Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1487760
10 COMMERCIAL 8.12.2022 THE Planning Authority (PA) hosted the closing seminar of the SpatialTrain Scholarship Scheme, which is part-fi- nanced by the European Union through the European Social Fund. e project provided 70 scholarships in the field of geospatial technology (Geomatics) for persons employed within the public service. In his opening address Minister for Public Works and Planning, Dr. Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, stated, "I am satis- fied that the PA has taken this initia- tive to provide more training on spatial data. In this era dominated by informat- ics and communication, it is essential to have spatial information and data more widespread and available to the public so that it can be maintained and analyz- ed better." Parliamentary Secretary for EU funds, Chris Bonett said, "is project is an investment of more than €900,000 fi- nanced by European funds. ese funds continued to help improve the skills people who work in various sectors within the public sector including tour- ism and the environment." In her presentation, Dr Elaine Sci- berras, Spatial Train project leader highlighted how the PA's Scholarship Scheme, enabled participants from various government entities to obtain specialised skills in the acquisition and analysis of spatial data in the physi- cal, natural and social environments, through 3D modelling and simula- tions. is enabled the enhancement of knowledge in an array of fields such as planning, public health, transport, avi- ation, cultural heritage, crime spatial dynamics, ecosystem monitoring, water and marine applications, amongst oth- ers. ese topics aimed to provide the tuition on the principle of geomatics, the use of GIS as well as its applications to the various fields which complement the roles of various government en- tities. erefore, this enabled a more efficient use and understanding of the importance of spatial science and infor- mation, across all government entities. Overall, the value-added knowledge being acquired by these trainees con- tributed to upscale existing skills of these public officers for the analysis and interpretation of spatial data and aims to improve decisions based on in- formed results. e seminar included a number of presentations by participants from Di- ploma and Masters level. In the field of communications, Ing David Scer- ri outlined how through his course he embarked on a nationwide Electromag- netic field (EMF) monitoring exercise along paths and carriageways across the Maltese Islands. e extensive data set collected was then interpolated produc- ing a raster image of the EMF exposure levels. is was later cropped down to public recreation parks in Malta. All parks were found to have an exposure level below the 5% mark of the estab- lished EMF safe levels. Another interesting study was pre- sented by Inspector Shawn Pawney about different methods of measuring crime and understanding the best way to present data on different scales. Since not all crimes are equal, using a Crime Severity/Harm index can give a more realistic view of crime and its socio-eco- nomic impact. Using such an index also proved effective into understanding changes in crime patterns through time and helped identify local changes which influenced the national scale. e ESF.04.071 SpatialTRAIN Schol- arships Scheme project was part-fi- nanced by the European Union – European Social Fund (ESF) under Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2014-2020, "Investing in human capital to create more opportunities and promote the well-being of society". The Spatial Train Scholarships Scheme