Redlands, California—March 07, 2012—The GIS for the United Nations and the International Community Conference will take place April 3–5, 2012, at the World Meteorological Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Esri and United Nations Institute for Training and Research's (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) organized the conference to demonstrate and discuss the role of GIS in global challenges. Attendees will consider how GIS can provide the analytic knowledge required to make better decisions on issues that are critical for the planet.

"In today's world, we face many global challenges brought on from natural and man-made events," says Jack Dangermond, Esri president. "From an office in Geneva to a refugee camp in Africa, GIS enables better collaboration and visualization and rapid dissemination of critical information when and where it's needed most. No matter the mission, geography is at the heart of a more resilient and sustainable future."

The aim of the conference is to bring together experts from the United Nations and other international and nongovernmental organizations, government agencies, and the private sector. During breakout sessions, panel discussions, and networking opportunities, they will learn how to best apply geographic information science to devise better responses to regional and global challenges.

"This conference is a good opportunity to take stock of geographic information technology and its benefits for the international community at large, especially for decision makers," says Francesco Pisano, manager of UNOSAT. "The more GIS is understood and adopted, the more our work as experts in satellite analysis will be useful and relevant. I am very pleased with the partnership with Esri."

The final day of the event includes a postconference workshop where attendees will learn how to extend the reach of their GIS using various free resources from Esri. The workshop includes presentations on implementation, resource topics, and demos from Esri staff as well as a hands-on exercise showing how to get started with ArcGIS Online.

Registration is by invitation only and will include humanitarian and development senior executives, practitioners, researchers, nonprofit consortia, and others. Those interested in applying to receive an invitation may do so on the conference website. To learn more, visit gisfortheun.com.

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About Esri

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

About UNITAR/UNOSAT

UNOSAT is a programme of UNITAR that uses specialized skills to perform satellite imagery analysis, design integrated solutions in GIS and geopositioning, and develop the capacity of agencies and counties via training and technical support.

UNOSAT is designed to produce concrete output for identified users and beneficiaries by turning technology into concrete and usable applications for UN agencies, member states, and communities in a variety of areas with prime focus on humanitarian affairs and relief coordination, damage and impact assessment, human security and human rights, and territorial planning and monitoring. 

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Press Information

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