Dear Friends,

The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association is pleased to invite the global spatial data community to attend our 9th international conference in Santiago , Chile during November 3 - 11 , 2006. Continuing with our organizational goal of fostering spatial data infrastructure developments in support of important worldwide needs, the theme of GSDI-9 is "Spatial Information: Tool for Reducing Poverty."

The conference program has been designed to accommodate opening and closing plenary sessions with keynote speakers, a special plenary session on the use of spatial technologies in addressing the plight of the poor, technical sessions in five parallel tracks for which many will have simultaneous translation in Spanish and English, half-day pre-conference and mid-conference workshops freely open to all registrants, an extensive poster exhibit and competition, and numerous organized round table discussions to allow people from common regions of the globe or with common interests to present, discuss, and share issues, experiences and plans. The program promises to be the most exciting and best yet.

The conference will be held at the Military and Historical Museum in the heart of the lovely city of Santiago. In addition to enjoying its modern restaurants, hotels and shops, be certain to wander through Santiago's inviting museums and parks. The opening ceremony, dinners, social events and tours also will provide a taste of the culture and historic traditions of Chile.

This year, as part of the social activities, we will initiate a silent auction to raise money for the GSDI Developing Nation Fund. These funds are used to support human capacity building in developing countries such as by covering travel expenses of representatives of national organizations from developing countries to attend important conferences and workshops. If possible, please bring an item identifiable with your nation or region of the world to donate to the auction.

We look forward to enjoying yours company and benefiting from your insights. Please come!

Dear Colleagues,

Together with sending you my greetings, I invite you to join the great task of searching, through geo-information the way to resolve the major problem of the extreme poverty that affects so many human beings at the moment.

As president of the Local Organizing Committee of the 9th Conference of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure, I believe that this meeting will be an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas and for technicians, scientists, managers and politicians to jointly use in concrete methods the tools of geo-information to benefit so many human beings who don’t have the time to simply wait for better living conditions. Now is the time to work together for them!
I hope to count on yourselves so that, together, we can contribute to making a better world.

We will see you in Santiago, Chile, between the 3rd and 11th of November 2006.