You get a good sense of the importance of geospatial technology in a region based on the level of government support at its conferences. The Map World Forum that takes place next week in Hyderabad, India will be opened by the Vice President of India, Shri M Hamid Ansari, accompanied by the Governor of State of Andhra Pradesh and the Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences. The Vice President is the second-highest ranking official in the executive branch in a country of more than a billion people. Clearly India places a large importance on geospatial technology.
I’m excited to be attending the Map World Forum again, after attending the inaugural event two years ago. The event draws a strong international audience of high-level academics, policy makers and vendor executives. The gathering serves as a window into the state of the industry in the Asia Pacific region, and this year the theme’s focus on “Geospatial Technology for Sustainable Planet Earth” fits beautifully into our mission at V1 Magazine. I plan to report extensively from the event, providing insight into the status of the industry in this populous region.
