Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship
1201 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2057 | BDMCenter@purdue.edu | Phone: 765.494.1335
A Workshop to kickoff the GEOSHARE Pilot Project
Workshop Details
23 May 2011
8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Burton Morgan Center, Discovery Park
View a streaming archive of the workshop.
Sponsored by the Global Policy Research Institute and hosted by the Purdue Climate Change Research Center and the Purdue Center for Global Food Security, this one-day workshop will bring together interested participants to discuss the use of geospatial data for analysis of the global agricultural system.
The objectives of the workshop are to:
- provide a venue for exchange of information among leading researchers about what data are currently available (or attainable in the near term) and which pressing research and policy questions can be addressed with the data flowing out of this type of global spatial data base infrastructure,
- discuss issues of institutional design and the long-run sustainability of a shared, global, spatial database architecture, and
- define the broad technical and operational details of the GEOSHARE project.
For information about the workshop, contact Rose Filley: rfilley@purdue.edu; (765) 496-3211.
Motivation for GEOSHARE
Context
Agriculture presents a trilemma. On the one hand, increased food production per capita over the last few decades has lifted millions of people out of starvation In addition, agriculture can provide renewable energy feedstocks as well as opportunities for low cost greenhouse gas abatement.
However, agricultural expansion and intensification have also driven global environmental degradation in recent decades, and its future productivity is threatened by climate change.
Defining the Challenge
- Can these three forces be reconciled as we look to the future?
- What are the data requirements for making informed investment, regulatory and policy decisions in the context of this trilemma?
- How can we ensure that the information used to make such decisions is valid and fit for the job at hand?
The Problem
Most spatial datasets
- are regional or national, not global; while many of the problems are global in scope;
- are not practically accessible;
- require specialized IT knowledge; and
- are incompatible.
The Proposed Solution
Develop a consistent, open-source, spatially explicit global data set, along with regional companions on agriculture, resources, and the environment that is maintained by a network of research nodes.