Press release 6 August, 2009

HsKA research project on geo-information wins award at international conference

Within the frame of the BIOTA project (Biodiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa) on biodiversity research, the working group around Dr. Gertrud Schaab, professor at the Faculty of Geomatics of Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, uses geo-information systems (GIS) and remote sensing to document species and plant diversity in the research areas of Kenya and Uganda. BIOTA East Africa is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research).

The German working group around Professor Dr. Gertrud Schaab was awarded third place in the category “Best Multimedia Map” for its presentation “Biodiversity Research in Eastern Africa. A Multimedia Presentation of the Project Framework BIOTA-East”. The ceremony took place at the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego (USA) in July 2009, which is one of the most recognized international conferences on GIS with more than 12,000 participants. The working group, which also includes bachelor and master graduates of HsKA Faculty of Geomatics, was the only non-US team to receive an award.

“This award is proof for the innovative quality of the research activities at our Faculty of Geomatics”, stresses the Program Director, Professor Dr. Detlef Günther-Diringer, “as well as showing that we are moving in the right direction, both as far as our approach in teaching and research is concerned as well as by establishing a new study program in Geo-Information Management, and that we are thereby anticipating the contemporary needs of the job market.”

The next occasion on which the BIOTA project will be presented to the public takes place at the Intergeo trade fair from 22 to 24 September 2009, the worldwide largest communication platform for geodesy, geoinformation and land management. BIOTA will be shown at the faculty’s stand 1.217 in hall 1 of Karlsruhe Trade Fair and Exhibition Center, along with other research projects of HsKA Faculty of Geomatics, and last but not least the new study program Geo-Information Management.

For more information about BIOTA, please see the website www.iaf.hs-karlsruhe.de/gvisr/