BUILDING A BETTER WORLD — ONE MAP AT A TIME
China, UN sponsoring conference on geographic technology to promote sustainable development
Deqing county in East China’s Zhejiang province will host the United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress from Nov 19 to 21.
The event will bring together UN officials, highranking government officials, representatives from international geospatial information organizations and academics. It expects to attract about 1,000 attendees, 800 of them from foreign countries and regions, the conference’s organizing committee said.
Activities at the event will include an opening ceremony, forums, speeches and an international expo. Some optional technical and cultural tours will be arranged for congress participants.
The congress aims to provide a favorable conference environment to make geospatial information better appreciated and understood. It wants to help the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management to better understand member countries’ geospatial information development.
The event organizers hope to establish relationships among the geospatial information circle, the highest decision-making levels and other stakeholders.
Organizers also want to promote geospatial technical innovation and transfer, geospatial data sharing and international cooperation in the geospatial information field.
Other goals of the international congress include promoting knowledge communication, boosting different countries’ surveying and mapping capabilities and increasing high-level officials’ attention to geospatial information.
The event will have six areas of focus: sustainable development, digital economy development, international cooperation related to the Belt and Road Initiative, the development of the smart society, enhancing geospatial information capabilities and cultural exchanges of geospatial information.
The event will be hosted by the United Nations and organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Zhejiang provincial government.
A technology and applications exhibition, an important part of the congress, will be hosted in Deqing from Nov 19 to 23. Its five display areas will focus on smart equipment, smart application, location-based services, future trends and map and geospatial information culture.
The display areas will showcase advanced facilities and technologies related to geospatial information, satellite navigation, airborne and spaceborne remote sensing, big data, the mobile internet and the internet of things and their application in fields such as smart cities, administrative management and public services.
The congress will discuss the latest developments and trends in surveying and mapping. It will also discuss the ways in which geospatial information supports the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The event was suggested by the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management, an intergovernmental organization in the global geospatial information field.
In recent years, the internet, satellite navigation, location-based services and artificial intelligence mapping systems have prospered. Geospatial information technologies are everywhere and industry officials are innovating quickly, making the products an indispensable high-tech industry that’s helping to promote economic and social development.
The UN has been paying close attention to the development of global geospatial information and founded the committee in 2011 as a dialogue platform for various countries and related international organizations, in the hope of strengthening cooperation and negotiating common principles, policies, methods, mechanisms and standards of geospatial information data and services.
As an intergovernmental negotiation mechanism in the world’s geospatial information field, the committee has set up several special work groups and five regional committees covering all member countries. It also established alliances of scientific research, industries and professional associations.
Insiders said surveying and mapping undertakings in China have made great achievements in recent years, helping economic and social development efforts as well as environmental protection.
At the proposal of the UN Statistics Division and the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management, the UN decided in June 2017 that the Chinese government would organize the United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress and the government agreed in August that year to host the event in Deqing.
Deqing, in the north of Zhejiang, covers an area of 937.92 square kilometers and has a population of 430,000. The county has a beautiful environment and is known for its silk, mountains and culture.