GRSS’ Board Member delivered Training Course during AmeriGEOSS

Our GRSS’ Board member Dr. Alessandra Rodrigues Gomes [Head of the Amazon Regional Center from the Brazil’ National Institute for Space Research (INPE)] delivered a training course under the Session “Ecosystems Monitoring” during AMERIGEOSS from August 6 to 10, 2018. The event occurred at INPE headquarter located in Sao Jose dos Campos city (Sao Paulo State) and aims to bring the AmeriGEOSS Initiative community together to reflect on progress, plan for the future to meet the priority needs in the focus areas identified by the region as highest priority (Water, Agriculture, Disaster, and Biodiversity/Ecosystems) and to provide training in the use of Earth Observations.

The training was intended for staff of government institutions and other decision-makers in Latin America. After an opening Plenary session, experts in the areas of remote sensing and data management provided six parallel training sessions throughout the week.

Dr. Alessandra Rodrigues Gomes coordinated then the Training Course with hands-on using the TerraAmazon software encompassing a timeframe of eight hours. The main objective was to reproduce the PRODES methodology. The TerraAmazon is a free GIS software developed by the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and is available HERE.

The group of 20 (twenty) participants constructed and managed databases with PostgresSQL/PostGIS softwares. After, they establish topological rules and users access control in a multi-user environment. After, they perform a manual classification based on visual interpretation elements in a satellite image for calculating the deforestation area. Given a reasonable number of potential individual members, the advertisement of Young Professional and Summer event promoted on an annual basis by the Brazil’ Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) was also made.