On December 26 2004, an earthquake occurred approximately 150km off the
coast of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. Forty-fi ve minutes after the earthquake,
a tsunami wave measuring up to 30 meters in some places, struck Aceh and
devastated an 800km stretch of the coast. This natural disaster killed more than
132,000 people with 37,000 remaining missing. More than 500,000 people were
homeless. The natural disaster had a catastrophic impact on the lives of the
people in Aceh and Nias.

Development of the SIM-C (Spatial Information and Mapping Centre), as part
of the BRR, ensured that the process of reconstruction was supported by the
use of spatial information and technology.

The SIM-C is a fully operational GIS Centre whose focus is to supply all agencies
(government and non-government organisations) working on recovery projects
in Aceh with mapping products to support their operations.

The Centre has a comprehensive set of topographic, aerial photography,
satellite, utilities, infrastructure and administrative boundary datasets. These data,
however, existed in isolation, in many formats and in a variety of databases. The challenge was to integrate the information and make it accessible to better plan resources, projects and funding.

The solution

To get the maximum value from the spatial data, the SIM-C required a solution that
connected spatial data (e.g. village boundary) with non spatial related information (e.g. database information related to that village).

NGIS Australia initiated a project to develop a technology framework to enable BRR and government agencies to access the information remotely. NGIS Australia developed an web-enabled GIS application, using GeoSamba software. GeoSamba Universal links seamlessly with SQL, Access and Oracle databases. This allows users to access linked database information through a mapping interface, with an easier and more intuitive approach to database query.

In addition, GeoSamba Universal offers a full suite of GIS tools and functionality, therefore allowing complex geo-processing tasks. GeoSamba Universal offers a rich variety of outof- the-box graphic user interfaces, including a browser based Administrator for simple tailoring of unique solutions.

Find out  more, download the Building GIS Capacity in Aceh Success Story