Dr Katie Medcalf Environment Systems’ Environment Director recently presented to a conference focusing on the wider use of GIS among British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. The conference was hosted by the Government of Gibraltar and sponsored by JNCC.

The conference’s main focus was on the use of GIS as a tool for managing the environment. Welcoming delegates the Government of Gibraltar’s Environment Minister, Dr John Cortes said,　”In government, GIS is becoming an essential tool to understand the intricacies of administration. GIS provides a visual framework for conceptualising, understanding, and prescribing action. Examples range from land use, crime, the environment, housing, utilities, civil contingency, healthcare, defense/security and many more. Virtually all work carried out within the public sector has a geographical dimension.”

Environment Systems’ invitation to present stems from its work in the Overseas Territory of Anguilla where it is creating an extensive range of habitat mapping. This helps to provide a deeper understanding of both terrestrial and marine ecosystems to both inform decision making and development planning on the island. Environment Systems work also has a training element in order to help establish spatial analysis across multiple departments of the Government of Anguilla using Open Source GIS software.