cartome.org

5 February 2002

Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Conference
Preliminary announcement

GSDI 6 Conference - From Global to local

September 16-19th 2002

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

The Sixth Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Conference will take place in Budapest Hungary from September 16-19th 2002

GSDI

The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure is coordinated actions of nations and organizations that promotes awareness and implementation of complimentary policies, common standards and effective mechanisms for the development and availability of interoperable digital geographic data and technologies to support decision making at all scales for multiple purposes.

GSDI is being advanced through the leadership of many nations and organisations represented in the GSDI Steering Committee They have identified a set of core goals to help advance awareness, acceptance and implementation of globally compatible spatial data infrastructures at the local, national, and regional levels.

GSDI aims:

· Articulate the operational environment needed to achieve global SDI compatibility.

· Help build globally-compatible SDI capacity around the world.

· Educate decision-makers on the benefits of GSDI inside and outside their borders.

· Assure that different SDI related policies could be facilitated by a GSDI.

· Advance the GSDI mission until a global SDI is achieved.

Working Groups:

GSDI has many working groups to help reach its aims.

Annual Conferences:

The GSDI conferences provide a major international forum for the discussion of a wide range of scientific and policy-related issues associated with the use of geographic information technologies and the development of associated products and services. The sixth conference in this series will be held in Budapest in September 2002. It builds upon the momentum that GSDI generated as a result of previous conferences in Bonn, Germany (1996), Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1997), Canberra, Australia (1998), Capetown, South Africa (2000), and Cartagena, Colombia (2001).

GSDI 6 Conference - From global to local

GSDI 6 is being organised by the European Umbrella Organisation for Geographic Information (EUROGI) in conjunction with the Hungarian national GI association (HUNAGI). The theme for this conference is 'From global to local'. This emphasises the extent to which the GSDI must be seen as part of an overall strategy for geographic information. The decision to hold a conference on this topic in Europe at the present time is particularly appropriate given the large number of local, national and EU initiatives that are under way to modernise government.

Conference topics will include reports on many local, national and regional SDI initiatives throughout the globe and their impact on governments. All authors, when presenting local and/or national SDI initiatives, will be expected to interpret the meaning into a global context. Leading representatives for the GI industry will also be invited to give their views on new trends and emerging technologies. Other presentations will include reports on the work that is being carried out by the GSDI Secretariat and its Working Groups under the auspices of its International Steering Committee. In addition, briefings will be given on current developments from major regions of the world and from sister organisations including Digital Earth, GDIN, Global Mapping, ISO and UNGIWG.

A provisional programme and details about registration will be made available in March 2002.

Call for Papers

Papers and short presentations are also invited from individuals or organisations on the following conference topics:

- Regional and national SDIs in the context of eGovernment.

- State/provincial/ metropolitan SDI experiences.

- Financing SDI development.

- Data sharing initiatives.

- Innovations in inter-organisational collaboration: e.g. the Dutch large scale mapping project (GBKN).

- Decision support systems.

Individuals or organisations wishing to make a presentation are invited to submit an abstract (200-300 words in length, plus affiliation and contact details) describing the content of their proposed presentation to EUROGI (eurogi@euronet.nl) by December 31st 2001. They will receive notification of the outcome of their application from EUROGI by February 15th 2002.

Additional Information

General information about the conference can be obtained from:

EUROGI – EUROpean umbrella organisation for Geographical Information
A.Wolfkamp, I.Masser, K.Levoleger

Tel: + 31 55 528 5746

Fax: + 31 55 355 7362

E-mail: eurogi@euronet.nl

Web: www.eurogi.org

Specific information about the local arrangements can be obtained from:

HUNAGI – Hungarian Geographic Information Association
G.Remetey-Fülöpp (local organiser)

Tel: +36 1 301 4052

Fax: +36 1 301 4691

E-mail: gabor.remetey@fvm.hu

Web: www.fomi.hu/hunagi/

Www.hungis.hu (HUNAGI news)

Further information about GSDI can be obtained from:

GSDI - Global Spatial Data Infrastructure
Alan R Stevens

Tel: +1 703 648 5119

Fax: +1 703 648 5755

E-mail: astevens@gsdi.org

Web: www.gsdi.org