Welcome Message from the President

Dear Friends and Guests,

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 10th Asia GIS Conference with the theme of "Future Smart Cities" which will be held in Hong Kong from 5th to 7th January 2017. This conference is organised by the Asia GIS Association (AGISA), the Hong Kong GIS Association (HKGISA), the Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning, HKUrbanLab and the GIS Research Centre of the University of Hong Kong. The Asia GIS Conference was first held in Hong Kong in 1994. Since then, it has been held in Bangkok, Taipei, Tokyo, Wuhan, Johor Bahru, Busan, Kaohsiung, and Chiang Mai. It is coming back to Hong Kong after 22 years.

The Asia GIS Association was founded in the 5th Asia GIS Conference that was held in Wuhan in 2003. It is a non-profit and non-political organization that aims to 1) provide a forum to promote teaching, research, development, and applications of GIS and its related technology in Asia; 2) networking of people in the teaching, research, development and applications of GIS in Asia; 3) encourage the conduct of collaborative research and dissemination of its results by researchers and professionals in GIS in Asia; and 4) encourage the development of and provision for the dissemination of information on new and improved methods of GIS in Asia.

Smart cities have existed for quite some time and they are at different stages of development in different cities in Asia. Despite the increasing importance of cyber space, people still live, work, shop, and play in physical space. GIS is the tool and database for the record, analysis, management and planning of physical space for smarter sustainable cities. The objective of the Conference is to provide a forum to share the research and applications of the use of GIS in the development of smart cities as well as to discuss the use GIS for the development of future smart cities which can improve the livelihood of people in future cities.

I look forward to welcoming and meeting you in Hong Kong.

Prof. Anthony Yeh
President, Asia GIS Association