PhilGeo hosts GIS Day celebration

The Philippine Geomatics Association Inc. (PhilGeo) hosted this year’s celebration of World GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day yesterday at the RCBC Plaza Auditorium in Makati City. The theme for the day’s seminar was "Unity in Geomatics."

Geomatics refers to a field that systematically integrates the acquisition and management of geographic location and relationship (spatial) data for scientific, administrative, legal and technical purposes.

World GIS Day is an annual event celebrated globally to create greater awareness among the youth, especially students, about geography and geographic information.

For the past two years, the Philippines has joined other nations in commemorating the event through the conduct of seminars, conferences and other activities to encourage the greater use of geographic information in various fields through innovative applications.

Secretary Heherson Alvarez was the keynote speaker at the World GIS Day celebration. PhilGeo chairman Virgilio Santos presented the plans and programs of the association.

Speakers in the policy forum were National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria) administrator Isidro Fajardo for the government; University of the Philippines’ College of Engineering dean Edgardo Atanacio for the academe; and PhilGeo vice president Bayani Paz Jr. for the geomatics industry.

PhilGeo was organized primarily in response to a call made by the government sector, through Namria, for private firms to band together and present a unified voice in the promotion of the geomatics industry and private sector interest in the field.

PhilGeo founding-members are the following: Amellar Solutions, BayanMAP Corp., Certeza Surveying and Aerophoto Systems Inc., CIM Technologies Inc., Cybersoft, FF Cruz & Co. Inc., Geospatial Solutions, Geo Analytika, Geodata Systems Technologies, Geo-Surveys and Mapping Inc., Hermes Surveying and Trading, Intergraph Phils., PACER Technologies, SRDP Consulting Inc., Systems Technology and Research Center, the GIS Center and the Universal Cartographic and Development Corp.

Aside from Santos of FF Cruz and Paz of BayanMAP, other officers of PhilGeo are Efren Ricalde (GeoSpatial Solutions), president; James Dexter Grageda (GSMI), secretary; Richard Jude Limgenco (CIM Technologies), treasurer; and Sergio Abad III (GeoAnalytica), auditor.