Southeast Asian Network Geographic Information System (SANGIS)

SANGIS is a project for the development of the information potential of South-East Asian Geological Surveys.

SANGIS aims at up-grading and harmonising existing digital data management systems in order to stimulate information circulation, to facilitate access to information and to promote the creation of an efficient regional geoscientific network.

To date, the SANGIS Bibliographic Database is being populated using its MS Access application program, and is being uploaded to the web from time to time at CCOP websited from this link: http://www.ccop.or.th/sangis

An integral part of the SANGIS Project is the creation of an Asian Multilingual Thesaurus for Geoscience (AMTG) which targets to produce an AMTG in CD-ROM and printed format, as well as integration in the SANGIS Bibliographic Database application to facilitate multi-lingual usage.

Asian Multilingual Thesaurus for Geoscience

CCOP has the honor to announce that the Asian Multilingual Thesaurus of Geosciences (AMTG) has already been published in hard copies. CCOP expresses its deepest appreciation to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNESCO for the generous financial support given to this project.  Thanks are also accorded to CIFEG of France which jointly carried out this work with CCOP in cooperation with the respective CCOP Member Countries and Lao PDR.

The work on the AMTG had been carried out under the SANGIS (South-East Asian Network for a Geological Information System) Programme of CIFEG and CCOP.  The AMTG was conceptualized during the bibliographic phase of SANGIS to facilitate information exchanges in different languages in the CCOP region.  This printed AMTG is based on the 5,867 geoscientific terms in English and French in the Multilingual Thesaurus of Geoscience of the International Union of Geological Sciences/Commission on the Management and Application of Geoscience Information (IUGS/COGEOINFO) and the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) translated to the Khmer, Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Lao, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese languages.  This will be a very valuable international reference in geoscience that can promote greater use of geoscience knowledge by the community as well as facilitating sharing, exchange and enhancing geoscience knowledge and cooperation. Besides the hard copies, the pdf file of AMTG can be downloaded for free from the CCOP website at this link:  http://www.ccop.or.th/download/pub/AMTG_2006.pdf

SANGIS Bibliographic Database

The SANGIS Bibliographical Database aimed to set up a network for bibliographic data exchange with data contributed by CCOP Member Countries.With this initiative, a bibliographic database for earth science is being developed with international bibliographic standard to facilitate research.  Furthermore, this database is accessible through the web, allowing exchange of information regionally and internationally.

Below are the activities conducted for this phase:

• Populating the SANGIS Web Database  by CCOP Member Countries (On-going)
• Training Session in Thailand(April 2004)
• Technical Visit to Papua New Guinea (June 2003)
• Technical Visit to Philippines (March 2003)
• Technical Visit to CCOP Technical Secretariat and Department of Mineral Resources  in Thailand (December 2002)
• Training Sessions in Cambodia, Vietnam and Lao PDR (November – December 2002)
• Training Session in Indonesia (October 2002)
• One week training session to the bibliographic application and its SANGIS web interface, in June 2001 and January 2002, Bangkok (Thailand).

Chronology

The SANGIS programme has been launched in 1995 under the umbrella of UNESCO; on instigation of the South-East Asian countries, preparatory workshops enabled:

• To identify and to gather international partners ready to involve themselves in the project
• To give the project a visibility in South-East Asia
• To carry out experimental implementations
• To define the specific needs of the countries

The first technical regional SANGIS workshop held in Bangkok, July 1999, closed this preliminary period. At this juncture, the representatives of the South-East Asian countries issued recommendations for the implementation and development of the SANGIS programme.

Objectives

• To optimise Earth Sciences information management in South-East Asian Geological Surveys thanks to:
  • The rationalisation of data collection: identification of the information sources and inventory of the existing national geosciences information datasets.
  • The standardisation of data processing: international bibliographical standards, multilingual thesaurus, indexes, catalogues, authority lists.
  • The development of compatible data processing applications.
  • The digitalisation.
  • The development of information metasystems.
  • The development of GIS and decision-making tools.
     
• To maximise the value of geosciences data on a regional scale through:
  • Exchange and sharing of national geoscientific data within a regional information network.
  • A wider access to information through the web.

The creation of a regional metadata server inspired by the European GEIXS.

Last Update: 14 March 2006