One of the deliverables of both Li4LaM project and Edu4Geo project is delivery of Unmanned Airial Vehicles (UAVs) for partner Ethiopian Universities. Accordingly, Debre Markos University (DMU) and Bahir Dar University (BDU) each received two UAVs one from Li4LaM project and one from Edu4Geo project; whereas Addis Abeba University (AAU) and Weldia University (WU), each received one UAV from the Li4LaM project. These UAVs are very essential to gather land-related data, as clearly set in the project document, for land administration and use purposes. It is very supportive for both rural and urban cadastre. Delivery of these UAVs is one remarkable activity; however, knowledge and skill to use UAVs has paramount importance.
The practical and conceptual training workshop was conducted from October 26 – 29/2025 in Ethiopia. During the first day, the main focus was workshop on evaluation on the performance the work packages of Edu4Geo project. Dr Sayeh Kassaw, the national coordinator of the project and president of Debre Markos University, opened the workshop by welcome speech. Ass. Prof. Reinfried Mansberger, the first Honoris causa of DMU and international coordinator of the previous EduLAND project; and Dr Thomas Bauer the International Coordinator of the Edu4Geo project also noted their introductory speeches concerning the workshop. Then all the day round, evaluation of the project performance activities and the focus areas during the remaining times of the project were presented and discussed. In this workshop, some advisory board members availed and contributed valuable comments for the successful accomplishment of the project activities.
Starting 27th of October, the workshop was entirely training on how to use the UAVs. The site selected for the practical training was in Sululta area of Sheger city. In this training most project team members participated. The number of participants were five from DMU, four from BDU, six from AAU and two from WU. The trainers were from Northern partners: Reinfried Mansberger and Thomas Bauer from University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU); and Piotr Wᶒźyk and Wojtek, from Krakow Agricultural University (KAU). The main focus areas of the training were mission planning, flight of UAVs and processing data using Agisoft software. Initially, for the first half day, introductory conceptual training was conducted followed by practical trainings starting afternoon session and the whole time of the next day. In this practical training, each trainee was able to manage mission planning and flighting of UAVs. The practical training at Sululta rural areas was really very impressive and has enabled trainees to manage UAV flights by themselves. On the third date, the data collected by UAVs were analyzed using Agisoft software at AAU building college lab room.
For the field level practical training, GCPs were set by using RTK GPS and this was connected with Addis Abeba Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS). For fixing GCPs and connecting with CORS, we received RTK GPS and password of the CORS from Ethiopian Space Science and Geospatial Sciences Institute; we are thankful for the support by the institute and to Yonas Teklu from the institute.