Nile Google: More than 350 Documents Added to the Document Database

In the last months, 350 documents have been added to the Nile Google. The compilation of the document database was the next step in the progress of the library system that was developed in collaboration with the Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat (Nile SEC) library.

This process started in May 2007, and it involves searching for the relevant documents from different sources, selecting and adding them to the archive by geo-referencing. The documents for the archive have been gathered from a number of information sources including: The FAO Corporate Document Repository, Google and a number of organizational websites. Caution has been taken to ensure that the public use and collection of these documents is permitted. The documents for the system must be spatial text documents related to agriculture and water resources in the Nile Basin region.

The process of geo-referencing begins with scanning through the document to find the place names. The co-ordinates of these place names are then entered into the library system, thereby linking the document to the geographical places mentioned in it. A built-in gazetteer with more than 100.000 geographic names for the Nile Basin is used to locate the co-ordinates. The document is then added to the search index and stored in the archive.

The archive currently has more than 350 documents stored in it and is fully searchable using an interface that allows the user to find spatial text documents, using the GIS component of the library system. The user can select any geographic area and access the relevant text references through a keyword box. A built-in full-text search engine is employed to retrieve all documents of interest within the user’s selected area.

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