(21 September 2016) The Polytechnic of Milan is increasingly international, as underlined by the UN. The UN peace missions will have an extremely valuable ally: free and open source geospatial software that support the movements and actions of UN peacekeepers based on maps, satellite data and information gathered in war zones. Geospatial Information Section (UNGIS) and the Information and Communications Technology Division (ICTD) of the UN along with the UN Open GIS project, have established a more detailed way to utilise such technology and have launched the UN Open GIS Initiative in order to put the decision into effect. It is a project that will see the participation of experts from the member states, professional organisations and academia. The Polytechnic of Milan takes on the important role in light of this initiative: a task force on Capacity Building chaired by Maria Brovelli from the University, alongside Diego Gonzales (UN) and Ricardo Arias (US South Command). It will also offer online self-training courses on open source geospatial software.
