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Ananya Ghosh ananya.ghosh@GISdevelopment.net  Map India 2008, the Eleventh Annual Conference and Exhibition on Geospatial Information, Technology and Applications, was held at the India Expo Centre, Greater Noida, India from February 6-8, 2008. This year's conference was organised by GIS Development in partnership with Planning Commission, Government of India. It enjoyed the support of a number of key sponsors who contributed to its success. The conference received a total of about 1400 delegates and 250 visitors from 25 countries, that included a large number of professionals from government agencies, private organisations & academic institutions. Theme 'Enterprise GIS and Infrastructure Development'was the chosen theme of Map India 2008, which drew attention to the role played by Enterprise GIS, an emerging global geospatial trend, in achieving greater efficiency and better returns on investment as well as highlighted how GIS, as a technology, is gradually becoming a fundamental part of infrastructure development projects in developing nations like India. Map India was able to successfully realise its objective, that of bringing together all the stakeholders, representing various links of the geospatial value chain, on one platform in order to facilitate interaction, discussion and possible collaborations amongst them. Inauguration The Inaugural Ceremony witnessed an august gathering of eminent dignitaries, namely, Dr. T Ramasami (Secretary, Department of Earth Sciences, Government of India), K K Singh (Chairman and Managing Director, Rolta India), Rajendra S Pawar (Chairman, NIIT, India), R R Shah (Former Member Secretary, Planning Commission, Government of India) and B Bhattacharjee (Member, National Disaster Management Authority, India), who delivered their perspective on the conference theme, setting a perfect tone for the conference. On the occasion, Dr. T Ramasami released the Indian Geospatial Handbook 2008 researched and developed by the GIS Development. Exhibition The Map India 2008 Exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. T Ramasami on the opening day of the conference. The lavish exhibition, spread over an area of 2500 square metres, hosted 48 key vendors of the geospatial industry from Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Conference Programme Map India 2008 comprised one Plenary Session on "Enterprise GIS and Infrastructure Development", two Keynote Sessions on "Enterprise GIS and Infrastructure Development" and "Satellite Imaging and Photogrammetry" respectively, along with a Special Session on "Geospatial Initiatives in Public Sector in India". The conference also hosted five Seminars that were held in partnership with industry leaders like ESRI India, Leica Geosystems, Rolta India, DigitalGlobe and Speck Systems. Well known speakers and top ranking officials from the government, industry & academia delivered insightful, informative and thought-provoking presentations to packed floors. Other important programmes held during Map India 2008 were Workshops on LiDAR (organised by GeoKosmos, Russia) and Education (organised by UNIGIS, Austria), Autodesk User Meet, NRDMS Meet (Natural Resources Data Management System, Government of India), Technology Show by PCI Geomatics, Canada and Product Launch by Speck Systems Ltd. A total of ten Technical Sessions on wide-ranging themes like Agriculture and Precision Farming, Earth Science, Global Positioning and Navigation Systems, Photogrammetry and 3D Modelling, Remote Sensing and Image Processing, Spatial Data Infrastructure, Urban and Rural Planning, Emerging Applications and Technology Trends, Disaster Management and Water Resources were also held. Students also got an opportunity to showcase their work during the Poster Session. In all, 25 posters were presented of which five posters were selected for paper presentation at the Students Forum that was held on the closing day of the conference. Valedictory Session The Valedictory Session, held on the last day of the conference, heralded the end of the eventful three-day conference. A number of awards were presented during the session. Sanjay Kumar (CEO, GIS Development) delivered the Vote of Thanks on behalf of the organisers of the event. He not only expressed deep gratitude to all the delegates and exhibitors for participating in Map India 2008 but also heartily welcomed all to visit India next year again for Map World Forum 2009.   Page 1 of 1
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