Cape Town, South Africa July 10, 2008 – GIS Development, organizer of Map Africa 2008, the third Annual African Conference and Exhibition on Geographical Information Technology and Applications, is pleased to announce the distinguished line of Conference Speakers. Map Africa 2008, which is being co-organized by the Department of Land Affairs, South Africa is scheduled for August 25 – 26, 2008 at Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa.

Dr. Derek Clarke, Chief Director: Surveys and Mapping, South Africa and co-organizer of the conference said, “Map Africa 2008 brings to us top quality international speakers in the field of geo-spatial information science and technology, such as Vanessa Lawrence, Ian Williamson, Bill Cartwright and Josef Strobl. Having such renowned speakers on our doorstep at the same time does not happen often, so this is a golden opportunity to interact with these experts and our colleagues from Africa. My staff will participate in building their knowledge of the utilization of geo-spatial information for the development of Africa.”

On the occasion, Sanjay Kumar, Chief Executive Officer GIS Development expressed his pleasure by stating, “We are really glad to announce the distinguished line of speakers for Map Africa 2008. I am confident that the expertise and experience of such outstanding speakers will contribute to developing the knowledge base of the African geospatial community. I am also pleased to inform that this year at the exhibition of Map Africa, we have an excellent mix of international as well as African companies who will put on display their latest technology and services. I welcome all speakers, participants and exhibitors to the conference and sincerely hope that each participant can derive maximum out of this opportunity.”

The confirmed speakers for the conference are:

Inaugural Speakers

Dr. Vanessa Lawrence
Director General and Chief Executive Officer
Ordnance Survey
Great Britain

Prof. William Cartwright
President
International Cartographic Association
Australia

Dr. Derek Clarke
Chief Director Surveys & Mapping
Department of Land Affairs
South Africa

Dr. Marc Tremblay
Vice President and General Manager - CBU
DigitialGlobe
USA

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Hartmut Rosengarten
Programme Manager -
Europe, Middle East and Africa
Intergraph Earth Imaging Solution Centre
Germany

Dr. R S Rao
Senior Regional Sales Director-
Middle East, Africa, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka
GeoEye USA

Prof. Ian Williamson
University of Melbourne
Australia

Kaushik Chakraborty
Vice President India, Middle East & Africa
Erdas
India

Prof. Arup Dasgupta
Managing Editor
GIS Development
India

Prof. Josef Strobl
Director
Center for Geoinformatics
University of Salzburg
Austria

Eng. Mohammed Al Zaffin
Director GIS Centre
Dubai Municipality
UAE

John Sasser
President
Rolta Middle East and Africa
UAE

Over the last two years, Map Africa conference has witnessed tremendous growth, in terms of participating delegates, speakers as well as companies taking part in the exhibition. This year, the exhibition of Map Africa 2008 will provide opportunity to the following companies and agencies to showcase their latest offerings to the participating delegates:

AAM Hatch
Antirx Corporation, India
Computa Maps
Department of Land Affairs, South Africa
DigitalGlobe
Erdas
Fugro Maps
GeoEye
GeoSence
Reutech Radar Systems
Rolta Simeka
Southern Mapping Company
Sivan Design
Speck Systems
SuperGeo
Vexcel

Map Africa 2008 poses to be an ideal networking hub and a not-to-be-missed destination for professionals, academicians, researchers and industry personnel of Africa.

For more information about GIS Development, visit www.GISdevelopment.net.

For more information about the Department of Land Affairs, visit land.pwv.gov.za/.