Testing EOMonDis Service Platform and Accessing Sentinel-Data Programme with DoF/FRIM: Lilongwe, Malawi, 16-18 May 2017

During the week of 15th of May GAF AG provided a Training/Testing of the EOMonDis Service Platform to the Department of Forestry (DoF) and Forest Research Institute of Malawi (FRIM) who are the main counterparts for EOMondis in Malawi. The introduction to the EOMonDis Service Platform, forest products and their utility was in the form of a short training programme. The training also included a demonstration of the new Sentinel-2 data and its use for mapping tropical dry forests in Africa. Several types of Cloud platforms that provide Sentinel-2 data were presented and tested by the participants. A major obstacle for integrating Earth Observation (EO) data in the daily work of both DoF and FRIM is the limited internet connection available in Malawi and therefore the problematic data transfer rates. These issues were discussed during the training as well as potential short-term measures to overcome these problems; for example a solution would be to provide access to remote processing facilities that can handle the data in place and to limit the volume of data transfer to just the processing results. The training as well as testing of the EOMonDIs Service Platform was well received by the counterparts and further activities are envisaged which includes the provision of the forest products/datasets and their validation by DoF/FRIM.