Funded by: U. S. NORTHCOM, Technical Assistance Program

The BNGIS Centre as the governments technical focal point for GIS in The Bahamas recognize:

a) the need to use and propagate/promote modern technologies such as GIS and remote sensing as a decision support tool for disaster preparedness,

b) that the machinery of government in particular the Centre must be strengthened in order to provide technical expertise in remote sensing to all governmental agencies,

c) that geospatial/remote sensing data is needed for research and analysis,

d) that initiatives undertaken to improve technology infrastructure need to enable agency-wide productivity and increase return on investment through access and exchange of geospatial data and

e) that the Centre should be outfitted with remote sensing equipment and data for conducting training, data dissemination and supporting its educational initiatives with academic institutions at both high school and tertiary levels in The Bahamas.

As such The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was approached by the Director of The Centre in 2008 to assist agencies responsible for natural disasters in the use and application of remotely sensed data to support disaster preparedness and response.

OBJECTIVE:

The USGS has secured funding to co-teach a workshop with the BNGIS Centre to support and enhance local technical capability to utilize satellite imagery and GIS technology to identify and map hazard prone urban zones, and to create flood risk maps of vulnerable watersheds and floodplains.
The course was designed to train governmental agencies concerned with disaster preparedness and to enhance the capacity of The Bahamas National Geographic Information Systems (BNGIS) Centre that does GIS project work country-wide.