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Tonight, technology and education are intersecting in a major way as Belize saw a successful geospatial learning event to date. The 10th Belize GeoEducation Expo was held at the Ramada Princess Hotel in Belize City, bringing together students, educators, government agencies, and private sector partners under the theme, “Embracing Technology-Driven Education through GIS.” Hosted by Total Business Solutions Limited (TBSL), the milestone highlights how Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, are transforming learning and real-world problem-solving across the country. From interactive exhibits to live demonstrations, participants are getting hands-on experience with tools that are increasingly shaping industries and national development. Managing Director of Total Business Solutions Limited, Loretta Palacio, says the 10th edition marks an important milestone, not just for the expo, but for Belize’s broader push toward digital transformation.
Loretta Palacio, TBSL Managing Director: “We have been working in promoting geo education, GIS education for fifteen years. We had COVID, we had hurricanes and so we’re not at the fifteenth expo we’re at the tenth because we had some years that we paused. It is a milestone year and it’s a great year. We have heard CEO Mejia from the Ministry of Education she is our keynote for this morning expressing and sharing her vision, her team’s vision, the Ministry’s vision for GIS in education. And that was very important for us, for me to hear, her speaking to it. We have been promoting this technology because we want to help students and educators learn better. The modern way of learning. We’re talking about digital transformation in business, in government but education I know the Ministry is working on the same goal issuing laptops, Chromebooks to schools and we’re saying okay we have ARCGIS which we are the Esri Distributor for Esri ARCGIS for eighteen years now. And so for fifteen years we’ve been promoting it, allow the students to look at the villages in a dynamic environment. You know they’ll be exploring in VR headsets to look at caves, look at the rivers, different data sets that they’re seeing in a book that we grew up paging through trying to remember the thirteen constituencies right ? I remember our son memorizing thirteen constituencies and he would be “Mesopotamia….” and he’s just going because the page in the book can only take so much a picture like this. In a GIS he can go and explore and move around and do much more. And so it doesn’t only help visual learners but it also makes learning fun.”
Belize Water Services was among the key participants, showcasing how GIS technology is being used to enhance water services nationwide. Their exhibit, “Powering Water Services with GIS,” demonstrates how digital mapping and data integration are improving efficiency and service delivery. The Statistical Institute of Belize was also on display, highlighting the role of geospatial data in strengthening official statistics, while other exhibits focus on areas such as climate-smart agriculture, including innovations aimed at supporting sugarcane farmers in northern Belize. From the Statistical Institute of Belize, GIS Assistant Rivero Ramirez explained what visitors were privy to at their booth and how geospatial integration is shaping data analysis in the country.
Rivero Ramirez, GIS Assistant, Statistical Institute of Belize: “Spacial technology is basically location information technology and we’re providing information for them to understand how location impacts policy making, how it impacts decision making and at the Statistical Institute of Belize we are responsible for producing census and survey data, labour force data so we’re explaining to the population how geolocation assists with collecting census data and doing surveys. So we’re pretty much doing that today.”
Reporter: What can kids walk away from today as understanding ?
Rivero Ramirez, GIS Assistant, Statistical Institute of Belize: “So I guess they can walk away with more location awareness. They can know what location data is, what geospatial data is, what informatics is and they can have a sense of knowing where and how to apply geospatial data into their daily lives or at least get some sort of inspiration for doing something like that.”
Reporter: Okay, I’m a regular citizen, I don’t understand what that is, give me the layman’s terms of what that means for the regular civilian or the regular person on the street.
Rivero Ramirez, GIS Assistant, Statistical Institute of Belize: “Okay so what is GIS and what is geospatial technology and what is geospatial information ? So GIS is essentially Geographic Information System. It’s basically the system, the technology that can be used to analyze, store and manipulate geospatial data. Geospatial data is essentially just data with a location attached to it. So location is an XY long column and so that is basically what GIS is and what geospatial data is in a nutshell.”
The event ran up to four o’clock this evening. The keynote speaker was the CEO in the Ministry of Education, Dian Maheia.
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