Korea's first Astronaut Dr. Yi So-yeon to speak at Map Middle East

The upcoming conference - scheduled for April 26 - 28, 2009 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center - will address various issues related to the theme "Geospatial @ Work".

At the conference will be highlighted the latest trends in the geospatial technology and the applications and utilities of geospatial information in different fields will also be showcased.

Sanjay Kumar, the Chief Executive Officer of GIS Development, said:

"It is a matter of pride for us to have an exalted personality like Dr. Yi So-yeon at the Map Middle East. Her presence would generate more interest in remote sensing and space science in this region. It will surely add value to the conference and the organisation, as it's always been init iat ive of GIS Development to bring eminent personalities like Dr. So-yeon from diversified fields."

This year' s Map Middle East will include high-profile guest addresses and plenary speeches addressing the issues of importance and usage of geospatial technology and the way it has improved the efficiency and effect iveness in terms of work processes and delivery outputs at various enterprise levels.

The conference will have dedicated plenary sessions and day-long symposiums like design & engineering and Utilities & Transportation; seminars on Oil & Gas, SDI for City Management and Governance and Geospatial Technology - Development & Trends.

State-of-the-art technologies and applications will be showcased at the grand exhibition hall covering an area of more than 3000-square-metres, which will be central to the conference.

The conference has gained the support of Rolta as the Platinum Sponsor, Department of Municipal Affairs as Partner, Cyclomedia and Sokkia as the Gold Sponsors. Emirates of Abu Dhabi, Department of Municipal Affairs as Partner.

CIO Bahrain, Ajman Municipality, MOMRA - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Dubai Municipality, Space Reconnaissance Centre, UAE, Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, Center for GIS, Qatar, King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology (KACST) and Military Survey Department as Government Partners, Atheeb Intergraph, DigitalGlobe as Co- Sponsors and Business Communicat ion LLC as Lanyard Sponsor.

It is also getting support by Open Geospatial Consortium and United Emirates University as the Knowledge Partner and is promoted by its media partner - Geo Connexion.