The Municipality was awarded the First Place Trophy for the map titled “Portmore’s Exposure to Storm Surge”. The map illustrated the possible impact of storm surge on landuse activities and critical facilities within the Municipality and hopes to influence disaster planning, mitigation strategies and achieve disaster risk reduction for the Municipality.
What is GIS- Geographic Information Systems?
According to National Geographic, “A geographic information system is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth’s surface. GIS can show many different kinds of data on one map. This enables people to more easily see, analyse, and understand patterns and relationships.”
GIS Day Symposium
GIS Day is held the third Wednesday of November each year during Geography Awareness Week. Annually the event attracts over one thousand students at the secondary and tertiary level from across the island as well as more than thirty government entities and private stakeholders participating. This year’s GIS symposium was celebrated under the theme: Mapping Our Way to Secure Communities.
Each year this initiative has a different focus. The Land Information Council of Jamaica (LICJ) each year decides on a local theme as it relates to national events. LICJ is an umbrella organization comprised of 50 government entities, private sector organizations and professional bodies. Its aim is to promote and encourage excellence in the use of GIS and related technologies and to contribute to effective decision making in areas such as planning and development.
Why did the Municipality of Portmore Participate?
- The Municipality of Portmore is a member of LICJ and as such is expected to support the initiative of raising awareness on the importance of geospatial information and technology.
- As a Local Planning Authority, the Municipality has actively been using geospatial information technologies to solve problems and guide critical decision making in the development planning processes.
- Participating in the event provided a unique opportunity to generate and increase public awareness of the Municipality’s mission to create prosperous communities through the promotion of sustainable development practices and sound environmental management.
GIS Day Competitions
The Municipality of Portmore along with 22 other organisations participated in the November 15, 2017 GIS Day symposium. The best map and best booth competitions are the main events of the day for participating agencies.
Our Booth Display included GIS tools and equipment such as GPS units and laptop desktop with ArcGIS ArcMap application illustrating the steps to produce various types of maps. In addition, a series of maps were on display under the GIS Day theme “Mapping our way to Secure Communities”. The maps included Waterford Evacuation Plan, Outbreak of Mosquito-Borne Diseases, Portmore’s Exposure to Storm Surge and Community Safety and Disaster Preparedness.