About me.

Hi! My name is Benny Istanto. I am an agricultural meteorologist by training and a certified GIS Professional (GISP). With over 15 years of experience working with the United Nations and various international organizations, I specialize in integrating advanced GIS modeling with climate technology to support international development initiatives.

I create maps, play with spatial data and satellite imagery. In addition to technical activities, I enjoy listening to Iwan Fals, Led Zeppelin, and MR.BIG, as well as other similar music genres. During my free time, I practice pencak silat, hike, cycle, draw, and occasionally post on social media.

My formal academic background is in Meteorology, and I earned my bachelor’s degree in 2006 from IPB. However, my interests began to expand while I was still a student. I grew to love GIS, remote sensing, and computer programming, and decided to build my work around those fields. I have been fortunate to work with governments, non-government organizations, and international organizations in disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, mitigation, and other fascinating areas.

Through my work, I have had the chance to travel, live in interesting places, learn from different cultures, and enjoy lots of delicious, and sometimes unusual, food. I love what I do and I am eager to keep following this path. People say that the more involved we become, the more interesting the journey gets. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I still do not know.

From June 2012 to August 2021, I was an Earth Observation and Climate Analyst at the United Nations World Food Programme in Indonesia, where I served as a geospatial and climate technologist for the Indonesia Country Office and the Regional Bureau in Bangkok (RBB) for Asia and the Pacific, covering 17 country offices and 5 oversight countries. During my time with WFP, two colleagues and I began working on an award-winning technology innovation project called VAMPIRE (Vulnerability Analysis and Monitoring Platform for the Impact of Regional Events) in 2015, which is now being rebranded as PRISM. In my final four years at WFP, I focused on transforming satellite-based data products into actionable, life-saving insights for hydro-meteorological hazard early warning and early action.

Currently, I work as a Climate Geographer at Geospatial Operations Support Team (GOST) of Development Economic Data Group (DECDG) at The World Bank, Washington DC.

I run a “casual weekend project” called Climate Social Responsibility (CSR) to provide satellite-based climate and vegetation products for free, including rainfall and rainfall anomaly, dry and wet spells, standardized precipitation index, and crop phenology.

Disclaimer: All content on this website does not represent the views of my (current or previous) employer.

Acknowledgement: Development of this website is supported by my cheering team El and my beloved wife, Kiki Kartikasari.

Background.

Education.

Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia (09/2001 - 03/2006)

Sarjana Sains (B.Sc.) in Meteorology with a focus on agriculture meteorology and climatology, computation and agriculture simulation model, satellite meteorology, with minor in geographic information system and remote sensing.

Harvard University on edX, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States (01/2022 - 10/2024)

Awards.

Jacub Rais award

Indonesian Society for Remote Sensing (MAPIN), December 2006.

The Best Author in 15th Annual Scientific gathering and 4th Congress of Indonesian Society for Remote Sensing. Bandung, Indonesia. Paper entitled “Software development for forest fire early warning system in Indonesia”. (in Bahasa Indonesia)

The WFP GIS Community Award

World Food Programme, worldwide

The Best GIS Officer in the 1st WFP GIS Community Award. Rome, Italy. June 2015.

Innovative New Solution to Hunger

World Food Programme, worldwide

VAMPIRE (Vulnerability Analysis Monitoring Platform for the Impact of Regional Events) won the 2017 WFP Innovation Challenge. Rome, Italy. January 2018.

Expertise.

Domains.

  • Atmospheric science, agriculture meteorology and climatology, climate risk
  • GIS, remote-sensing and agriculture related spatial modeling
  • Climate, geo-statistics and other scientific data processing
  • Impact science, early-warning and anticipatory-action
  • Capacity development on geospatial and climate analytics

Tools.

  • ESRI ArcGIS Family: Desktop, Pro, Server, Online, Portal
  • FOSS4G: QGIS, GDAL/OGR, SAGA, Whitebox, CDO, NCO
  • Data Catalogue: GeoNode, CKAN, JKAN
  • Programming: Google Earth Engine, bash, python, arcpy, jupyter or ESRI notebook
  • Design: Photoshop/GIMP and Illustrator/CorelDRAW/Inkscape, Avenza
  • Documentation: Markdown, Material for MkDocs, Jupyter Book, Quarto

Ask Me Something.

It all begins with a question.

I’m moderately active on Telegram. You can discuss GIS and remote sensing, or post questions, in the @gis_id channel, and I will do my best to answer. If you would like to get in touch, my email is below, and you can also reach me through WhatsApp or the message form on this page. Feel free to explore the site and say hello.

Contact.

Get in Touch

benny@istan.to

+1 (940) 604-3852

Currently living in Bogor, Indonesia

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