GISIG Association promoted a new Leonardo Thematic Network proposal in the framework of the new Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP). The Network was approved by the Commission and it officially started on the 1st of November 2007.

The Network overall aim is to pool knowledge in the GIS domain (technology, applications), to share experience and foster innovation (new approaches) in vocational training by bringing together experts, organisations and users of GI and its application domains, as well as to identify the trends and skills requirements in this area and to improve the anticipated benefit of vocational training initiatives.

The following main activities are foreseen:

• Network Building and sharing knowledge

• Analysis of training course offer and demand

• Implementation of the Network training framework and of an e-learning platform hosting the partners’ contributions

• Training course catalogue building. This action will include the definition of pre-requisites of courses, such as a modular structure and selected quality criteria

• Promotion of people mobility (students, new graduates and working people)

• Exploitation and dissemination action, including workshop organisation and support to competence validation and certification

The network is going to be developed with particular emphasis to the involvement of the GI users; in this perspective the network will be also addressed, other than to the GI technologies, including the cutting edge ones (interoperability, web-gis, standards, etc.), to the application domains, starting initially with:

• Water Management

• Environmental Protection

• Coastal Management and Landscape

The network will be also developed in the favourable framework of the new European Directives for environment and territory dealing with problems that, as you know, have now reached a new European dimension (such as the INSPIRE Directive recently approved by the European Parliament).

Participating organisations will benefit of the possibility to have access and/or make accessible/advertise training courses and material in an e-learning environment, as well as the possibility to promote and participate in people mobility/exchange programmes inside the network. Moreover, for those interested there will be the possibility to organise dissemination workshops in their own region/country.

To confirm your interest in the network you simply have to fill in the Adhesion Form taking into consideration the above project outlines; while filling the form, we recommend you to insert the titles and contents of possible courses and/or training material you intend to promote throughout the project catalogue, as well as to indicate any possible additional contact at your regional/local level that you would involve in the project activities.

Moreover, we kindly ask you to fill in also the attached table in Annex 1 if you are planning to provide training courses and/or material.