Large Grant To UN For GIS Development In World's Poorest Cities

"The money is going to the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), set up to help governments tackle the problems of rapid urbanisation. It would help city planners to identify areas with high infant mortality rates, for example, or slums without basic services, helping them to target their resources. "Urban indicators they will be able to quantify include poverty, environmental degradation, inadequate services, infrastructure degeneration, and lack of access to land and shelter.""The grant, which totals $15,162,500, will provide each city with about $15,000-worth of geographic information systems (GIS) software, technical support, upgrades and training." "In 2003 about 350 cities are likely to benefit, with the others included later."