USE OF AMESD PRODUCTS & SERVICES

1. USE OF AMESD PRODUCTS & SERVICES Othusitse Lekoko – University of Botswana June 3 – 4, 2013. GICC

2. AMESD STATION - UB • The University of Botswana houses the fire station • 2 academic staff, 2 technical staff and 1 teaching assistant trained on the system • Active usage, monitoring and administration of the system • Active support provided by AMESD team at DMS through remote access and personal visits

3. AMESD STATION - UB • All 3rd and 4th year students introduced to the system through demonstrations • More than 10 groups of 30 students in each group demonstrated to • Many students appreciated the knowledge with ability to relate the system operations to their real life experiences

4. AMESD STATION USAGE • The University of Botswana has so far formulated mini project questions for students to interact with the products from the station • This approach has a two prong benefit: • the system is interrogated whether it can adequately answer relevant research questions • students are introduced to both practical RS and relevant products before they join the workforce

5. Examples of Questions • Vegetation and  fires in Kgalagadi- CKGR – NOAA/MODIS -NDVI & fire scar product; wet and fire season images • Mapping fire scars in Chobe • Relating active fires with fire scars and ii. relating fire danger with fire scars in  KwenengDistrict • Relating NDVI and rainfall

6. Examples of Questions • Analyzing the spatial and temporal dimensions of drought in Botswana AMESD SADC VCI data • Analysis of fire frequency patterns in Botswana using MODIS burned area data.

7. Student Submissions Assignment Analysis of fire frequency patterns in Botswana using MODIS burned area data Output Students identified those areas that were most frequented by fires over the period from 2002 to 2012

8. Student Submissions Assignment Analyzing the spatial and temporal dimensions of drought in Botswana AMESD SADC VCI data Output Students identified drought prone areas for a period from 2005 to 2012 with dark areas being where there has been change for worse in the VCI

9. Challenges • It was difficult to measure the level of effort for one mini project compared to the other • Students could vary their level of effort over a project • How to get our current data distributed widely with periodic demonstrations to other entities including government departments • High level technical expertise in project formulation using AMESD products

10. Way forward • Mini projects will be predefined and varied through product dates, and/or location • Staff to prepare data into folders, define the state of those products and predefine expected outputs • This will ensure controlled and measurable skills transfer to all students over time • The process may be repeated every semester and be refined over time to yield required teaching impact

11. Requirements • Training for staff on station products • Active support on the system operation over time • Resources • budget for software/hardware replacement • application upgrades in response to user experience • opening the system up for access to users beyond students

12. Requirements Thank you