IODE Receives ArcGIS Online
ESRI Belux has donated 50 user licenses of its ArcGIS Online to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Project Office for International Oceanographic Data Exchange (IODE), Ostend, Belgium. To mark the occasion, the governor of the Province of West Flanders (and chairman of the Flanders Marine Institute, VLIZ), Mr Carl Decaluwé, invited ESRI representatives as well as the director of VLIZ and Project Office staff to his official residence in Bruges, Belgium.
In his speech Mr Decaluwé said that as chairman of the VLIZ the governor is particularly proud that UNESCO - IOC Project Office for IODE (International Data and Information Exchange) has its office in Ostend with as neighbour the VLIZ with its marine data centre. The project office is engaged in the worldwide collection and exchange of oceanographic data. Oceans cover almost 70% of the Earth's surface and are important for the functioning of the planet and the welfare of the people. He emphasised that multilateral organisations such as the IOC and IODE programme are therefore extremely important. The donation Esri has made to the IOC Project Office for IODE will enable them to make data available efficiently to a wide circle experts.
The donation will be used to reinforce the IODE's International Coastal Atlas Network (ICAN) and Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) and related projects. We wish to express our appreciation to ESRI for the generous donation and to the Governor for his interest in, and support to IOC/IODE!
Image: (from left to right): Dr Jan Mees (director VLIZ), Mr Carl Decaluwé (governor of the Province of West Flanders), Mr Peter Pissierssens (head, IOC Project Office for IODE, Ostend, Belgium), Mr Frederik Wauters (Mmnager ESRI Belux), Mr Ward Appeltans (OBIS project manager), Mr George Spoelstra (business development manager Maritime Europe, ESRI).