Phase I, II & III
Description
EAIS is a collaboration between Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) to create a Geographical Information System to assist in the management of historical sites in Egypt. The EAIS website is constructed to have both laymen and specialists of Egyptology, archeology, history, cartography, and planning get acquainted with the EAIS project and its activities. The project’s effort is geared towards setting up a Geographical Information System (GIS) for Egyptian historical sites and this to better protect and document them, benefitting from the technical tools offered by the GIS.
The value of the Egyptian historical and cultural heritage is unique in the world. As a subcontractor to the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), NSCE has been providing the Team Leader and national consultants, as well as backstopping services to the Egyptian Antiquities Information System Project (EAIS). The aim of the project is to establish a geographic information system for the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), the body responsible for the protection and maintenance of the antiquities and their sites in Egypt. The project purpose is to improve the overall information as well as the site and heritage management capacity of SCA, enabling it to perform its tasks in mapping, documentation and protection of archaeological sites in Egypt. In order to achieve these goals the project supports the development of a geographical information system (GIS) for the management of Egyptian antiquities.
The GIS includes a national level database and a site level GIS database for detailed registration, to be tested on three pilot sites. In addition, the project focuses on the development of cooperation and improved information exchange between the numerous institutions involved in cultural heritage preservation and documentation. The project has implemented over three phases. During phase I and II, much effort was spent in acquiring the maps, assessing their quality, developing technological means to convert them into a GIS system. On the organizational side, the project devoted a great part of its human resources to establish a positive working relation with its main internal providers and customers, the Amlaak, inspectorates and its key direct external stakeholders. Phase III is focusing on consolidating and institutionalizing the achievements of EAIS I and II within SCA through a continuous process of mentoring and coaching the development and maintenance of GIS (incl. system population), of building the capacity of the new GIS Center of Excellence and the community of users.
Services
Phase I & II:
- Provided a GIS comprehensive mapping reference on SCA sites and their buffer zones,
- Built up a system to retrieve cartographic references from SCA information Centre data (mostly on microfilms),
- Developed a GIS-system in SCA (provided a National level GIS site identification database and a specific site level GIS database),
- Developed Baseline Maps data-levels,
- Developed of an integrated information system.
Phase III:
- Operational support to EAIS
- Providing a basic setup for Cultural Resource Management (CRM) monitoring methods and indicators including evaluation of the current Information System,
- Preparation of Human Resources Development Plan for the EAIS personnel, System Population
- Set priority areas for system population according to defined and revised criteria,
- Feasibility study of development needs of GPS capacities,
- Analysis and Design of EAIS network services: EAIS intranet, SCA extranet, internet Partnership building
- Reassessing the potential end-users of EAIS data within SCA organization and external partners and beneficiaries,
- Assessment of basic and tailored IT training needs of the identified end-users of SCA organization,
- Planning and scheduling of workshops and seminars to institutionalize the EAIS as a research and service center (including annual GIS consultations),
- Technical Upgrades
- Providing Needs assessment of hardware and software upgrades, compilation of development strategy