News

Unveiling the New Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) Workstation:
A Networked Approach to Building Food Security Knowledge

3 November 2008

The new GIEWS Workstation presents a radical shift in thinking from previous versions. Making the most of collaborative “Web 2.0” technologies, it encourages users not only to add their own data, but to also directly modify the workstation to suit their own needs.

> Download the new GIEWS Workstation Note: Both Windows and Linux installers are available. After installation, it is strongly recommended to download and import the GIS layers available from the "Downloads" page.

A Networked Approach

Besides the fresh look and feel, and a user friendly interface, what are the workstation’s new features?

The new workstation is a networking tool. This means that workstations set up in many different countries can seamlessly exchange their information. Users all over the world not only enrich the workstation by uploading data, they can also contribute ideas and tools for developing it further.

The processes that went into building the network have been equally important. A great deal of work has gone into harmonizing data and standards to make it easy to exchange data across borders or even among institutions in the same country. The dialogues behind this process have helped build very strong links to national institutions.

The workstation’s performance - even with low bandwidth - has also been greatly improved.

A Flexible Structure

The new workstation is made up of a set of modules and tools These can be updated and modified separately without upsetting the entire structure of the workstation.

Furthermore, the workstation’s "open source" program code can be downloaded by developers all over the world and adapted to their needs. In this way, development becomes an ongoing, collaborative exercise that efficiently meets changing requirements. Developers also have a forum and a “wiki” where they can post their new findings and ask questions.

Improving Food Security Analysis

Thanks to a series of partnerships, the workstation provides data not only from FAO, but also from the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organization, World Development Indicators, and will soon include data from the World Bank’s series of Household Budget Surveys.

Future developments include improving tools for bringing together complex data for:
- food security analysis;
- drought management;
- price transmission; and
- vulnerability analysis.

A Decision Making Tool

This ability to pull together and compare different types of information – such as market prices, rainfall data, crop growing season data, etc. - is vital for policy makers who need to examine many aspects of the food security situation before making decisions.

> Try out the new workstation

> Read about how the workstation is being used to monitor soaring food prices in Armenia