The GeoInformatics Center reached a milestone in 2019 with its 20th anniversary. To celebrate the occasion GIC hosted an open house on Thursday May 30, 2019.
GIC Founder Professor Shunji Murai and GIC Director Dr. Manzul Hazarika were present to welcome guests and kick off the event with an opening ceremony.
During the open house guests had a number of opportunities to learn about the diversity of projects GIC conducts around Asia and the Pacific. A poster session featuring GIC’s research varied in topics from machine learning for building footprint extraction to using remote sensing data to estimate crop yield. A drone display room showcased GIC’s recently developed RTK capable hexacopter as well as drone-related projects. Interactive stations allowed guests to explore GIC’s web portals and newly developed disaster early warning system.
The highlight of the open house was a presentation by Professor Shunji Murai on his latest research involving earthquake prediction. His approach involves analyzing the atmospheric anomalies that GNSS signals encounter during their transmission to receivers on the Earth’s surface. The method was used with success in 2018 to predict Japan’s Hokkaido earthquake one day in advance.
The GeoInformatics Center has been a part of AIT since 1999. Professor Shunji Murai founded the center to address the needs of the region in terms of short-term training courses in geoinformatics. A merger with the Asian Center for Research on Remote Sensing in 2004 added research and consultancy to GIC’s repertoire. The GeoInformatics Center as we know it today has trained more than 1,000 people from the region, and has undertaken a number of projects in countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
