The recently completed Map Asia 2003 was the 2nd Annual Asian Conference and Exhibition in the field of GIS, GPS, Aerial Photography, Remote Sensing and related technologies. After enormous positive response at Bangkok in 2002, this year it received increased attention and participation in the city of Petronas Twin Towers. In brief, it was an eventful and significant convergence of ‘heads’ at the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. 'Heads' that were constructive, important and strategic.
In response to the contemporary Asian tides of substantial increase in use of mapping technology and growing awareness of the utility of spatial data, the event was a timely and constructive gathering. More than 750 delegates, about 41 industry and government exhibitors and around 90 technical papers merged for discussions in 3 days. The venue for Map Asia 2003 was Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur during October 13 - 15, 2003 and was jointly organised by the Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing (MACRES), GIS Development, Centre for Spatial Database Management and Solutions (CSDMS), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). The event received a big support from government institutions and industry. Leica, Hitachi Software, HP and Intergraph were the gold sponsors of the event.
As compared to Map Asia 2002 (where 30 countries were represented), this year delegates represented 42 countries, which is proof enough that Map Asia is widely being recognised as the right platform for creating awareness in geospatial sciences. The conference attracted delegates from 125 organisations worldwide
The Start
The inaugural session of Map Asia 2003 started off on October 13 soon after the arrival of The Honourable Dato' Haji Zainal Dahalan, Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment, Government of Malaysia and Mr Bachi Singh Rawat, Minister of State for Science and Technology, Government of India. The event started off in a packed hallroom with a 700 strong gathering.
