🚀 go-pugleaf

FYI.  Please feel free to forward this announcement to other relevant
listservs and newsgroups. 

Note that those interested in obtaining this data should contact CIESIN
via Internet e-mail to CIESIN.Info@ciesin.org or telephone to
517/797-2700.

Web users can find also some useful information at
http://www.ciesin.org/datasets/cir/gpopdb-home.html.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         CONTACT: Doug Greenwood
August 4, 1994                   (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.