Inspired by the historical expeditions carried out by the Institute, around 70 people participated in the IBGE Jalapão Tocantins Expedition to disseminate the geographic coordinates of the country's addresses captured in the 2022 Census. Passing through the municipalities of Taquaruçu, Buritirana and Santa Tereza, the motorcade departed from Palmas, on February 1st, heading to Ponte Alta do Tocantins, the entrance gate to the Jalapão State Park.

The initiative is part of a project that aims to rescue the Institute's historical expeditions that took place between the 1940s and 1960s and created the foundations of Brazilian territorial mapping. In 1941, one of the first expeditions mapped the Guanabara Bay and neighboring regions. In 1943, the Jalapão region received the expedition, joined by geographer Pedro Pinchas Geiger, an icon of Brazilian geography. The trip to Jalapão at that time aimed at completing a more accurate map of Brazil. This time, the trip to Jalapão aimed at publicizing a fully georeferenced  address list. This is the ultimate goal of territorial mapping activity, but it was only possible due to the pioneering work of the expeditions carried out by IBGE technicians from the 1940s onwards.

Made up of a "trio elétrico" (a truck equipped with a high-power sound system and a stage for performances) and 30 vehicles from 18 federal, state and municipal agencies, the motorcade gathered at 2 pm, at Praça dos Girassóis, in Palmas, in the heart of Brazil. At the location, participants had their cars stickered, received a kit with traditional regional products, water, a schedule and instructions for the expedition. Despite the traditional rainy period in February, the caravan departed at 3pm on a sunny and warm Thursday.

Upon leaving the expedition, the president of IBGE, Márcio Pochmann, explained that this project aims at showing the specificities of the different realities of the country's regions. “This work carried out here is an experience that is being built because the IBGE is the IBGE Brazil and we need to better connect our realities. Therefore, this choice to come to Tocantins is a tribute to a large part of smaller Brazilian municipalities, which are not always seen or valued on the national scenario”.

In addition to the IBGE, representatives from the Ministry of Planning and Budget, Conab, Correios (Brazilian Mail Agency), Federal University of Tocantins (UFT), Superintendence of Union Heritage (SPU), National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), General Attorney's Office (AGU), Ministry of Health, National Institute of Social Security (INSS), State Secretariat of Administration, State Secretariat of Planning and Budget, State Secretariat of Tourism, Government of Tocantins, State Agricultural Defense Agency (Adapec), Military Firefighters of Tocantins, City Hall of Ponte Alta do Tocantins, Association of Artisans of Capim Dourado from Ponte Alta and Military Police of Tocantins.

Upon arriving in Taquaruçu, a district located 30 kilometers from Palmas, the caravan made a stop at the Colégio Estadual Militar Duque de Caxias (a state military school). The school received educational materials and an interactive totem with access to IBGE technologies, which can be used by the school community and other people interested in getting to know Brazil through the platforms of @Cities, IBGE Educa, Sidra, Maps Portal, Census 2022 Overview, among others.

“I thank the IBGE for this opportunity to be the first school in the country to receive this device. I know it will be useful not only for our school, but also for other schools and the entire community that will be able to use it here”, said the coordinator at Colégio Estadual Militar Duque de Caxias, Roberta Araújo.

Arrival in Jalapão

At the end of the evening, the motorcade arrived at the entrance gate of Jalapão, Ponte Alta do Tocantins. The participants were welcomed by the city's mayor, Kleber Rodrigues de Sousa, secretaries, and by a cultural presentation by the Flores da Apae (Association of Parents and Friends of People with Down Syndrome) Dance Group.

“I am very grateful to host this IBGE event of such great importance. You have reached the Jalapão entrance gate, but Jalapão is integrated by eight municipalities. With all the data and by means of this expedition, I hope that all of us, federal, state and municipal representatives, can join hands to further develop this region, which has great tourism potential, but also a very fragile biome, which may cease to exist if we are not diligent and careful enough. So, welcome to Ponte Alta do Tocantins, feel at home”, declared the mayor.

For the IBGE superintendent in Tocantins, Paulo Ricardo Amaral, this is the moment for the public authorities and the population to get a feedback from the work carried out during the 2022 Population Census. “We are also here to share with you the pride of being able to contribute to portraying the population, not only from Ponte Alta, but from Tocantins. May this be a step towards the city, the State and the Brazil that we want and dream of. Thank you very much for believing in the Census project, then, and in this expedition, now”, he concluded.

Extensive program

The IBGE Jalapão Tocantins Expedition was one of the actions of an extensive program to disseminate the Geographic Coordinates of Addresses. On January 31st, the IBGE promoted, in partnership with the State Planning and Budget Secretariat (Seplan/TO), a workshop with managers covering the agency's Portal, the IBGE Automatic Retrieval System (SIDRA), the Database of Environmental Information (BDIA) and the Interactive Geographic Platform (PGI). That same day, the president met with civil servants, the state governor, Wanderlei Barbosa, and local authorities.

On the morning of February 1st, the IBGE held, in partnership with the Federal University of Tocantins (UFT), the first "Diálogos Externos IBGE 90 Anos" (IBGE 90 Years External Dialogues). The initiative will take place in all capitals. The objective is to bring together important external actors to achieve IBGE's mission: public authorities (at federal, state and municipal levels), legislators, professional and collective representation entities, as well as students, among others.

On February the 2nd, at 10 am, the IBGE released unprecedented data on the geographic coordinates of addresses from the 2022 Population Census. As a whole, there are 111.1 million geographic coordinates in the country, with 81.5% of these from private households, another 10.5% of establishments, or 11.7 million, such as stores, banks and malls. Out of these, there are 264.4 thousand educational establishments, 247.5 thousand health establishments, 579.8 thousand religious establishments and 3.5 million buildings under construction or renovation.