Development of a web based GIS for visualization and monitoring of forest cover in Uganda: a case of Kibaale district, Uganda.

Abstract

This project was undertaken to develop a prototype web gis for visualization and monitoring of forest cover through the exploitation of open source geospatial software and technology in the design and development process. This was achieved through the creation of a database in which forest cover data about Kibaale district was stored and content served through a GIS server to intranet or internet clients. The data adopted in the study was produced as part of objective one of the research project of determining forest over changes in Kibaale District Uganda between 2013 and 2018. This was done by producing landcover maps of the region for both years and analyzing the landcover changes between them. The Web-GIS provides a platform where the users can access, analyse, visualise and understand the data in a web browser interface. It is noteworthy to indicate that as a prototype, the Web-GIS only displays forest cover data within the study area but could be expanded to cover the entire country Uganda. The web gis prototype can be used to visualize, share, publish statistics on the forest cover changes in the region and do simple manipulation. Further inclusion of other geoprocessing tools in the future could enrich the webGIS.