Summer School on Geospatial Technologies @ Birla Institute of Scientific Research, Jaipur

Hello Readers,

I have had a keen interest in learning Geographic Information System ever since I attended the conference organised by Indian Geospatial Forum (IGF) at Hyderabad in the year 2015. I pursued my interest by first enrolling for a one week workshop on GIS for teachers and researchers held at Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts and Science, Margao Goa. This workshop helped me to understand the immense potential which the GIS tools have in the present digital age. It also helped me built a strong base for further study. In this post I am going to share my experience at Summer School on Geospatial Technologies held at Birla Institute of Scientific Research, Jaipur.

Panoramic view of the beautiful BISR Campus, Jaipur

The semester was coming to an end and I was on a lookout for courses to upgrade my skills during the summer break, it was then (by luck) that I stumbled upon the Indian Geo-spatial Education and Training website portal. Department of Science and Technology(DST) has been running train the trainer workshops all over India for some time now and all its upcoming workshops are notified in the summer School in GST tab on the website. I checked the brochure for every training programme that was published and found that Birla Institute of Scientific Research, Jaipur was going to conduct one from 15 may to 5th June. The timing was just perfect for me as by than I would have finished all my commitments for the academic year. This is the main reason why DST organises these courses during academics breaks. Courses are conducted during summer and winter breaks. Added bonus is that these courses are sponsored (all inclusive by DST). I notified the principal of our institute about my interest to attend the training and he was quick to sign my application. I posted the application through speed post just to be sure it reaches the right person and than it was a long wait until the notification of acceptance of my application.

No energy drink can beat the Indian Lassi, My favourite.

Hotel Accommodation

I arrived in Jaipur on 14th may in the afternoon and was asked to proceed to a hotel which would be our accommodation for the rest of the training period, accommodation are provided on a twin sharing basis. The accommodation was business class with A.c. and free WiFi. Breakfast and dinner were arranged at the hotel everyday and lunch at the institute.





The following day on 15th June we had the inaugural function. It started with a formal introduction of all the participants. We learnt that we were a very diverse group of people coming from different academic backgrounds and field of work ranging from Geologists, Geographers, Computer sciences most of the participants were faculty member, some were forest officers and a few were researchers.

Exquisite mirror work. Location: Sheesh mahal 

In the following days we picked up bits by bits of knowledge starting from the basics. Theory sessions were held in the morning followed by hands on practical exercise using software in the after noon session until late evening sometimes going up to 7-7.30pm though 5.30pm was the closing time, this was the routine (Sundays included). Lectures were delivered by resource persons from leading universities across Rajasthan, Delhi and Indore and some were delivered by experts on campus.It was a great opportunity to interact and learn from the experts themselves.

We made the most of our time sometimes putting in extra hours, well the objective was also to have a day off without compromising on the programme content and we were successful in doing just that. Acknowledging the hard work put in by the participants we were allowed to have one Sunday off. We the outstation participants took this opportunity to explore the City of Jaipur, we visited the Amer fort and Jaigarh fort both of which are in close vicinity. The forts offer a panoramic view of the beautiful Aravalli hill ranges, also you can't help but admire the beauty of the exquisite architecture particularly the sheesh mahal (mirror palace) housed withing the Amer fort and one cannot miss to witness what is believed to be the worlds largest cannon on wheels within the premises of Jaigarh fort.

Worlds largest Cannon on wheels. Location: Jaigarh Fort

Dipping sandstone beds of Aravalli fold mountain belt

Aravalli ranges in the background. Location: Jaigarh Fort

Spot the big cat. Location: Ranthambore National Park

He says ''I am the boss here''. Location: Ranthambore

We were also very fortunate to visit the Ranthambore National Park, courtesy of our Forest officer colleagues but this was not just a fun trip. Ranthambore Tiger Reserve is considered to be a nature lovers paradise famous for its tiger population. We were here on a mission which was to take down GPS locations of all the water holes within the zones that we visited, this would later be projected on a special map prepared for the reserve. Creating such maps would enable us to clearly visualise the distribution of water holes during summer when the water resources within the reserve are scarce and thus assist us to take appropriate actions such as identifying locations were new water holes needed to be placed. The secret mission was however to spot the majestic wild tiger and yes we accomplished this by spotting not just one but three different tigers at different locations within the reserve. We departed from Ranthambore with lots of happy memories to cherish for life.    
 

The core topics covered for the training were Geospatial sciences:Introduction, Data types, Acquiring data, Understanding scales and projections, understanding data quality, Map making, Understanding attribute data, Queries, working in QGIS, GPS, Types of remote sensing, Applications of remote sensing, Understanding image, Image corrections, Image enhancement, Image Classification, working in SAGA, Accuracy assessment, Geoserver, etc. At the end of the training we were supposed to showcase our newly acquired skills by way of executing a small meaningful project. Project groups were made based on individual interest areas. The projects were presented on the final day of the training in the form of power point presentations.

When its finally over and you feel like a sense of great achievement

I departed from Jaipur on 5th June. In one word the journey has been ''fantastic''. I took along with me some rich memories and established great friendships to cherish for life.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to write your thoughts in the comments section below.
 

Introduction

Hello Readers,

Its been a while since I have been thinking of writing down a blog, I was first exposed to creating a blog during one of the training workshops conducted in our institute which was followed by a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course)  Titled 'ICT integration in Higher Education' conducted by Department of Educational Technology,  SNDT, Women's University, Mumbai. It gives me a great pleasure to have finally taken the initiative to pen down this blog and I hope that my new experiences will keep this blog going. In this post I am going to introduce myself and give a brief insight into my life or rather my lifestyle.

Glimpse of the beautiful beaches in Goa. Location:Cola beach, Canacona, Goa 

Football runs in the blood of most Goans

My name is Malcolm Afonso, presently I am working as a part time Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology in a reputed institute of Higher Education in Goa. Yes, in Goa- which is considered as a paradise by many tourists around the world for its beautiful beaches, delicious food and of course cheap beer and nightlife but there is much more Charm and Beauty in Goa than just that.

I have a Masters Degree in Geology however Geology was an alien subject during the initial years of my schooling, in fact I was a Biology student(the choice was between Bio and Geo in my high school). After High School I went on to pursue a career in the Merchant Navy as a navigating officer(greatly inspired by the adventures of Christopher Columbus- An animation series from childhood) I did my diploma in Nautical Science from Naval Maritime Academy, Mumbai. My training was unlike any other, as in it was done onboard a Navy vessel IMS VIKRAANT (Now decommissioned and Scrapped) we trained just
like the defense cadets under the charge of Navy Commanders though we were destined for the Merchant Navy. After successful completion of my training I had a short stint (approx 7.5 months) on a merchant navy vessel, sallied the entire Baltic sea from the UK to St. Pitersburg, Russia. Got to witness the Frozen sea, Snow and Some Frostbites during the winter on board.

Training days at the naval academy

At St. Petersburg, Russia-Frozen sea in the background

I was soon to realise that a certain medical condition would prevent me from taking up a successful merchant navy career and so the curtains came down fast on the merchant navy career but the dream of adventure still continues to persist. Before signing off from the ship it was decided that I would be looking for something new and thus was the beginning of the next chapter-the college.

Navigational watch on board merchant vessel

Field trips were fun

I headed to the college to seek admissions in Bachelors of Science without narrowing down on all the possible subject combinations, Physics was my favourite subject then and Mathematics was a sister subject essential for physics and since a combination of Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry is considered to be a deadly one by many due to the excessive workload, I opted for Phy, maths & Geology as an easy way out (also partly because the counsellor at the admission counter told me that geology was a field oriented subject).

This is not a lake but an open pit mine

Over the next two years of college I gradually started to like geology for the field trips and for the many curious questions that it brought to my mind and  by the end of the 2nd year of college I was convinced that I was going to be hooked onto geology for the rest of my life.

Football Champions

I was very fortunate to be a part of many great adventures in college be it field trips, house parties with friends, Academic competitions, or Sports. One of the most cherished memories of college will be winning the Football finals at the prestigious Goa University State level Inter-Collegiate Football Tournament- It was an underdogs to champions story scripted by an insane level of team spirit , hard work put in by the coach, the players and management in additions to the blessings from heaven. I was very pleased with my role as a centre back and also as the football club secretary then.

         


After my graduation with a distinction I went on to repeat the same feat in my Master but with some icing on the cake this time by achieving a Gold medal.

It was supposed to be a time when i'd be finally starting to earn again but the Mining Industry was serving a ban in Goa (the first point of hiring for fresh university graduates), Oil Industry had crashed and most of the Major world commodity prices were on a down turn (year 2015).  I still managed to get a job in a private drilling firm where I worked for approx 5.5 months of which I spent 3 months in Kerala on a beach sand drilling project serving the dual role as a trainee geologist and the site manager before sending my resignation.

Receiving my masters degree at the hands of the Respected Governor of Goa Smt Mridula Sinha

I was soon looking for new jobs and this time I was ready to handle any new field where my coordinating and administrative skills could be utilised but destiny played another game. An assistant professor post was published due to a leave vacancy, for which I applied and got selected and they have retained me since then although on a part time basis. The educational field is not new in the family, both my parents served as teachers with distinction in secondary schools, maybe the liking for the educational field was inherited, my view is that this field will help me feed my inner being by way of contributing towards the development of others and by way of testing my potential to bring in new thinking and ideas to serve the community at large.

I am an avid traveller,love to ride my Bike, Trekking, Rock hunting oops climbing, enjoy Scuba diving, Kayaking, Rafting, Soccer and Spending time with my lovely pet dog-Tuff (black Labrador) in addition to music (hoping to create a separate blog for my hobbies). I also love to meet and get to know new people but I confess that I may be shy at first sight ;).

My Sweet Ride

At one of my favourite hangout spot with my loving Pet-Tuff

Kayaking. Lacation Palolem beach

Thank you for reading my blog. I would appreciate if the readers would introduce themselves and share their thoughts about Geology, Teaching & Learning in the comments section below. :D       
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