The ATREE-IDRISI Resource Center
Background
Al-Idrisi was born Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Idris Ash-Sharif
in 1099 C.E. Also known by his abbreviated name Al-Sharif Al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi, he was
educated at Cordova and became a cartographer and geographer of major significance during
the medieval period. Al-Idrisi died circa 1166 C.E. Indeed, many scholars regard him as
the greatest geographer and cartographer of the Middle Ages.
It is to this spirit of collaboration in geographic inquiry that the IDRISI Software and Clark
Labs is dedicated.
Clark Labs (www.clarklabs.org) was founded in 1987 by Geography Professor, Ron Eastman, as
the IDRISI Project. Today, the organization is one of four centers within the University's
George Perkins Marsh Institute at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA and
enjoys close ties with the Graduate School of Geography and the International Development Program.
Activities are broadly grouped into three areas: software development, distribution and support;
research; educational programs.
Clark Labs believe strongly in the democratization of technology. Tools such as GIS should be
available to all who need them, not just those with significant financial resources. Our status
as a research-driven not-for-profit organization allows us to fulfill that commitment. We offer
powerful, technologically advanced products that fulfill the needs of the most sophisticated
professionals at pricing that make them attainable for all user levels. Idrisi's ease of use
also makes it the program of choice for teaching GIS and Image Processing at the university level.
Activities are funded through research grants and the sale of our software products. They are
committed to maintaining the viability and continued progress of Clark Labs and to providing
access to the frontiers of spatial analysis.
Research at Clark Labs
The Clark Labs is dedicated to the research and development of geographic information technologies
for effective environmental management. With a team of research scientists, we have pioneered both
the theoretical advancement and application of GIS in areas such as decision support, change and
time series analysis, digital image processing, uncertainty management, and technology transfer.
The IDRISI system is a manifestation of this union of theoretical and applied research and, as a
result, provides an analytical depth that is unique to the industry.
Clark Labs International Network of Centers
In 1995, the Clark Labs established the first IDRISI Resource Center
(IRC). There now have 14 such centers around the world (http://www.clarklabs.org/InternationalR.asp?cat=3).
These centers offer IDRISI-related resources for our users abroad.
Each center makes available basic information about IDRISI, and
many offer training in IDRISI and CartaLinx, host IDRISI User's
Meetings, and represent Clark Labs at local conferences. Some IRC's
also distribute IDRISI. In addition, IRC's may offer specific products
and services designed to meet the needs of a local or linguistic
community. Although closely linked to the Clark Labs, each center
operates as an independent project. They all have a common commitment
to GIS education and research.
ATREE is proud to announce that it has become the fourteenth IDRISI Resource Center. Almost all of
the IRC's are based in University Departments and Institutes with a strong research and academic
programs. ATREE and Clark Laboratories signed an MOU in May 2002 and this was followed by a grant
of licences and training modules for software (IDRISI 32 and Cartalinx) from Clark Laboratories.
ATREE is currently strengthening its training, teaching and research programs in Landscape ecology
and Watershed hydrology by incorporating the latest techniques in GIS and Remote Sensing applications
using IDRISI. We are working on a range of applied research projects in Landscape ecology that will
exclusively use IDRISI software. The proposed projects include amongst others a eco-climatic
classification of forest vegetation in India, assessment of changes in forest cover over time and
development of fuzzy and sub-pixel vegetation classification systems. We also propose to use IDRISI
and Cartalinx to teach short courses in Landscape ecology and GIS/Remote Sensing applications for
environmental professionals.
These efforts will considerably enhance its contribution to India's conservation planning and
biodiversity assessment.
Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy (jagdish@atree.org)
is the coordinator of the ATREE-IDRISI Resource Center
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