As those involved in urban planning and development are well aware, the reconstruction of a nation's spatial infrastructure is virtually as important as the reconstruction of its physical infrastructure.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the war-torn Republic of Iraq, having recently endured a costly eight-year war (1980-1988) with its neighbor, the Islamic Republic of Iran; followed by its expulsion from the State of Kuwait in 1991; and subsequent turmoil.

In an effort to assist the long-suffering Iraqi people, the Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) enlisted the help of Esri to provide software, training, and educational materials for the fledgling Iraqi GIS. HIC was set up by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Esri provided teacher training to Iraqi nationals from the Ministries of Planning-Mines, Housing and Construction, and Water Resources—in support of the country's redevelopment efforts. GIS courses included Introduction to ArcGIS I and II and Building Geodatabases I and II. Course materials and data were given to each student so they could continue developing their GIS skills when they returned home.

In addition, Esri provided software and supplemental training materials so that the trainees could return to their respective ministries and support the national GIS initiative by training additional GIS technicians. Extensive data was provided by HIC including terrestrial ecoregions, population, gazetteer, Iraq infrastructure, drainage, land cover, elevation, satellite imagery, and so on.

It is anticipated that as the use of GIS grows in Iraq, many public and private sector agencies and businesses in the country will benefit greatly from the ability to analyze spatial data.

Comments senior instructor Makram Murad-al-Shaikh, the Esri employee who led the GIS training classes, "Nothing pleases me more than being able to give back some of my GIS expertise to my country of birth, Iraq (historic Mesopotamia). I have felt the importance of building GIS for Iraq ever since I was teaching there at both the Institute of Technology and the University of Baghdad in the mid 1980s. I was the first one to introduce the concepts of GIS in Iraq in the cartography classes I taught at these institutions. During that time, the city of Baghdad (locally known as Amanat Al-Assima) was in the process of implementing its GIS with the help of Esri. But the entire project was unfortunately halted because of the demand on hard currency by the war. I am happy that the Iraqi GIS initiative has been revived and that Esri will continue its role in helping with the reconstruction of this devastated country. GIS is certainly a unique and critically important tool that will assist and expedite the process of extensive planning needed for the reconstruction of Iraq."

Concludes Andrew Alspach, project manager for HIC, "The donation of Makram Murad-al-Shaikh's time and Esri training materials and specialized Esri Press books is greatly appreciated by HIC and, more important, the Iraqi trainees."

For more information, contact Andrew Alspach, project manager, HIC (e-mail: info@hiciraq.org, tel.: 962-0796758899, Web: www.hiciraq.org).