, ICRAF, RCMRD and OAKAR services, for their support on the licenses and free trainings hope to continually work with you for the better future. The students later appreciated the efforts of the trainer for disseminating that kind of knowledge to them and said that it will help them a lot in their future.

Acknowledgement

Kenyatta University

Dean School Of Environmental Studies

Administrative Assistant

Organizations i.e ESRI, ICRAF, RCMRD and OAKAR

Kenyatta University GIS club members