The Eighth Annual Caribbean Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Conference gets officially underway today at the Hilton Barbados.
The week-long conference will see GIS professionals joining together to discuss and share information about important topics impacting Caribbean communities and exactly how GIS is being used to facilitate decisions and actions.
The event is being hosted by the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association and according to Executive Director Wendy Nelson will feature two keynote addresses and have a full day track developed in partnership with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency to explore best practices for utilising GIS and other tools to prepare for, respond to and manage disasters.
“These GIS professionals are the people – primarily government employees, who use computer mapping technology to make decisions a little easier for government officials and make government more efficient,” she stated, noting that this included advising on where to put roads or even
where to concentrate on a more public response for Zika or whatever illness may be affecting the population at the time.
“For example, you can see where it is occurring and track where the virus is heading. So whatever decision that has to be made that involves a location or an emergency response is where this type of work would come in,” she told The Barbados Advocate.
Conference partici-pants are from 33 countries, including the majority of the Caribbean nations, as well as United Kingdom, United States, Canada, the Philippines and other territories. (JMB)
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