Hon. Isaiah Chol, Chairperson, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Office of the President, Government of South Sudan officially launched the South Sudan Geoportal (ssdgeoportal.org) in Juba, South Sudan on February 28, 2017. RCMRD partnered with the South Sudan NBS to develop and implement the geoportal.

The geoportal is a platform that facilitates creation, sharing and use of geospatial data. As a component of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), the goal of the geoportal is to enhance the capacity of South Sudan government agencies and non-governmental institutions in collaborative geospatial data creation, sharing and management.

While opening the meeting, Hon. Chol thanked RCMRD for the efforts made in placing NBS data and information in a more palatable and discoverable format and tool, while reiterating support to the ideals of RCMRD. In his remarks, Byron Anangwe on behalf of the Director General, RCMRD, Dr. Emmanuel Nkurunziza, reaffirmed RCMRD’s technical support not only to NBS/S. Sudan but to all the Member States in developing appropriate solutions to address challenges faced. This capacity building activity on emerging trends is for making data discoverable and acts as one of building blocks towards NSDI’s.

Participants from the NBS were earlier trained on the use and administration of the South Sudan geoportal. Other professionals from the GIS, Remote Sensing and Cartography department of the NBS, who are the custodians of the geoportal were also taken through different modules including web-based spatial data management, interactive mapping, metadata editing, and geoportal administration.