In this issue of OGC user we look at two international portals for data sharing, one large and one small. GeoNetwork is the Spatial Data and Information Portal of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, providing a wide variety of UN organizations and other groups with interactive maps, satellite imagery and related spatial databases from FAO units and other organizations. The King George Island GIS (KGIS) project of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) provides international teams with data to support research and environmental management on the island.

by Lance McKee

and Jeroen Ticheler
ARTEMIS - SDRN - FAO-UN
Room F817
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00100 Rome - Italy
Jeroen.Ticheler@fao.org

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information to help countries modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensure good nutrition for all. FAO focuses special attention on developing rural areas, where 70 percent of the world's poor and hungry people live.

Steffen Vogt
Institut f. Physische Geographie
Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet Freiburg
Werderring 4, D-79085 Freiburg, Germany
email: steffen.vogt@geographie.uni-freiburg.de

Probably nowhere else in Antarctica is the need for coordinated approaches in research activities and environmental management more evident than on King George Island. This is reflected by the recommendation of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) adopted at the XXVIth Meeting of SCAR in Tokyo, July 2000, which calls for efforts to integrate scientific objectives and for collaboration among the nations working on the island. The King George Island GIS (KGIS) project provides a fundamental contribution to these endeavors.