Computers & Geosciences, Volume 23, Number 4 May, 1997




		
Klaus Biter

Jose Carmona 

Departament de Geoquimica, Petrologia i Prospeccio Geologica

Facultat de Geologia

Universitat Barcelona

E-08071 Barcelona

Espana

klaus@natura.geo.ub.es




John C. Butler


Department of Geosciences


University of Houston


Houston, TX  77204


jbutler@uh.edu










Comments From the Associate Editor





	


	This months issue of C:&G is a special issue on Visualization.  A set of Internet Links is available from the ANON  home page.


	The editors of Computers and Geosciences are interested in how different groups (faculty, companies, scientific organizations, etc.) are using the Internet.  Given the international flavor of the journal, its readers and its contributors, we believe that there is an interest in learning from the experiences of others across the globe.  This month Dr. Klaus Bitzer of the University of Barcelona has agreed to provide an overview of Internet applications in Spain.  We would welcome such overviews from readers in other countries.




Evolution of Internet Resources in Spain



	

Within only a little more than 5 years, use of Internet resources in Spain has 
immensely spread.  Users in science and economy as well as private users can 
connect to the Internet using the Spanish net called RedIRIS, which has rapidly 
grown during the last 5 years. When RedIRIS was formed in 1990, only 4 computers
were connected, a number which had increased to more than 42,000 in 1995.  Before
the development of RedIRIS, several academic networks already existed in Spain 
such as DECNET or BITNET, which could be connected to the Internet but at 
low data transmission rates. In 1985, the Spanish government initiated the 
development of an academic net in order to connect universities and research 
centers.  Similar to other European countries, this net was based on the OSI 
standard.  In 1988, the precursor of the current RedIRIS, the IRIS program 
(InterconexiÛn de los Recursos Inform·ticos de las universidades y organismos 
p™blicos de investigaciÛn de EspaÒa) was launched. In 1990, the IP protocol was 
adapted for the net and the name RedIRIS was created. Currently, more than 250 
institutions are members of RedIRIS with nodes in every Spanish region. The 
RedIRIS is administrated by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientÌficas 
(CSIC). Since 1994, internet access in Spain is public. In 1995, the Spanish 
telephone company (Compania Telefonica Nacional de EspaÒa) introduced the 
InfovÌa system, which allows users without access to a local node to connect 
with the internet. RedIRIS can be accessed through URL -- http://www.rediris.es. 
Several services are available at this site to find specific information on 
Spanish internet servers.


	After installing RedIRIS, first internet servers were installed at Spanish 
universities. In 1992, the first Gopher-server was installed at the Universitat 
Jaume I in CastellÛn. At the end of 1993, 13 web servers were available in 
Spain. Since then, the number of Spanish web resources as well as gopher- and 
ftp-servers has rapidly grown and scientific information of Spanish academic 
institutions is increasingly being made public through the Internet. This year, 
the Open University of Catalunya (http://www.uoc.es/index.html) is starting to 
use the Internet for educational purposes. A good place to start to connect to 
Spanish academic resources. 
A regional search can also be 
performed which provides  non-academic resources.



	Currently, only few geoscientific academic institutions are offering scientific 
information through the Internet, although this is quickly changing  . A review which we conducted during the last weeks showed, that the  majority of Spanish geoscientific websites at universities is mainly intended to distribute administrative information. Some of these sites were poorly  maintained and even did not offer an e-mail address. While we can't mention all  geoscientific Internet sites in Spain, we would like to mention some of the well maintained sites like the website of the Facultad de Ciencias GeolÛgicas de la  Universidad Complutense de Madrid which is quite informative. A useful website has also been prepared by  the Instituto Andaluz de GeofÌsica with a lot of information on seismicity in  Spain. A well maintained site on hydrology can  be found at the Instituto del Agua at Granada University .  The Departamento de GeografÌa, 
Urbanismo y OrdenaciÛn del Territorio at the Universidad de Cantabria also 
offers an overview over ongoing research and provides links to other geographic 
departments ) in Spain.


	At the Departament de GeoquÌmica, Petrologia i Prospeccio GeolÚgica at Barcelona
University, we maintain a web page with a collection of all Spanish geoscience 
internet resources. 

	By the establishment of the RedIRIS and the generally high level of
hardware equipment available in Spanish universities and academic institutions, 
an excellent base has been laid in the recent years to promote Internet use in 
Geosciences in Spain. Although the number of geoscientific Internet resources in
Spain is still limited, we expect that Spanish geoscientists will rapidly make 
use of this communication infrastructure.


 Since April 5, 1997



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