Pacific Islands GIS/RS User Conference, Fiji -December 4-7, 2007 Theme: "Networking Pacific Island Countries"
The Pacific Islands GIS and RS User Conference were held in Suva from December 4 to 7 last year at the lower campus of the University of the South Pacific. The conference was organized by an independent conference committee with members from the Secretariat of the Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), the University of the South Pacific (USP), the Fiji Land Information Support Centre (FLIS), the Fiji Electricity Authority (FEA), the Native Land Trust Board (NLTB) and the Forestry Department. About 200 people from more than 20 different countries attended the conference. The presenters of the conference came from Australia, Canada, the Cook Islands, Fiji, France, Germany, Hawaii, Ireland, Kiribati, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu.
Dr. Wolf Forstreuter, from the conference committee, announced the results as below:
1) The conference proved again to be an ideal platform to exchange ideas between GIS users of Pacific Island Countries. The conference has developed to become the most important meeting point in the areas of GIS and remote sensing (RS) in the Pacific and it establishes essential networks.
2) The conference is also the most important contact point between software, hardware and satellite image data sellers and users in the Pacific states.
3) In the meantime, the conference is a crucial platform to outline and monitor methods of GIS and RS applications, which need to be adapted to Pacific Island conditions.
4) Each year the range of GIS and RS technologies presented cover an array of applications including the management of resources of the small-island Pacific nations. GIS for the utility sector, forest function maps to identify areas to be protected, shallow water bathymetry derived from satellite imagery, and areas identified for developments in flood zones are some of the applications where the developments of GIS and RS in the region have been applied.