We live in a time of bird’s eye views. Generations of people now take for granted the fact that we know what our earth looks like from the moon, and from space, and even what our solar system looks like within the universe. How has this knowledge changed us? How do we use this data to inform our work, and manifest our passion for conservation?

This year’s theme: A View from Above is meant to be an exchange of ideas about looking at the ‘big picture’, envisioning a healthy future, and developing the step by step approach to implementing those visions of a healthy functioning community.

As always, in addition to presentations that share your conservation applications, your experiences, and your creative ideas, with a particular focus on using remotely sensed data, we welcome any abstract submission that deals with environmental conservation and GIS, and as usual, expect there to be a wide variety of topics presented.

Unique to SCGIS is the international scholars program. These scholars come to the conference from many different countries, including: Brazil, Cameroon, Indonesia/South-East Asia, Kenya, Latin America, Nepal, Russia, Philippines, Slovenia, South Africa, and Uganda. They present projects they are working on in their respective home countries, and it is always enlightening to hear their unique perspectives on conservation issues.