Release of Global Irrigated Area Mapping (GIAM) Knowledge Gateway

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) announcd the release of the Global Irrigated Area Mapping (GIAM) knowledge gateway: http://www.iwmigiam.org
This is the first satellite sensor based global map of irrigated area. The site provides country-by-country statistics of irrigated areas. The web map option allows you to quickly zoom into area of your interest and produce an irrigated area map of your area. All data and products are available for download from the web portal (http://www.iwmigiam.org). Further details of the web portal are provided:
 1.      GIAM statistics: Irrigated area statistics for 175 Countries: http://www.iwmigiam.org/stats 
GIAM statistics page provides irrigated area statistics for the: (a) World, (b) Continents, (c) 175 Countries in the world, (d) sub-National (e.g., state, district), and (e) river basins. The World, Continent, and Country statistics are based on GIAM 10 km work and consists of season 1, season 2, continuous, and annualized irrigated areas. It also provides total area available for irrigation (TAAI), which is nearest equivalent to FAO’s “equipped areas for irrigation”. The sub-national statistics (e.g., state, district) are extracted from the GIAM 500 m maps. The statistics of GIAM 30 m work for the 3 river basins have also been made available.
All statistics are made available through drop down menus or by clicking on the map. The statistics of GIAM are compared with FAO\UF map for every Country. We have also compared the results with the National statistics.
2.      GIAM Map Server: http://giam.iwmi.org/mapper.asp   
GIAM web map server makes it possible to zoom into the area of interest and instantly print the dynamic and automated map composition. Spatial spread of irrigated areas of any country in the world can be obtained instantaneously by calling the country from a drop-down menu. The maps are made printable with all map layout features. The map is at 10 km resolution. When you zoom into local areas the map will have many features, in addition to irrigated areas, such as road network, streams, names of the places, etc.
3.      GIAM on Google: http://www.iwmigiam.org/info/main/index.asp
You can put the GIAM map on Google Earth by downloading the “kmz” file made available in the “GIAM in Google” in http://www.iwmigiam.org/info/main/index.asp. Note that Google Earth (a free software) should be installed in your computer. Then download the GIAM map “kmz” files from the link provided navigate the GIAM map over Google Earth images.
4.      GIAM web portal: http://www.iwmigiam.org
This is the dedicated main GIAM product and data gateway. This is the place to find GIAM maps, images, methods documents, area calculation procedures, posters, animations, comparisons, and a host of other data and products.
The GIAM web portal has products and data of GIAM 10 km, GIAM 500 m and GIAM 30 m.
5.      Review documents: The detailed GIAM document is made available in HTML and PDF format: http://www.iwmigiam.org/info/GMI-DOC/documentation.asp
GIAM RR #105 (made available in pdf)
GIAM detailed document (made available both in pdf and as html browsable).