News and Updates

Happy New Year from PGRSC!
As we step into a new year, PGRSC extends its warmest wishes to all our partners, communities, and supporters around the world. The year ahead brings new challenges, but also renewed opportunities to strengthen solidarity, promote resilience, and work collectively toward a more sustainable and equitable future. Guided by our shared values and commitments, we remain dedicated to advancing our mission and supporting the communities we serve. Thank you for your trust, collaboration, and continued …
๐ŸŒ Just Released: 2025 Issue 2 of the Pacific Islands GIS & RS Newsletter!
Weโ€™re excited to share the newest issue of the Pacific Islands GIS & Remote Sensing Newsletter โ€” now available! In this edition, we spotlight a major step forward for the Pacific geospatial community: a new Memorandum of Understanding between the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific GIS & Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC). This partnership strengthens outreach, training, and regional coordination to ensure that satellite and geospatial technologies better support informed decision-making across the Pacific. The …
Sponsor
On behalf of PGRSC, we would like to extend our deepest appreciation to ๐—”๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ for being a ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฟ of PGRSC and the 2025 Pacific Islands GIS and Remote Sensing User Conference in Suva, Fiji!๐—”๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ is Fiji's premiere water suppliers. Hailing from the pristine landscapes of Fiji, ๐—”๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ's artesian mineral water encapsulates the pure essence of its exotic origin and, as part of ๐—”๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ's commitment to nature, their sustainable bottling plant runs …
Sponsor
On behalf of PGRSC, we would like to extend our deepest appreciation toย LandPro Ltd.ย  for being aย Sponsorย of PGRSC and the 2025 Pacific Islands GIS and Remote Sensing User Conference in Suva, Fiji! Sponsor LandPro Ltd. is a multi-disciplinary team of environmental consultants using smart technology and deep local expertise to support better outcomes for people, land, and water across regional New Zealand. https://landpro.co.nz/
Bronze Sponsor
On behalf of PGRSC, we would like to extend our deepest appreciation to OSGeo Oceania for being a ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜‡๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฟ of PGRSC and the 2025 Pacific Islands GIS and Remote Sensing User Conference in Suva, Fiji! Bronze Sponsor ๐—ข๐—ฆ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ผ ๐—ข๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฎ is a volunteer organisation devoted to growing and enabling the OpenStreetMap and Open Source Geospatial communities in Oceania.https://osgeo-oceania.org/
Poster Contest and Bronze Sponsor
On behalf of PGRSC, we would like to extend our deepest appreciation to Vodafone Fiji for being the ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜‡๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฟ of PGRSC and the 2025 Pacific Islands GIS and Remote Sensing User Conference in Suva, Fiji! Poster Competition and Bronze Sponsor ๐—ฉ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ท๐—ถ is Fiji's leading mobile telecommunications provider, serving thousands of customers. https://www.vodafone.com.fj
Gold Sponsor
On behalf of PGRSC, we would like to extend our deepest appreciation to ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ and the ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—™๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ for being ๐—š๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ of PGRSC and the 2025 Pacific Islands GIS and Remote Sensing User Conference in Suva, Fiji! Gold Sponsor Gold Sponsor ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฎ ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ is a research institution whose aim is to make atmospheric, climatic, oceanographic, seismic and space data available in order to understand and predict the history, functioning and evolution of the …
Still time to Register!
What: ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฑ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—œ๐˜€๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—š๐—œ๐—ฆ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—จ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒWhere: ๐—จ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ, ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ, ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ท๐—ถWhen: ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฐ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿด, ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐ŸฑConference theme: โ€œ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—˜๐—ป๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—œ๐˜€๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€โ€. It is not too late to submit a presentation and register for the largest GIS and remote sensing conferences in the Pacific Islands region!!! We already have over ๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿฑ ๐—š๐—œ๐—ฆ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐—ด๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ด๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ registered …
Platinum Sponsor
On behalf of PGRSC, we would like to extend our deepest appreciation to the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Digital Earth Pacific project for being ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—บ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ of PGRSC and the 2025 Pacific Islands GIS and Remote Sensing User Conference in Suva, Fiji! Platinum Sponsor Platinum Sponsor The Pacific Community supports sustainable development by applying a people-centred approach to science, research and technology across all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Digital Earth Pacific provides decision-makers …
Travel Award and General Sponsor
On behalf of PGRSC, we would like to extend our deepest appreciation to Deutsche Gesellschaft fรผr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH for being ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น ๐—”๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ of PGRSC and the 2025 Pacific Islands GIS and Remote Sensing User Conference in Suva, Fiji! The Deutsche Gesellschaft fรผr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmBH is the main development agency of Germany. It is headquartered in Bonn and Eschborn and provides services in the field of international development cooperation …
Free GIS and Remote Sensing Resources Series – Week 12: Global Fishing Watch
On behalf of the Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC), we welcome you to Week 12 of our series to promote free GIS and remote sensing resources (webinars, instructional videos, technical manuals, e-books, etc.) to increase capacity, awareness, and skill development for the Pacific Islands geospatial community. Last week, we introduced the Copernicus ERA5 Reanalysis Dataset – a high-resolution, global, and hourly atmospheric, land, and ocean dataset, which are used to generate drought indicators. This week we will explore …
Free GIS and Remote Sensing Resources Series – Week 11: Copernicus ERA5 Reanalysis Dataset
On behalf of the Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC), we welcome you to Week 11 of our series to promote free GIS and remote sensing resources (webinars, instructional videos, technical manuals, e-books, etc.) to increase capacity, awareness, and skill development for the Pacific Islands geospatial community. Last week, we provided a recap of the first 10 weeks of free resources that we posted. This week we will explore the Copernicus ERA5 Reanalysis Dataset – a high-resolution, global, and …
๐—”๐—ฏ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐——๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—˜๐˜…๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ!!!
What: ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฑ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—œ๐˜€๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—š๐—œ๐—ฆ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—จ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒWhere: ๐—จ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ, ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ, ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ท๐—ถWhen: ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฐ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿด, ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐ŸฑConference theme: โ€œ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—˜๐—ป๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—œ๐˜€๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€โ€. ย  It is not too late to submit a presentation and register for the largest GIS and remote sensing conferences in the Pacific Islands region!!! We already have over ๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿฑ ๐—š๐—œ๐—ฆ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐—ด๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ด๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ …
Free GIS and Remote Sensing Resources Series – Week 10: Google Earth Engine Course and Tutorial from Spatial Thoughts
On behalf of the Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC), we welcome you to Week 10 of our series to promote free GIS and remote sensing resources (webinars, instructional videos, technical manuals, e-books, etc.) to increase capacity, awareness, and skill development for the Pacific Islands geospatial community. Last week, we introduced the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) dataset – a free high spatial resolution global weather and …
Free GIS and Remote Sensing Resources Series – Week 9: Global Historical Climatology Network daily (GHCNd) temperature and precipitation data
On behalf of the Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC), we welcome you to Week 9 of our series to promote free GIS and remote sensing resources (webinars, instructional videos, technical manuals, e-books, etc.) to increase capacity, awareness, and skill development for the Pacific Islands geospatial community. Last week, we introduced the WorldClim project – a free online database of high spatial resolution global weather and climate data that can be used for mapping and spatial modeling. This week …
Free GIS and Remote Sensing Resources Series – Week 8: WorldClim weather and climate data
On behalf of the Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC), we welcome you to Week 8 of our series to promote free GIS and remote sensing resources (webinars, instructional videos, technical manuals, e-books, etc.) to increase capacity, awareness, and skill development for the Pacific Islands geospatial community. Last week, we introduced the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) Voyager project – an online web mapping application that provides visualisation of historic, real-time, and forecasted ocean conditions. This week we …
Free GIS and Remote Sensing Resources Series – Week 7: PacIOOS Voyager
On behalf of the Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC), we welcome you to Week 7 of our series to promote free GIS and remote sensing resources (webinars, instructional videos, technical manuals, e-books, etc.) to increase capacity, awareness, and skill development for the Pacific Islands geospatial community. Last week, we introduced the GeoAI: Artificial Intelligence for Geospatial Data project – a Python library for image classification and segmentation.. This week we will explore online web mapping applications that provide …
Free GIS and Remote Sensing Resources Series – Week 6: GeoAI
On behalf of the Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC), we welcome you to Week 6 of our series to promote free GIS and remote sensing resources (webinars, instructional videos, technical manuals, e-books, etc.) to increase capacity, awareness, and skill development for the Pacific Islands geospatial community. Last week, we advertised a free massive open online course (MOOC) hosted by Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc (ESRI) on October 22, 2025 for working with various imagery. This week we will …
PGRSC Webinar Series – Geospatial data to support Early Warning and Situational Awareness in the Pacific Islands
On behalf of PGRSC, we are honored to host another webinar in our series to promote and enhance geospatial knowledge sharing and capacity building:Geospatial data to support Early Warning and Situational Awareness in the Pacific Islands Please join the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC Global) on Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. (Fiji time) as it provides an overview of DisasterAWARE and Pacific Disaster Center (PDC Global) capabilities. These capabilities are accessible to anyone in the government or disaster …
Free GIS and Remote Sensing Resources Series – Week 5: Free ESRI ArcGIS Imagery MOOC
On behalf of the Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC), we welcome you to Week 5 of our series to promote free GIS and remote sensing resources (webinars, instructional videos, technical manuals, e-books, etc.) to increase capacity, awareness, and skill development for the Pacific Islands geospatial community. Last week, we looked at advanced features of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Copernicus Programme's Copernicus Browser. This week's resource was sent in by GIS-PacNet community member Sarah Pitcher-Campbell, GIS Account Manager …

  • NASA astronauts will conduct two spacewalks Thursday, Jan. 8, and Thursday, Jan. 15, outside the International Space Station, and the agency will provide comprehensive coverage. The first spacewalk is scheduled to […]
  • A team using NASAโ€™s Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new type of astronomical object โ€” a starless, gas-rich, dark-matter cloud considered a โ€œrelicโ€ or remnant of early galaxy formation. Nicknamed […]
  • A NASA internship provides a stellar opportunity to launch your future as part of Americaโ€™s aerospace workforce. NASA interns take on meaningful work and contribute to exciting agency projects with the […]
  • A scientific balloon starts its ascent into the air as it prepares to launch carrying NASAโ€™s Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) mission. The mission lifted off from Antarctica at 5:56 […]
  • A scientific balloon starts its ascent into the air as it prepares to launch carrying NASAโ€™s Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) mission. The mission lifted off from Antarctica at […]
  • This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy NGC 4388, a member of the Virgo galaxy cluster.
  • NASAโ€™s Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cameras to capture panoramas at two times of day on Nov. 18, 2025, spanning periods that occurred on both the 4,722nd and […]
  • Data from NASAโ€™s James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory come together in this eye-catching photo of colliding spiral galaxies released on Dec. 1, 2025.

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