Attendees from Bangladesh, Comoros, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Tanzania successfully completed an International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) capacity building workshop on Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure, hosted by the Sri Lankan National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA).

Fifteen students spent five days in Sri Lanka’s capital city, Colombo, learning theoretical concepts and SDI best practice from the UK organization OceanWise and practical exercises on data modeling, database management and interoperability from CARIS, utilizing the latest GIS software. The workshop followed the 12th meeting of the North Indian Ocean Hydrographic commission which was attended by a record number of delegates demonstrating the importance of hydrography and marine information in the region.