terrestris is responsible for geodata management in the “Integrated Water Resources Management in Central Asia: Model Region Mongolia (MoMo)” project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In this context, capacity development is also planned, i.e., knowledge will be transferred from the German project partners to the Mongolian partners.

In this capacity, a team from terrestris has traveled to Mongolia and is conducting a workshop on geodata management at the Technical University in Darkhan (MUST). At the opening of the workshop by the scientific coordinator of the MoMo project, Dr. Daniel Karthe, the German Ambassador to Mongolia, Dr. h.c. Peter Schaller, addressed a greeting to the participants. In it, he emphasized the importance of knowledge and know-how for a national economy and expressed his pleasure about the Mongolian-German cooperation. The director of the Technical University, Prof. Dr. Dorligsuren Lkhanag, also gave a welcoming address and mentioned that the geodata workshop represents a premiere at MUST.

In the allotted 5 days, basic concepts of geographic data processing will be explained theoretically and then reinforced through practical exercises with the free desktop GIS system Quantum GIS. The exercises will be expanded by mapping with GPS devices on 2 of the 5 days.

The results will be posted on the OpenStreetMap platform and will thus be available to the public. The course participants are about 80% lecturers from the Technical and Agricultural University, so there is justified hope for a multiplier effect.