Nature of our Collaboration

The UCSC is a leading institution for higher learning that engages in R&D in GIS and related technologies. Geo Informatics Lanka is a leading private institution that engages in GIS related service provision for the Sri Lankan industry. Both institutions stand to benefit immensely by a fruitful mutual collaboration.
The collaboration was conceived on August of 2007 and it is decided that both parties initially collaborate on a short-term project on a no-strings-attached basis till enough mutual understanding is acquired to go ahead with a longer term arrangement.
The rationale for the collaboration, in no particular order is:

• The UCSC is very strong in the IT portion of the (GIS = Geography + IT) equation.
• The UCSC has a constant flow of high quality incoming students.
• Geo Informatics Lanka has very good GIS hardware, software, and data resources.
• Geo Informatics Lanka has been providing GIS services to the government and non-government sectors for a long time and has thus acquired an extensive experience, reputation and contacts in the local geo-spatial community.
• Research by UCSC can be motivated and supported through real-world considerations of commercial applications at Geo Informatics Lanka.
• A long term collaboration with Geo Informatics Lanka would be one of the justifications for upgrading the GIS Lab as a 'Center' within the UCSC and a catalyst for the evolution of the UCSC GIS Lab as a center of excellence in GIS.
• There are a lot of multi-million rupee GIS based government projects that are executed by foreign companies and consultants, that could have been handled by a local agency, such as the one envisioned in this collaboration.
• The collaboration could lead to results that are in the national interest.