First AfricaGeo Builds on Past

The conference was to be held once every four years, but the experiences were so positive that the organising committee decided to at least go for every three years, maybe already a next AfricaGeo in two years again. An enthusiastic vibe resounded the fact the economy of South Africa is growing fast (recently SA was admitted to the four identified emerging markets, Brazil, Russia, India and China as S to BRICS) and that geomatics plays a big role in that growth.

A lively exhibition during all conference days proved that the marketplace Africa is growing and that overseas companies are all viewing towards Africa as the new area to explore, while on their own shores economies might be still shaky, mining and construction in Africa is taking off. Close to fifty exhibitors, both from South Africa and other African countries, but also from America, China and Europe came to Cape Town to display and chat to clients face-to-face. Look here for an impression of the tradeshow.

A full and in depth technical programme gained compliments from all delegates because of its high standards. Keynote speakers from all over the globe, amongst them past-president of the FIG, Stig Enemark, secretary-general of the ISPRS, dr Orhan Altan, president of the ICA, William Cartwright and incoming president of the IAG, Chris Rizos, who all represented the world wide community gathered in their respective learned Societies. Speakers from Trimble, Bryn Fosburgh and ESRI, Brent Jones, shed their light in inspiring talks. Ed Parsons, geospatial technologist at Google and therefore responsible for evangelising the vision of Google on geospatial technology through tools like Google Earth and Google Maps, drew a big audience at his keynote speech in the big auditorium of the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Parsons thinks that cloud computing will mean new chances for speeding up geospatial developments in this part of the world. Listen to Ed Parsons this clip.

Africa is catching up, says Parsons. The first AfricaGeo conference and exhibition held as theme Developing Geomatics. Big contributors to this development are of course the sponsors. Trimble was recognized as platinum sponsor. For Chris Gibson, vice president, it is easy to explain why Trimble was fully supporting AfricaGeo.

The last AfricaGeo, or better its predecessor; the Congress for South African Surveyors, was already a long time ago. To build upon the legacy made it somewhat more easy to take the leap. Aslam Parker, chairman of the organising committee explains why it was necessary to and import to organize AfricaGeo.

See you all in Durban or Johannesburg in a while!