GISCON Solutions has successfully participated as an exhibitor in the ESRI Middle East and North Africa User Conference (MEAUC) in Bahrain from 10 to 12 November, 2009. The conference was a very good opportunity to meet with colleagues, partners and clients. During the conference GISCON demonstrated its wide range of consulting services and ArcGIS-based products. Among other things, the visitors of GISCON booth were introduced to GISCON Geodata Manager (GDM), the Geodata Analysis, Visualization and Editing web-based product GEODAVE as well as GISCON training program and facility in Hannover, Germany. GISCON also announced the new product DisAgg; an advanced product that disaggregates the statistical zonal data honoring the land use schemes into high resolution raster cells. The Methodology of DisAgg was presented in a session during the conference by our colleague Nader Abdel-Halim in a 30 minutes session attended by many GIS professionals. Click here for photos and newspaper articles.

Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC), the steward of the Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure (AD-SDI), was awarded for ‘Special Achievement in GIS’ during the GIS Award Ceremony at the 40th ESRI International User Conference on July 15, 2009. GISCON Solutions is proud to be part of the team, led by GPCGIS Inc., USA, working on this project and would like to congratulate ADSIC and the AD-SDI team for this great achievement. For more details click the following links:
Press release
ESRI SAG Award page
Abu Dhabi SDI
Article on AD-SDI in GEOconnexion International Magazine, July/August 2009

The Kuwait Integrated Environmental Information Network (KIEIN) website of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), won the third prize in the Kuwait Electronic Science Award of 2008. It is worth mentioning that this KIEIN website was developed in Cooperation with a consortium of Kuwait GIS, Kuwait, GISCON Solutions, Germany and ICON Technologies, Egypt. Read more in Arabic.

GISCON Solutions has been awarded a consultation contract from the Social Fund for Development (SFD) of the Republic of Yemen to carry out a GIS requirements analysis study and to develop a report describing the SFD's GIS needs and requirements towards the design and development of the SFD enterprise GIS.

GISCON Solutions is contracted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to provide a capacity building program in GIS management to the staff of Al-Hassa Irrigation and Drainage Authority (HIDA), Saudi Arabia. Courses are to be conducted in Germany and Saudi Arabia between February and May 2009.

During the EMEA 2008 conference and exhibition in London, GISCON Solutions announced its new product Geo-Data Manager (GDM) for ArcGIS. GDM is an extension to ArcGIS Desktop that facilitates the addition and display of all kinds of data layers to ArcMap in common names and predefined symbols. GDM supports Shapefiles, Geodatabase and ArcSDE Feature Classes, Coverages, Raster Datasets and Raster Catalogs. The user can easily select and add the required data layer regardless the source file location or underlying data structure. The user can select to display the data to any required geographic extent such as to a certain administrative unit of any level or XY coordinates. Click here for the full GDM Flyer in English.

GISCON continues for the second year the capacity building plan for the Petroleum Research and Studies Center (PRSC), Kuwait, which has started last year in Hannover, Germany. This year GISCON provides the PRSC staff with advanced training in the use and utilization of GIS and GPS technology in oil applications. This is to be followed by a set of administration courses as well as on-the-job training and consultation in some running projects at the PRSC.

GISCON is going to conduct GIS advanced training courses in Arabic including four courses in our training center in Hanover from 30 June till 11 July 2008. This includes "Building Geodatabases", "GPS and Mobile GIS", "ArcGIS Spatial Analyst" and "ArcGIS 3D Analyst" courses. We still have four places for these courses. If you are interested in any of these courses, please contact us as soon as possible.

With a great final seminar, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) has launched the Kuwait Integrated Environmental Information Network (KIEIN). The Director of KISR and the UNDP Resident Representative in Kuwait inaugurated the KIEIN web-site and listened to a presentation by the project leader and various technical staff from KISR about KIEIN functions and capabilities. This event concluded the successful implementation of phase 3 of the KIEIN project, which was implemented over 18 months by GISCON in cooperation with Kuwait GIS from Kuwait and ICON Technologies from Egypt. The major Kuwaiti newspapers reported about the event and the project. Click here for some of the newspapers reports (in Arabic).

Following an extended competitive tendering exercise, GISCON together with Consultancy Solutions Ltd. (CSL), an expert UK-based consulting firm, are delighted to have won a contract from the National Information Center (NIC), Republic of Yemen, for the conduct of two parallel consultation studies into the feasibility and implementation of two new NIC units. More...

Visit us at the ESRI 2008 German User Conference in Munich, Germany. GISCON would be presenting its products and services at stand number 18 of the parallel exhibition. In addition, GISCON would conduct two technical presentations about the Kuwait Environmental Integrated Information Network project and the Cartographic Preparation and Presentation of Data in Large Scales. Both presentations are in German language.

The Administration of Canton Zurich, Switzerland, uses from now on the GISCON HydroTools Eventmanager and FreehandTool for the administration of hydrological data. The tools allow interactive creation, editing, deleting and analysis of ESRI events along river networks with an intuitive user interface.

GISCON has been contracted by Wataniya Environmental Services Company (WES), Kuwait, to provide GIS consultation and capacity building for the recently opened WES Cairo office. WES is planning to offer environmental as well as GIS services through its Cairo office to the Egyptian and North African markets. GISCON would support WES Cairo in building the capacity of their GIS team and would cooperate with WES in conducting GIS projects in the region.

After 2005 and 2006 GISCON has been repeatedly contracted by the Forestry Administration of the State of Lower Saxony, Germany, to record the basic data of forest habitat mappings. Our experienced database-driven workflow creates geometries and attributes for potential natural vegetation and structural diversity with ArcGIS geoprocessing tools. As layout definitions for maps of habitat types already exist, ArcGIS layouts can easily be created using GISCON mapping production tool KTS Framework with no extra charges.

GISCON has delivered the forest information system WIESEL to the Forestry Administration of the State of Lower Saxony, Germany. The information system integrates various forestry data from different data sources in one system and contributes to the implementation of the Flora-Fauna-Habitat Directive of the European Union in Lower Saxony.

GISCON would produce forest ecological basic data for the Regional Forestry Office of the State of Brandenburg, Germany. All missing spatial information within the responsibility of the Forestry Office in Peitz will be digitized and attributed based on scanned and georeferenced maps. ArcGIS maps would be created using GISCON Mapping Production Tool, KTS-Framework, which is based on ESRI ArcGIS Desktop.

GISCON attended the ESRI Middle East and Africa User Conference (MEAUC 2007) at Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. The conference was very successful with around 450 participants from the MEA region and the whole world. It was a very good chance for us to meet our colleagues and customers in the Arab Region and to get to know the developments and recent projects that take place in the Middle East. GISCON would also be present at the coming joint European, Middle East and Africa ESRI user conference (EMEA 2008) next year in London, UK.

GISCON has been selected by the Petroleum Research and Studies Center (PRSC), Kuwait for providing a continuous set of specialized training for the capacity building of the PRSC staff in the use and utilization of GIS technology in oil applications. The capacity building plan for the PRSC staff includes introductory GIS courses for two weeks at GISCON Training Center in Hanover to be conducted this summer. This is to be followed by a set of advanced and administration courses as well as on-the-job training and consultation in some running projects at the PRSC.

GISCON is going to conduct a GIS introductory training package in Arabic including three courses in our training center in Hanover from 16 July till 27 July. This includes "GIS Management Issues", "ArcGIS I" and "ArcGIS II" courses. We still have four places for these courses. If you are interested in any of these courses, please contact us as soon as possible.

GISCON won the tender of the Forestry Administration Department of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, for the support and further development of the forest information systems FOKUS 2000 and FED 2000 during the next two years. As a subcontractor of PRO DV Software AG, GISCON will provide all the services concerning this contract. These two products are in use in every city and district of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

For the second time, GISCON has been contracted by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hanover, Germany, for the further improvement and development of the Integrated Water Resources Management System (IWRM) in Yemen. GISCON should support the BGR to, among other things, improve the knowledge of the Yemeni staff in the development and management of ESRI geodatabases and ArcGIS customization through intensive on-the-job training. GISCON should also analyse the needs and requirements of the National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) to expand the current personal geodatabase into an enterprise geodatabase and develop the appropriate concept for such an upgrade. The project is to be realized through consultation sessions with the BGR in Hanover as well as at the project premises in Yemen.

GEODAVE - a teamplayer: The Regional Finance Office in Hanover, which is responsible for, among other things, the soil and groundwater protection, assigned GISCON to develop a tool for the acquisition of potentially contaminated areas. The tool will be an extension to GISCON's web editor GEODAVE, which seamlessly fits in existing web interfaces.

In continuation of the project "Demonstrator Data Collector", GISCON will enhance the Web-Editor GEODAVE Edit as a subcontractor of Weisser + Böhle by adding further functionalities concerning consistent edit operations of geometries and attribut information. In accordance to the requirements of the German Federal Armed Forces, GEODAVE Edit's modules 'Geodatabase Behaviour' and 'Extended Editing' will be adjusted and extended.

GEODAVE - Table Editor for German Federal Armed Forces. Within the scope of the study "Demonstrator Data Collector", GISCON developed a table editor for data administration of centrally stored building data of the German Federal Armed Forces as a subcontractor of Weisser + Böhle.

GISCON, in cooperation with Regional Observation Center (ROC), Egypt, and Icon Technologies, Egypt, won the tender of the "United Nations-Food and Agriculture Organization" (FAO) for the "Development of a Data Integration and Analysis Tool for Environment and Natural Resources Assessment, Libya" project. This 10 months project aims at supporting land evaluation and land-use planning in Libya by developing a comprehensive GIS-based software application for modeling land-responses to agricultural policies according to the FAO methodology. GISCON consultants will be responsible for the needs assessment analysis, quality control and the main part of the human resources development.

The Ministry of Environment of the State of Lower Saxony uses GEODAVE Content for the administration of their ArcIMS-based mapping services. The web-based application GEODAVE Content supports the entire worflow for creating websites: from upload of files and building of map services to configuration of the whole site.

GISCON grows further: Since the beginning of 2007, GISCON Systems in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, offers IT consulting services and custom application development for our customers in the forestry and timber industry.

GISCON is developing an application for the Department of Land Use Planning of Kanton Thurgau in Switzerland, which fulfils the special needs of their employees in typical administrative procedures concerning urban and regional planning. The ArcGIS-based application supports customized archiving of changes within the validity period of a plan and the visualization of historical plans.

GISCON has been assigned to produce the official Street Maps of the Federal State of Lower Saxony, Germany. As the produced data is entirely GIS-based for the first time in Lower Saxony, the workflow includes considerable amounts of data processing, integration and analysis based on ArcGIS including sophisticated dynamic segmentation techniques.

Visit us at INTERGEO 2006 in Munich, Germany from 10 to 12 October 2006. You can reach us at Hall 2, booth number C2.2234. This year INTERGEO is parallel to the International FIG Congress in Munich from 8 to 13 October. We hope to see you there.

GISCON, in cooperation with Kuwait GIS, Kuwait, and Icon Technologies, Egypt, won the tender of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Planning of Kuwait for the implementation of phase III of the Kuwait Integrated Environmental Information Network (KIEIN-III) for the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). GISCON consultants will be responsible for the needs assessment analysis, project planning and design, quality control and capacity building of KISR staff. This 18-month project should be running until the end of 2007.

GEODAVE is further developed and supplemented by new modules. Through the module GEODAVE Content, for example, editing functionalities of GEODAVE Edit can be easily integrated into existing ArcIMS Websites. More information about GEODAVE can be found here.

GISCON arranges a tailored special training for Vodafone Germany about "geo-processing in ArcGIS/Python script programming" from 19.06. - 21.06.2006. Through a modular training concept, GISCON can offer individual training courses for various topics all around the ESRI family of products.

PortalU has been launched! The Ministry of Environment of the State of Lower Saxony has recently launched the German Environmental Portal (Umweltportal Deutschland). GISCON configured the Map Server of the ministry for the display and presentation of OGC-compatible WMS and extended the standard functions of ArcIMS in order to allow the presentation of the graphic legends.

GISCON is present at the German ESRI User Conference from 9 to 11 May 2006 in Salzburg, Austria. In addition to some presentations, we would be glad to show you the current developments in our spatial data manager GEOSUM and our ArcIMS-based on-line editor for ArcSDE geodata - GEODAVE. We look forward to welcome you over there.

GISCON won the tender of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) for the design and development of a "GIS Management System" in the project "Integrated Management of Water Resources (IWRM) in Yemen". GISCON should support the BGR to, among other things, improve the knowledge of the Yemeni staff in using and customizing ArcGIS through intensive on-the-job training, to develop and design a GIS application (IWRM Information System) and to install and integrate the user interface developed by the BGR for the generation and production of thematic maps. The project is to be realized through consultation sessions with the BGR in Hanover as well as at the project premises in Yemen.

Our colleague Ahmed Talaat has been invited by the SPRING program of the University of Dortmund to speak to its students as part of the SPRING colloquium. Mr. Talaat will hold his presentation "Urban Development Management System Using GIS Technology: GIS Project Implementation Experience from Cairo and Alexandria" on Friday 19/05/06 at 10:00 a.m. at the SPRING premises in Dortmund.

GISCON is proud to announce its cooperation with the reputable FARSI Group, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. GISCON will provide FARSI Maps with the necessary consulting and technical advice for the further development of the GIS division. We hope for a long-term fruitful partnership with the FARSI Group in Saudi Arabia.

We would like to invite you to visit us at the KOMCOM North exhibition at the Congress Centre in Hanover. You will find us at the ESRI-Partner booth number F16 in the Eilenriedehalle (Hall 2). We will be glad to show you the up-to-date functionality of the geodata manager GEOSUM, the ArcIMS-based on-line geodata editor GEODAVE, and the ALKIS/ATKIS/ALK Reader.

A short article about GISCON was published in the Egyptian weekly newspaper 'Al Mal' on 15/01/2006. The article reports about our new branch GISCON Solutions in Kamen and the planned expansion of GISCON in the Middle East. The article can be found here in Arabic with an English translation.

GISCON grows further: Since the beginning of 2006, GISCON Solutions in Kamen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, offers GIS consulting services and custom solutions that best fit the international working environment and utilizes the skills and experience of all GISCON competence centres in Germany to support our customers in the Arab Region and Europe.

GISCON will develop an ArcIMS-based control system for UKA 2.0 for T-Mobile Germany GmbH. This system will offer an on-line topographic map order service over the T-Mobile GeoShop for remote T-Mobile staff.

The Bavarian State Office for Environment in cooperation with GISCON will develop an automated streams discharge calibration system between DWGN25 and DLM1000 in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive. This system will be developed on top of ArcGIS and will support the further treatment of the Bavarian streams network.

GISCON supports the German oil and gas company Wintershall AG in the conversion of its paper map archives into an ArcSDE-based raster database. The project aims at the conversion of several thousands maps, which would be scanned, georeferenced and edge matched before they are integrated in the ArcSDE-Geodatabase.

Our colleague Ahmed Talaat will make a presentation during the Middle East and Africa Conference for ESRI-Users in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt on Dec. 08th 2005 from 08:30 to 09:00 am about GEOSUM.

We would like to invite you to visit our booth number A4 in the Middle East and Africa Conference for ESRI Users from 6 till 8 December 2005 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. We are going to demonstrate the most recent versions of GEODAVE and GEOSUM and would be very happy to discuss possible solutions specific for your current needs.

Visit us at INTERGEO 2005 in Düsseldorf, Germany from 4 to 6 October 2005. We present, among others, our ArcIMS based editor for ArcSDE data "GEODAVE". For more information check GEODAVE (German only) or the INTERGEO website.

Our website www.giscon.de is now also available in English. We hope like that we can better serve our international clients and expand our customer base over Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Some of our English web pages are still under construction, but they are to be completed soon. Please visit us from time to time to keep acquainted with our latest news and progress.