The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) was established in 1975 under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU).
It is an inter-governmental organization and currently has contracting Member States in the Eastern and Southern Africa Regions
Our Vision
To be a Premier Centre of Excellence in the provision of geo-information and allied technologies for sustainable development in the member States and other stakeholders.
Our Mission
To strengthen the member States and our stakeholders’ capacity through Generation, Application and Dissemination of Geo-information and Allied Technologies for sustainable development.
Our Approach
RCMRD programmes are oriented towards sustainable applications in natural resource management, infrastructure and environmental management utilizing Geo-Information Technologies.
Advisory/Project Services
RCMRD offers competitive services in the fields of its expertise such as:-
- Spatial Decision Support Systems
- Management of Urban Areas, Utilities and Facilities.
- GIS Application in the Management of Natural Resources.
- Land Suitability Mapping & Inventorying.
- Acquisition of appropriate mapping data, and software equipment.
- Formulation of Data Policies and Infrastructure.
- Food Security & Environmental Information Systems.
- Web Mapping.
- Digital Cadastral Surveys.
- Flood Prediction & Modeling.
- Land Management Information Systems.
- Resource Mapping.
- Natural hazards mapping and forecasting.
- Engineering, Structure, Hydrographic and Deformation Surveys.
- Digital Photogrammetry.
- Information Technology solutions and services.
- Calibration, Service & Repair of surveying and mapping equipment.
Capacity Development
Services offered by RCMRD are complemented by courses such as:
- Remote Sensing (RS) & Satellite Image Processing/Interpretation.
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Global Positioning/ Navigation Systems (GPS) including their applications:
- Geo-spatial database development and management.
- Web Applications & Mapping.
- Mobile Mapping.
- Total Stations usage and application.
- Computer Aided Designs (CAD).
- Integrated Water Resources Management.
- Land Information Management Systems.
- Servicing, Repair & Calibration of survey equipment.
Information Communication Technology courses offered at the RCMRD caters for corporate organizations and the general public as Short Programmes, Academic Programmes, Corporate Programmes and as End-User Application Courses
Our Facilities
RCMRD is situated on the eastern side of Nairobi with;
- 4 state of-art computer rooms dedicated to practical instructor led training information Communication Technology (ICT), Global Positioning/Navigation Systems (GPS), Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
- 4 LECTURE Halls
- 2 Conference Halls
- Laboratories for GIS and RS Analysis
- Field Vehicles
- Continuous Observation Station (CORS - GPS/GNSS) plus various surveying and mapping equipment Photogrammetric Work Station
Research and Development
RCMRD has a full-fledged research and development capacity. It conducts research and development activities in all its fields expertise RCMRD Member States:
- Botswana
- Burundi
- Comoros
- Ethiopia
- Eswatini
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Mauritius
- Namibia
- Rwanda
- Seychelles
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Tanzania
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Spatial Data Supply
The RCMRD offers satellite imagery data products;
- Very High Resolution Data (higher than 5 Meters Resolution) SPOT5, Ikonos, Pleiades, KompSat, QuickBird, WorldView 1&2, GeoEye 1&2 amongst others
- High Resolution Data (5 - 10 Meters Resolution) SPOT 4, ASTER and a variety of LIDAR/RADAR Imagery (RADARSAT, TerraSAR-X, Magellan), AVNIR-2, PRISM and others)
- Medium Resolution Data (10 - 50 Meters Resolution) Landsat Series, Hyperion, ASAR, SAR, SPOT-Veg, CBERS-2, IR-MSS, EO-1 etc.
- Low Resolution Data (lewer than 60 Meters Resolution) MERIS, WFI, MODIS, SPOT - VGT etc