thematic mapping and spatial analysis tool

de ali.safarnejad 04/10/2006 04:02

I want to introduce to you an indicator analysis and mapping tool we
have been working on for the past 5 years: KIDS, the Key Indicator
Database System (http://kids.fao.org). Funded for development under
the Food Insecurity and Vulnerability initiative (FIVIMS) at the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), KIDS is being
used by numerous educational, government, and non-governmental agencies
for thematic mapping and spatial analysis of indicator data.

The main features of KIDS include:
=B7 Mapping indicator data over vector maps.
=B7 Visualizing indicator data in tabular format, time-series, and
charts.
=B7 Full featured interface to combine multiple layers of vector and
raster layers.
=B7 Editor for modifying data, defining legends and updating metadata.
=B7 Handling of multi-dimensional indicator dataset, without any limit
on dimensions.
=B7 Can be run as a standalone application, or over the internet as a
web application.
=B7 Configurable interface fully written with XML and stylesheets.
=B7 Expert user web-services interface and API libraries.
=B7 Security model for data level access control.
=B7 High speed algorithms for navigating large datasets and detailed
maps in real-time.

The KIDS project has been in collaborations with other agencies and
entities to facilitate search and exchange of indicator data, metadata,
and vector and raster graphics. These collaborations include, and are
not limited to UNAIDS, WHO, and UNICEF, and governments of developing
and underdeveloped countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia,
as well as private and educational institutions.

KIDS is actively and completely maintained by a community of experts,
who are committed to support and enhance the product, and to keep the
product opensource (GPL) and free. These experts bring a wide array of
knowledge and creativity to the challenging problems in thematic
mapping and managing of ever increasing indicator data. On our team we
have experts in GIS, data-mining, human computer interaction, quality
control, as well as translators, statisticians, system administrators
and programmers. This group is geographically spread across the globe
in Italy, USA, Brazil, Australia, Thailand, UK, Czech Republic,
Philippines, Namibia, Peru, India, Botswana, Switzerland, China and
Syria, just to name a few. The list is growing daily, and we are
always looking for more people to join the team and adopt the product,
as end-users or developers or testers, and to contribute to KIDS to
grow and evolve.

You can download KIDS, along with all the source code, at
http://kids.fao.org

ali safarnejad
KIDS product manager