GIS Driving The Future, Can Kids Jump On?

From mapping new land parcels to tracking city-wide cleanups, Geographic Information Systems - or GIS - is the technological engine driving a many local buisnesses. Today, students in the city got a firsthand look at how spatial data shapes our daily lives during the 10th annual GIS Day Expo. Jomarie Lanza reports.

Students from up to 30 different schools across the country poured into the Geographic information systems day expo, coordinated by the Ministry Of Education and UNICEF. It's their 10th celebration and they invited up to 12 different organizations to demonstrate to students how they use GIS systems in their daily jobs. The managing director for TBSL spoke about the importance of encouraging students to learn more about these systems.

Loretta Palacio, Managing Director, TBSL
"So this is a very important event because our students, our young people need to be on par with the rest of the world that if they go away or just be here to be able to earn better to be an employee or a self employed person we are using GIS to develop Belize. So BEL is using it to distribute power right, SIB is here, Belize Tourism Board strategic marketing for tourist arrivals. What is the next step? We have here the Belize City council, municipalities need GIS so they can manage parcel data they can manage delivery of services to residents of course we also have the ministry of natural resources. Every land in this country is in our GIS which is the technology that we distribute here in Belize. So ministry of natural resources have the entire cadastre for the country in our GIS so whether it is a Caye you own or it is a farm or your plot of land with your house it is in this technology and so they are here to show the students and the general public how they are using this technology for national development."

We also spoke with booth representatives who demonstrated how GIS technology has become an indispensable tool in their daily operations.

Augustine Choc, Assistant City Planner, CITCO
"GIS falls directly under our planning department and we use it for data information so here we use it for identifying green spaces and to aid in the urban development of our department. So for example ongoing construction to abandoned buildings to over grown properties here we help to identify that helps us to pick these properties and you know tackle those issues so not only with those constructions activities but with flood inundation in the city it helps us to identify key points of flooding prone areas and hereby we use our maintenance system where we tackle the area in Belize City to schedule, schedules to clean our drainage, clean up culverts and basic sanitation for the beautification of Belize city."

Debbie Trejo, Lands Information Technician, Ministry of Natural Resources
"For GIS we use it in many forms we use it to analyze data to create maps and we also use it for land management, zone planning as well as conservation and agricultural efforts. So for instance the most common map we create in my office is we create a google map and we use satellite imagery to locate different locations in Belize where people come in and they try to locate their parcel of land as well as we use compilation maps that have different types of layers that we use GIS for and we use as well as forrest maps where people come into to request and then it is taken to the forest department and they make a more sound decision when it comes to our maps."

The exploration continues beyond today's expo,. Students can use their Chromebooks to access these tools and dive deeper into Belize's geography from the classroom or at home.

Loretta Palacio, Managing Director, TBSL
"And so the students are also able to see at some of our booths how the subjects that they are taking right now are in this technology so when you flip your book and you try to read or study the constituencies, studying the villages or studying the rivers on one page at a time one page at a time but now they have chrome books and laptops and internet so this technology is used by educational institutions around the world, schools, universities, around the world and so we are joining we have been for 15 years I would say 15 years this is our 10th expo but 15 years promoting the technology and explaining the role it plays in education, moving us forward so that we can be more progressive."

SJC Students Investigate Businesses That Address Climate Challenge

SJC High School hosted its annual business fair this year for third form students. They were tasked to create a business that would address a climate challenge. We spoke with Minette Johnson, the head of the Business and IT department who explained what the students have been tasked to do since February:

Minnette Johnson, Head of Business & IT - SJCHS
"Our business expo is an annual event here at SJC, each year we focus on a topic. This year's topic is climate change for our business students in 3rd form so what they had to do was come up with a unique product that solves an issue with climate change."

"I am impressed I am proud of my boys. We have 11 booths here today. They're all third form and they're all original products and they all are successful. Actually we had 2 booths that are sold out so far"

"The boys, it's a part of their daily grade so they have to come up with a business plan, they have to come up with their logos, we have a week where they market and they have to show other students their product and their price so it was a really fun engaging activity."

"We did encourage them use AI to a certain extent because it is the business and It department not only business but we limit the extent to how much they can use toward their product so for example if you see look at the banners here, some of them do have AI components but we look at it and we tell them which part can you add in that is solely for you. Is it original is it only AI based or can you tell off your hand that it's AI"

One of the teams, "Elotes Locos" sold 2 ice boxes of corn:

Ethan Portillo, Elotes Locos
"It was a lot of preparation, all of us put in a set of money and we just bought all our stuff,we made our logo, flyer banner and everything"

"It was fairly easy, it wasn't that hard to research and stuff"

Reporter:
"Which climate issue are you guys solving? "

Ethan Portillo, Elotes Locos
"So we are solving transportation pollution we are just helping the local farmers and letting the Belizeans know stand up and support our local farmers"

The students all received a grade for their business ideas.

Taiwan Hands Over Gym Equipment To Belmopan

The George Brown Field in Belmopan now has new Gym equipment thanks to the Ministry of Health and Wellness and Taiwan. Today at the opening ceremony, Minister of Health Kevin Bernard spoke about the benefits of the project