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   Background of this website

  Under the supervision of the GETS Network co-ordinator ITC (Enschedé) and Geodan (Amsterdam), multimedia tools, services and documentation on the research results and (GIS) databases in the GETS-project were developed. Both the databases, methods and research results have to be communicated and made widely available to European researchers and public administration involved in environmental management.

   Motives

   Many interdisciplinary research projects produce large amount of scientific results that are communicated through publications and presentations. Often however, the collective knowledge, the skills and the experience which are present in the research teams, get lost or become inaccessible after the end of the project. Also the carefully collected data, the developed databases and GIS data, are at risk to disappear in drawers or forgotten sections of hard disks. New research groups or individual researchers who want to carry on with comparable research, or who want to check the quality of used data and models, often have a hard time reproducing data and necessary knowledge.

   In this project where the researchers and target groups are separated by large distances, a special effort is made to overcome this risk of knowledge waste. Multimedia tools and services are developed for a better understanding, effective communication and dissemination via the Internet of knowledge, results and resources among the different groups.

   Objectives

   The following specific objectives were formulated for this part of the GETS project.

  Develop and implement multimedia tools and services:

• to improve the understanding of project results and applications
• to disseminate the research results and knowledge
• to improve the communication in and outside the project
• to provide insight and access to resources  (developed databases, maps and metadata)

  These objectives are targeted to the research community, the public administration and  the private industry, insofar as these groups are involved in EIA, geomorphology and transportation systems.

   Acknowledgements

After ending 14 months GETS I want to thank the following people and groups for their contributions to this website/CD and my stays at their universities. In the first place all researchers for giving me feedback to the design, functionality and content of the general web pages and the case study sections. 

The Cantabria group (CITIMAC) I want to thank for making me feel at home in a relaxed cooperative atmosphere, helping me with arranging my house and university affairs (Jurjen and Nieve), the long siestas (I miss them), the picknick (Nieve) and the long funny anecdotes of professor Antonio Cendrero in Spanish (just to quick to follow...) and their wonderful beaches. Jurjen Bertens I want to thank for preventing me to make to most boring website on earth with his marvelous drawings. 

The Milan group (DISAT) for supporting me in a very busy period in a real busy town. Dinand Alkema for his very active input in the model demo Trento and being so patient with me and staying two weeks in his home in Milan! Mattias for his struggle with my labtop (which he has won). The nice girls in the lab to keep me inspired. 

The Vienna group for their hospitality and the easy and smooth arrangement of my stay by professor Berthold Bauer. Alessandro Ghinoi for his enthusiasm in showing me around Vienna, learning Frontpage himself and saving me lots of work and last but not least having the courage to install a webcam on his desk to show us if he was really working.. 

The Utrecht group for their flexible professor (Theo van Asch) and the possibilities to discuss things further in the pub. Karin for the sweet way of giving me though critics and the installation of the third webcam of the project. 

The Enschede group (ITC) for their feedback, the quite train trips to the edge of my country, the lunches, and Davide and Andrea for eating pizza's in Amsterdam (which is a big sacrifice for Italians), Anupma for her expert judgment on the website and professor Andrea Fabbri for his faith and making everything possible. 

The Modena group for improving my Italian (by not talking English to me), their beautiful quite town with the best take-away lunches I ever had, arranging my stay, the nice field excursions by professor Doriano Castaldini and letting me taste the famous Aceto Balsamica of professor Mario Panizza. 

The Trento administration and especially Francesca de Francesch for the perfectly organized conference and the delicious meals. 

The SPINlab and GIS group of regional economy of the Vrije Universiteit for their support and patience. Nils de Reus for the technical support in html, java and asp problems. Joost Buurman for his advices in web design. Eric Koomen for using his PC in the evenings. Nancy Omtzigt for the struggle installing the WebMapping software. Euro, Mathilde, Elly, Daphne, Margaret, Jasper, Bart and Eduardo for their moral support. Bart Berkhout for his Flash animations and graphical design work.

Last but not least my personal coach and Professor Henk Scholten from Geodan for his continuous support and creative solutions for several problems on my way.

Alfred Wagtendonk, Amsterdam, 1 November 2001