Bermuda will mark geographic information systems (GIS) day on Wednesday as part of National Geographic Society's Geography Awareness Week.

The global event, which celebrates the innovative technology that uses geography to bring benefits to Island and the rest of the world, will be held at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo today between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

GIS technologies are computer systems that enable the collection, storage, analysis and visualisation of geographic information and are used worldwide to solve problems related to the environment, health care, land use, business efficiency, education, and public safety through a number of different applications.

It ranges from use in Bermuda Weather Services radar imagery to monitor the rain to the Department of Planning's online interactive map at www.planning.gov.bm to find the nearest nature reserve. Belco also employs GIS technology to manage the outage and strategically restore power, while Government has used GIS internally to manage operations related to engineering, planning, land tax, health, census, electoral and public safety information.

This year's event will be in two parts. Starting at 6 p.m., attendees are invited to peruse a variety of displays showcasing different uses of GIS technology in Bermuda and interact with the exhibitors and participants, followed by three presentations starting at 7pm by John Arthur, mapping officer for the Department of Lands, Buildings and Surveys who will discuss the update of Bermuda's digital map data using satellite imagery,

Donovan Tulloch, GIS analyst for Belco, who will present the company's outage management system, and Matthew Trott and Demiko Easton, who will talk about the Bermuda 2008 Plan.

Students from Bermuda College have also been invited to submit designs for the GIS Day cake design competition.