The Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC) has picked up several new institutional members, including Australia’s The Spatial Distillery Co.

The PGRSC is a leading geospatial body within the Oceania region, with individual and institutional members drawn from numerous nations across the Pacific.

The organisation has five aims:

• To promote the development of GIS and remote sensing data, technologies, methods and services for the Pacific region;
• To enable collaboration and share lessons learnt across regional agencies and commercial parties;
• To discuss and establish methods in building adaptation for the Pacific environment with regard to solutions already working well outside the region;
• To manage the distribution, publication and awareness of conference outcomes; and
• To establish robust links with other GIS, remote sensing and scientific bodies regionally and globally.

Pacific family

Joining the PGRSC this month as an institutional member is Melbourne-based The Spatial Distillery Co., a geospatial consultancy and technology firm that provides spatial software, satellite imagery, data, training and professional services.

The company works with a wide range of public and private sector organisations across government, utilities, infrastructure, telecommunications, environmental management, and development sectors.

“We value the important role geospatial technology plays in helping organisations and communities make better decisions, and we see PGRSC as an excellent forum for connecting with others using spatial technology to address real-world challenges across the Pacific region,” said Dan Haigh, director and co-founder of The Spatial Distillery Co.

“We already work with many organisations across the Pacific region. We’ve developed strong relationships by providing geospatial software, data, training and technical support, and we’re keen to further contribute to the regional geospatial community.”

Also joining the PGRSC this month are MAGIS and Pacific Coastal Research & Planning (PCRP).

MAGIS, established in Noumea, New Caledonia in 2010, is an IT firm that specialises in the GIS needs of Pacific Island nations. It especially focuses on efforts to modernise water, energy and telecommunications management; developing ‘geo-decisional tools’ to optimise maritime surveillance, road infrastructure and aeronautical planning; and environmental conservation, mining and rural land management.

Based in the Northern Mariana Islands, the PCRP is a small non-profit organisation that has a wide range of expertise and capabilities, such as in environmental planning, marine debris removal, geospatial analysis and mapping, watershed restoration and coastal hazard adaptation.

PGRSC membership also works in the other direction, with the organisation renewing its regional membership of the ISPRS earlier this year.

Pacific gathering

Later this year, the PGRSC will host the annual Pacific Islands GIS & Remote Sensing User Conference.

Begun back in 1998 by the University of the South Pacific and the Fiji Lands Department, the Conference has grown to become the largest geospatial event in the Pacific Islands.

Due to take place on 30 November in Suva, Fiji, the 2026 conference will bring together professionals from around the region to discuss, debate and exchange knowledge on the topic of ‘Strengthening and Expanding Geospatial Networks in the Pacific Islands’.

Abstract submissions are open and sponsorship opportunities are available.