CIR Population Cell Data Now Available from CIESIN

Web users can find also some useful information at:

http://www.ciesin.org/datasets/cir/gpopdb-home.html.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 4, 1994

CONTACT: Doug Greenwood (202) 775-6609

Critical Population Data Now Available Through CIESIN

SAGINAW, MI USA-The Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) and the Center for International Research (CIR) of the United States Bureau of the Census announced today that CIR's georeferenced gridded population cell data for twenty foreign nations are now available from CIESIN on request. In a 1992 report, Population Data and Global Environmental Change, the Working Group on Population Data of the International Social Science Council's Standing Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change identified CIR's population grid cell data as a component of the most important demographic data set needed by the international scientific community that studies global environmental change.

Until now, these data were only available for internal use by CIR and some United States government agencies. Over the last two years, CIESIN and CIR have worked together in CIESIN's Information Cooperative program to make these data more widely available to the public. The Information Cooperative is a group of national and international organizations that are collaborating to facilitate public and private access to data and information about global environmental change.

Dr. Roberta Balstad Miller, President and CEO of CIESIN, underscored the importance of this joint effort. "By pooling CIESIN's talents and resources with those of CIR, we have taken a major step forward in making this data available to the wider scientific community. And in view of the upcoming World Population Conference in Cairo, this is also a very timely step. We are grateful to CIR for their cooperation in addressing these needs."

Dr. Judith Banister, Chief of CIR, notes that population is an important variable in global environmental change. "The human dimensions of global change should not and need not be neglected. CIR's population grid cell data are based on the best and most recent demographic data available for each country at the time we mapped the population distribution. We look forward to working with CIESIN to expand the number of countries covered in this valuable data set."

The twenty nations for which population grid cell data are currently available are Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Mali, Oman, Mexico, Malaysia, Netherlands, Portugal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States.

As new data for these and for additional countries become available, they will be incorporated into the collection. The data are available in three electronic formats-ARC/INFO, SYLK, and Excel-with accompanying digital documentation. For specific information about obtaining these data, contact CIESIN User Services at (517) 797-2727 or via e-mail at ciesin.info@ciesin.org.

CIESIN was founded in 1989. Its mission is to provide access to and enhance the use of information worldwide, advancing understanding of human interactions in the environment, and serving the needs of science and public and private decision making. As a consortium, CIESIN draws upon the expertise of universities and non-profit research organizations. CIESIN is headquartered in Saginaw, Michigan, USA.

From: fzimmerm@ciesin.org (Fred Zimmerman)
Newsgroups: sci.geo.eos,bit.listserv.devel-l,bit.listserv.sos-data
Subject: CIR Population Cell Data Now Available from CIESIN
Date: 9 Aug 1994 18:36:44 GMT
Organization: CIESIN -- Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network
Message-ID: <328ibs$26i@lastactionhero.rs.itd.umich.edu>