Eduardo Pereira Nunes, President of IBGE will speak tomorrow, (08/17/2011), at 9 a.m., in the opening session of the Latin American Geospatial Forum – LAGF, which will take place up to August 19, at the Windsor Barra Hotel, in Rio de Janeiro. During the event, IBGE will be running, with the project Territorial Mapping 2010 – Evolution and Potential, for the Geospatial Excellence Award, to be granted to the best geospatial application in Latin America in 2011. The territorial mapping project has been developed to fulfill the demands of the 2010 Census, integrating the spatial representation of urban and rural areas in the Brazilian territory in an environment of geospatial data, through the use of modern information technology resources.

With the topic “Bringing Global Perspectives to Local Action”, LAGF is intended to contribute significantly to the exchange of information among professionals of geospatial industry in Latin America. It is the first annual Latin-American conference for the display of geospatial information, technology and applications. The event is organized by GIS Development – The Global Geospatial Media Company, in partnership with IBGE and Pereira Passos Institute (IPP). The main objective of this initiative is to place geospatial knowledge in the center of the economic and developmental agenda of Latin-American countries.

In the opening session, the president of IBGE will speak about the importance of the use of geospatial information in Brazil, and about how IBGE has been integrating geoscientific and statistical data, in order to improve the knowledge about the country’s reality. The head of IBGE’s Geosciences Directorate, Luiz Paulo Souto Fortes, and other technicians of the institute will also take part in the event, lecturing about the following topics: Spatial Data Infrastructure; Global Satellite Navigation Systems; Digital Photogrammetry (a topographic survey method that makes use of photographs);  3D – Navigation; and Mapping of the Rio de Janeiro State.

The meeting, supported by the Permanent Committee on Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Americas (CP-IDEA), will include plenary sessions, symposiums, seminars, workshops, technical sessions, technological displays and exhibitions. The forum is directed to government representatives, scholars, researchers, students and professionals working in this field.

The complete program for the LAGF is available at http://lagf.org/2011/ps.htm.