The XI Latin American Esri User Conference was held October 13-15, 2004, at the Hotel El Panama in Panama City, Panama, and was attended by more than 500 participants from the majority of Latin American countries. This conference was the largest GIS event ever held in Panama. The opening speech was given by the Minister of Public Education, His Excellency Juan Bosco Bernal, and the keynote was presented by Dr. David Maguire, director of Product Planning and International Business at Esri. In his speech, which follows, Minister Bernal reflected on the history of geographic information and the rapid growth of GIS technology.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:

I would like to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to join you during this important Latin American conference for geographic information users.

Distribution and spatial information is inherent not only for occurrences on the Earth's crust, but also for the artificial and natural phenomena that occur within it. Every society from times past that has enjoyed a certain level of civilization has organized spatial information in its own way.

The Phoenicians were navigators, explorers, and military strategists that compiled information in a pictorial format and developed "primitive" cartographic representations. This permitted the expansion and mixture of diverse races and cultures. Enclosed within an insular habitat, they became navigators and made astrological observations to measure the distances over the surface of the Earth. This information was then kept in maps.

When the Romans developed the Roman Empire, they frequently utilized the information they had previously acquired from the Greeks. Their logistical infrastructure permitted a high level of political and economic organization principally supported by their informational resources.

The barbaric invasions decreased the developmental pace of civilization in the European continent during the Middle Ages. During the 18th century, the states recognized the importance of organizing and systemizing spatial information. Organizations were created and commissioned exclusively to execute the compilation of information and to produce topographic maps for entire nations. These commissioned organizations continue to exist today. Pre-Hispanic civilizations, including the Mayans and Incas, strategically utilized spatial information for their villages.

In the 19th century, great volumes of geomorphologic information that was to be represented in cartographic form was produced based on the scientific knowledge of the Earth. The spatial orientation of this information was conserved within the overlay of specialized thematic maps over a topographic map base.

Most recently, aerial photography and, in particular, satellite images, have permitted the periodic observation of the phenomenal occurrences over the surface of the Earth's crust. The information produced by this technology has demanded the development of tools that are used to accomplish the cartographic representation of this type of information.

The advances accomplished with the new technologies of satellite communication have contributed to the unprecedented development of the compilation, circulation, and application of geographic information. These occurrences have allowed us to observe how human beings have created, out of necessity, technological mechanisms that improve their quality of life and how humanity has been able to thus reap the rewards.

These technological advances have allowed the country of Panama to be efficiently organized. This situation is evident in the Work Plan of the Government of the President of the Republic, Mart�n Torrijos, in respect to the modernization of the state. There are hopes that these technological tools will contribute to the actions and decisions concerning the farming industry, ecology, disaster prevention, the fishing industry, and tourism and urban development, among others.

Geographic information systems have an extraordinary relationship with education in that they form a fundamental tool in human development. The XI Latin American Esri User Conference is especially relevant and significant because of this. We will thus recognize and share the latest techniques of managing geographic information systems and their application in the diverse activities of the economic and social matters pertaining to each one of the participating countries.

We are inaugurating this conference for the reasons above. Panama offers a cordial welcome to those individuals representing our neighboring countries with the hope that the thoughts and conclusions of this event shall be reflected in the development of each one of our countries.

Thank you.
Panama Minister of Public Education Juan Bosco Bernal

See also "Brazil To Be Site of XII Latin American Esri User Conference."