gvSIG Fonsagua, a success for development research in the field of geographic information technologies

Abstract

In 2008, Cartography Engineering Laboratory from a Coruña University (Cartolab) started in collaboration with the NGO Engineering Without Borders (ISF) Galicia, a research in the field of Geographic Information Technologies applied to Development Cooperation.

As result of this work an application called gvSIG Fonsagua has been developing over the last few years. This application implements on a Geographic Information System the methodology linked to the Water Resources Management Plan. gvSIG Fonsagua allows plan and design water supply systems in rural areas of Honduras and El Salvador.

This project was born as a relatively modest initial collaboration between a university laboratory and an NGO, and it has become a dynamic project and enhancer of networking between different agents. Arise in this way, new relationships between different agencies and institutions that are involved in some way in this project over the past years. So, in 2012 an Interuniversitary Cooperation Program was developed between the Spanish universities of A Coruña and Extremadura and the National Autonomous University of Honduras. This link is serving germ for strengthening a network that links NGOs like Save the Children or ISF, local social associations as CODDEFFAGOLF, public administrations as municipality of Marcovia and businesses as iCarto.

This article describes the background of the project, the role of all stakeholders in the project, the software developed, the details of the technology transfer, coordination and management methodology and the lessons learned in development cooperation by all involved. We conclude thinking over the future prospects of the project.

Revista Ciencias Espaciales, Volumen 8, Número 2 Otoño, 2015; 326-340