GIS Events Reports 2005

Report on the First Asia-Pacific Conference for ESRI Users
12 - 13 January 2006
Cyberport, Hong Kong, China

The First Asia-Pacific Conference for ESRI Users was held with great success on 12 to 13 January 2006 at Cyberport, Hong Kong, China. More than 400 participants from 20 different Asia-Pacific countries and regions came together at this inaugural conference to share ideas, experiences and best practices of GIS and its various applications for sustaining our world.

Plenary Session
The plenary session was officially opened by Dr. Winnie Tang, CEO of ESRI China (HK). Dr. Tang addressed that this very first conference for GIS users in Asia-Pacific was ESRI’s commitment to GIS users in this part of the world by bringing attendees the latest technological development and applications on GIS, as the theme of this Conference suggests - GIS Sustaining the World’s Fastest Growing Region. Following her welcome speech, two officiating guests including Mr. John C Tsang, JP, Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, HKSAR Government and Mr. Chung Kai Sin, JP, Hong Kong Legislative Councillor, IT Industry delivered their welcome speeches to the conference attendees. “Hong Kong has benefited from the increasing adoption of Geographic Information System (GIS) and associated mapping applications in both the public and private sectors. This Conference is a good platform for government departments, GIS professionals and users to share ideas, experiences, and best practices of GIS technology and its various applications in the Asia-Pacific region. We are also looking forward to learning from participants’ insight on the wider use of geo-spatial data by the community in this Conference,” said Mr. John C Tsang, Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, HKSAR Government.

The opening ceremony featured the traditional Chinese lion dancing performance and ribbon-cutting ceremony, which were some of the most visible highlights to inaugurate the conference. Following this ceremony, Dr. David Maguire, Director of Products, ESRI Inc. delivered an Opening Speech titled GIS Sustaining the World’s Fastest Growing Region. Dr. David Maguire shared his view on the latest GIS technology development and the role of GIS in sustaining the development of this fastest growing region in the world. It was followed by a demonstration of latest GIS technology conducted by Mr. John Calkins, Ms. Lindsay Hernstrom and Mr. Peter Becker from ESRI Inc.

Keynote Session
Keynote speeches were delivered by the five well-known speakers from the arena of industry and academics in both international and regional domain including Professor Michael Batty, Professor of Spatial Analysis and Planning, University College London, U.K. on 3D GIS: Technologies for Planning and Participation in the Design of The 21st Century City, Professor Jun Chen, President, National Geomatics Center of China on Continuous Updating of Geo-spatial Databases for Sustaining Fast Development in China, Dr. Adam Lewis, Group Leader, National Mapping Division, Geoscience Australia on Making the Critical Difference with GIS, Professor Michael Lighter, President and CEO, IEEE, U.S.A. on GEOSS and GIS and Professor Anthony Yeh, Secretary-General, Asia GIS Association on A General Constrained Cellular Automata Model for the Planning of Sustainable Urban Development. The keynote speeches were inspiring and valuable as well as received positive feedbacks from the participants.

Panel discussion took place after the keynote speeches and the insights from keynote speakers and industry leaders framed the key discussions of the participants in identifying ways to address the theme of the Conference “GIS Sustaining the World’s Fastest Growing Region”. Dr. David Maguire was the moderator of this session. Panelists included Professor Michael Batty, Professor Jun Chen, Dr. Adam Lewis, Professor Michael Lightner and Professor Anthony Yeh. Participants showed keen interest in the discussion. This session certainly created many new interests on the issue of GIS and its role in sustaining the world’s fastest growing region. Many questions have been received from the floor.

Welcome Reception
A welcome reception was held after the panel discussion. Most of the participants stayed for the welcome reception and socialized and networked with other speakers and attendees. The welcome reception started with a welcome remark by Dr. David Maguire, Director of Products, ESRI Inc. and followed by a welcome speech by Michael Phoon, Director, Large Format Printing, Asia Pacific and Japah, Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific Pte Ltd., Imaging and Printing Group, the Platinum Sponsor of the Conference.

User Presentation and Technical workshop
The second-day conference featured paper presentations session and technical workshop. The presentations covered a wide range of topics including Environmental Management and Nature Conservation, Urban and Regional Planning, Transportation and Logistics issues, Education, National and Local Government, Disaster Prevention, Natural Resources, Sustainable Development, Facilities and Infrastructure Management and Utilities. The speakers came from a wide variety of industries in public, commercial and academic sectors. All the sessions received excellent feedback from the participants.

The main highlight of the user presentation session was the Directors’ Track. Four directors from departments of HKSAR Government were invited to present in the Directors’ Track session including Mr. Chiu Ying LAM, Director of Hong Kong Observatory, HKSAR; Mr. Patrick L.C. LAU, Director of Lands, HKSAR; Mr. Hing Wang FUNG, Commissioner for Census and Statistics, HKSAR and Mr. Bosco C.K. FUNG, Director of Planning, HKSAR. The Director Track has attracted a lot of audience.

Apart from user presentation, four technical workshops were conducted on the second-day conference. The technical workshops were led by the two professional staff from ESRI Inc. Participants enjoyed these workshops and found it very useful in learning latest technological development of ESRI GIS products.

Exhibition and Map Gallery
The exhibition and map gallery was held during the Conference. Sponsors and exhibitors from hardware vendors, service providers and GIS-related companies in the Asia-Pacific region including HP, Microsoft, NCSI and seven other ESRI business partners have greatly supported the Conference. The Map Gallery featured an amazing collection of maps and posters provided by National Geographics Society. The exhibition and map gallery drew a large number of visitors to the booths and map displays. Particularly, the booth of ESRI China (HK) attracted a good-sized crowd throughout the two-day conference. Many latest GIS technologies were showcased in our booth including Mobile and Wireless GIS, Preview of ArcGIS 9.2, Web GIS Applications, Image Processing and Management as well as some real GIS applications in Hong Kong. Visitors could get a touch and feel of the latest ESRI GIS technology from our booth and other related technologies from sponsors and exhibitors’ booths.

Gala Dinner
After two full days’ of conference, attendees got together in the Gala Dinner of the Conference in a relaxing and pleasant atmosphere to celebrate the successful conclusion of the Conference. The Gala Dinner was held in the featured floating restaurant of Hong Kong, Jumbo Kingdom Restaurant. We were very glad to invite Mr. Michael M Y SUEN, GBS, JP, Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, HKSAR Government to be our Guest of Honour and gave a welcome address at the Gala Dinner. The closing of the conference was marked by Dr. David Maguire, Product Director of ESRI Inc., who gave his closing speech and extended his special thanks to all participants and sponsors of the Conference.