The Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council virtual annual conference was a success with active interaction between participants from across the region and the globe, says council chairperson Wolf Forstreuter.

The conference, hosted by the Vanuatu Government, ended today.

About 70 presenters from 19 different countries and 300 participants from across the Pacific Islands countries participated in the conference.

Mr Forstreuter said the conference again showed the interaction of the three major players – Pacific Islands user; scientists; and companies.

“The conference proved again to be the largest in the Pacific if numbers of Pacific users are counted,” he said.

“New applications were shown where artificial intelligence for semi-automatic image classification was presented from companies and universities.

“Pacific Islands remote sensing application was demonstrated where the local needs and conditions are interesting for companies and scientists.”

The conference was also the first time that the USP network was used for the conference to bridge low bandwidth internet in some Pacific Island Countries.

Mr Forstreuter added that the important social functions where essential knowledge interchange happens could not run in a virtual conference.

He hopes this would change once international flights resume.

The 2022 Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council conference will be confirmed early next year.

The conference was a team effort of the council with institutional support from USP and major financial support was provided by company MAXAR.

Additional support was provided by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Bluecham, Pacific Community – Pacific Risk Information System, Lion One and Open Street Map Fiji.

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