Caribbean GIS professionals will soon convene in Montego Bay, Jamaica for the Sixth URISA Caribbean GIS Conference taking place November 12-16 at the Hilton Rose Hall. From preconference workshops and classes (including two-day ArcGIS Online and Mobile and Server GIS classes and URISA's GIS Program Management and Open Source GIS workshops) to a High Level Caribbean Geospatial Information Management Meeting, the conference showcases the best of GIS in the region. Discounted preconference registration rates expire on November 2.

The objectives of URISA's Caribbean GIS Conference include:

• To inform broad cross-section of Caribbean users about GIS technology and applications
• To share experiences regarding GIS implementation and management issues
• To establish new relationships with the vendor/consultant community
• To provide workshops and sessions that are application driven, and are relevant to the Caribbean community of GIS users
• To foster a Caribbean GIS network
• To assess the state of readiness of national and regional Spatial Data Infrastructures

URISA is pleased to announce three important keynote speakers:

• Wednesday, November 14: Vanessa Lawrence - Director General and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey, Great Britain's national mapping agency
• Thursday, November 15: Georg Gartner – President, International Cartographic Association
• Friday, November 16: E.G. Hunter – CEO, National Works Agency

A GIS poster competition will take place in memory of long-time committee member and Caribbean GIS advocate, Dr. Edsel Daniel.

More than two dozen sessions will be presented during the conference, including such important and timely topics as:

• Geoinformatics in Disaster Risk Assessment
• Climate Change Adaptation
• Improving Public Health Care
• NSDI Principles and Practices in Small Island Developing States
• Innovative GIS Solutions for Crime and Emergency Management
• Participatory and Open Source GIS Application
• GIS-based Solutions for National Planning and Management

The preconference registration fee increases by $50 after November 2. (A helpful hint: register by November 2 to secure the lower rate and bring payment onsite.)

We thank all of our exhibitors and sponsors in advance including Platinum Sponsor, Thomson Reuters, and Gold Sponsors, Esri and Spatial Innovision.

Don’t miss the best opportunity for GIS education in the Caribbean. For details and registration visit http://www.urisa.org/carib2012