CAMRIS CURRENTS

Welcome to the first issue of the CAMRIS CURRENTS newsletter!

Through this newsletter, we hope to facilitate coordination and communication among users of the CAMRIS program, participants in our GIS workshops and other GIS training events for data management in the field, and others interested in using GIS for conservation.

We believe that GIS technology is an important and helpful tool for biologists, conservationists, researchers, protected area managers, students, and others working in the field. We are therefore working to make this tool more accessible to these groups to allow them to better manage their data.

The interest of the authors and project implementers and of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which supports this project, is to promote the application of GIS to the conservation of natural resources.

While this issue focuses on CAMRIS itself, in future issues we will also aim to include relevant news on other user-friendly GIS programs and events that would be of help to the field conservationist and/or resource manager.

In each edition, we will highlight one or more users who have applied CAMRIS or other user-friendly GIS to conservation work. We will also report on recently-held training courses, as well as upcoming training events.

This project also supports the expansion and improvement of the CAMRIS program and accompanying training manual, so we will keep you informed of the most recent updates made to both the program and documentation.

Finally, we hope the Technical Questions section below will facilitate communication among CAMRIS and other GIS users by allowing readers to send in questions or ideas on applying GIS to different biological and conservation work. Your questions will be answered either by the authors or by other users. We hope to develop a news group on-line at this web page that will make this section more interactive.

While our current project activities focus on Latin America, conservation needs are similar everywhere, and we welcome your ideas and suggestions.

Managing fisheries resources in the Galapagos Islands: a map showing lobster capture sites on the main islands.

User Highlights: Jorge Carranza, Mexico

Jorge Carranza Sánchez lives in Mexico and began his work with CAMRIS at the conservation NGO Amigos de Sian Ka'an, located in the state of Quintana Roo. As Project Coordinator of Amigos, Jorge has both participated in mapping projects and directed the group's extensive Geographic Information System.

Over the last few years, Jorge has helped teach several CAMRIS training courses throughout Latin America. He has also taken courses in the IDRISI GIS program to supplement his GIS skills. Knowledge of the two programs has helped his work with Amigos. For example, in the project, "Cartographic Analysis of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico", the project staff of Amigos examined changes in forest cover, using both CAMRIS and IDRISI. They also merged the two programs to map ocean bottom types for the Costa Occidental National Park, which includes various coastal sites around Cancun, using aerial photos and satellite images. For this project, Jorge began using a large-size Plotter to print large maps created in CAMRIS.

For the project, "Monitoring of Aquatic Birds in the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve", Jorge systematically analyzed census data using the Survey Mapping module in CAMRIS's Level 2. This analysis allowed Amigos to estimate wading bird densities, both by species and by all observed species, in either all or a specific portion of the study area.

Jorge Carranza says he is happy to share his knowledge of both CAMRIS and IDRISI with other users. You can find his email address in the list below.

• Universidad Nacional Experimental de Los Llanos 'Ezekiel Zamora' (UNELLEZ) -- Guanare, Venezuela 6/98
• Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) -- Paraná, Argentina 12/98

Participants learn how to merge their maps with a database, Guanare, Venezuela -- June 1998

Currently scheduled workshops are planned for specific groups, with funding from the USFWS. Please contact us if your group would like to host a CAMRIS training workshop.

• RESERVA course for Protected Area Managers, conducted by Ducks Unlimited Mexico, A.C. in the Celestún Reserve, Yucatán, México May 17 - 21, 1999
• International Caribbean training workshop, to coincide with the Society for Caribbean Ornithology annual meeting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic July 31 - August 4, 1999
• Universidade de Sao Paulo - Sao Paulo, Brazil September 1999
• Advanced training and individual follow-up, UNELLEZ - Guanare, Venezuela June-July 1999

In this first issue, we mention some important improvements made to the CAMRIS program over the past two years to make sure all readers are up to date on the newest CAMRIS features:

• Expanded Draw Mode options (Far, Near)
• Easier 3-point geo-referencing of paper maps
• Maintenance of geo-referencing through all viewpoints in Draw Mode
• Improved merging of maps with databases

• Easier installation of program and related files (3 diskettes), including introductory simulation
• Easy assignment of ID's and data values to keys and figures
• Load points from keyboard
• Improved Move and Copy of figures
• Change text option for labels
• Screen image capture and slide show option
• Conversion of captured screen image to Windows bitmap format

CAMRIS2000, the first CAMRIS version for Windows, is scheduled for introduction in August 1999, and the second issue of this newsletter will appear to inform readers of the availability of this new program.

Over the past year, continuous planning, writing, and editing have produced a new-and-improved CAMRIS training manual. With and interactive tutorial, new exercises, interspersed graphics, and more detailed explanations, the new manual is clearer and more effective as part of a self-teaching training package.

New Basic Exercises Available in Training Manual

• Interactive Introductory Simulation/Tutorial: an on-screen introduction to the basic concepts and applications of GIS for resource managers
• Digitizing I: Introduction to the Draw Mode, the Pointer, and the drawing process
• Test Your Editing Skills with Points, Lines, Polygons, and Labels

As of June 1999, the Basic Exercises and Reference sections will be available for downloading from this web site. To send a printed copy, we must charge copying & shipping fees ($50/copy). To order a printed manual or for more information, please see the information box below.

Advanced Series

A new series of advanced exercises currently being developed presents more advanced GIS techniques as well as relevant concepts from the fields of conservation biology and landscape ecology. These advanced exercises focus on a single geographic area and introduce conservation biology and landscape ecology principles used in the lessons and how these might apply to the user's own work or study site.

The preliminary draft of these new exercises was field tested by graduate student groups in Córdoba, Argentina and Guanare, Venezuela. A final advanced manual should be available this summer.

Home Range calculation for a troop of monkeys,
from Advanced Exercise Number 6

• Measurement and Buffering figures and keys
• Rasterizing vector images
• Converting compass-distance measurements to lat-long coordinates
• Home Range calculation: description and guidelines
• Density contour calculation: description and guidelines
• Survey mapping documentation
• Capturing screen images for slide shows and bitmap conversion

For more information or to order software or a training manual, please write to Suzanne Palminteri at the following email:

Technical Questions

How do I import IDRISI raster images into CAMRIS?

CAMRIS uses the same format for raster images that IDRISI does, so you can simply load the IDRISI image into CAMRIS through the Level 2/Raster Image/Load Image module.

As with IDRISI, CAMRIS requires the image to have at least two files associated with it: the *.IMG file, which contains the raw data, or pixels, and the *.DOC (documentation) file. The *.DOC file is a text file that contains the locations of the image's north-south and east-west extremes, as well as its file type, number of rows and columns, and referencing system.

The IMG and DOC files must be placed in the directory C:\CAMRIS\RASTER, where CAMRIS will look for them. For instance, to load an image called Park1, you would need to copy the Park1.img and the Park1.doc file to the CAMRIS/RASTER directory.

Once loaded onto the CAMRIS screen, you can change the colors and size of the pixels, perform raster algebra, rubber sheet the image according to georeferenced vector data, and create a map using the image as the bottom data layer. Good Luck!

When I try to load a map from the Map Library, I receive only the following error message:
Run-time error f6103: read(mapmaper\m\m.01m)
This happens only with certain maps: what is causing this error?

This error message means that the map file has been lost or damaged, probably due to a damage to the hard disk, an electrical surge, or a transfer of the files in which the user accidentally failed to copy the file or copied it to a different location or directory in the receiving computer.

Unfortunately, if the file has been lost or damaged, it cannot be recovered. Nevertheless, using the data overlays that make up that map, you can always recreate the map file by loading the relevant overlays, adjusting the image area (print area) window to a satisfactory scale and/or area, adding a title, border, and other format options, and saving the new features as a new map file.

Another potential problem with a map: A CAMRIS map is simply a list of the overlays that make it up and their locations. If these overlays are deleted or moved outside of CAMRIS to a different directory, the map file will not be able to call them to the screen.

HOW TO SEND IN YOUR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS OR GROUP/PROJECT INFORMATION:

If you have suggestions for this newsletter, a CAMRIS technical question, or a question or ideas on applying GIS to a conservation mapping problem that you would like to share with others, please send them to Suzanne Palminteri, Project Director, at the email or address below.

We will try to answer and print as many ideas and questions as possible, as this newsletter is designed to enhance communication among users.

Send us a brief description of how you are using GIS in your work or studies so we can include it in the next newsletter!! We welcome maps, project descriptions, or creative applications of GIS to your work or studies.

Please send the text in Word 7.0, Word 6.0, RTF, or text format and mention the author, organization, and the format of any images submitted. You can send copies of text and/or images (or CAMRIS overlays), along with questions or comments, to Suzanne Palminteri at: gpowell@sol.racsa.co.cr

Since most of our work has focused in Latin America, we include here CAMRIS contacts from that region who speak English and/or have additional GIS-related expertise (indicated in parentheses after the email address). Email contacts are provided with consent of the individuals.

If you would like to be included in this Contacts List or if you would like to update the information we have here, please send your name and current email address to Suzanne Palminteri. Especially if you live in a region not represented here, we would love to add you to the list!!

Map of giraffe observations from aerial surveys, Laikipia District, Kenya
(Data from Mpala Biological Station)

This newsletter is produced as a product of a long-term GIS training and communication project. It is made possible by financial support from the International Affairs Office of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Arlington, Virginia, USA and administrative support from Rainforest Alliance.