THE GEOSPATIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (GAC):

GAC was created to serve as an advisory and policy-making body, directly accountable and reporting to the Government through the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry with responsibility for the Centre, in respect of the standards, protocols, procedures and pricing to be established by Government and implemented by the Centre for the formation, exchange, use, maintenance and development of GIS data held by the BNGIS Centre. To facilitate this purpose the Centre has been appointed a member of GAC.

The members of GAC are appointed by the Government. GAC is chaired by the Director of the BNGIS Centre with a primary function being the development and adoption of a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”), binding on all signatories, for Co-operative Geospatial Data Sharing amongst and between GAC members in respect of Non-sensitive Geospatial Data created by GAC members and reposed in the Centre.

Committee Members include representatives from: The Bahamas National Geographic Information Systems Centre (Committee Chair), Ministry of The Environment, Ministry of National Security (Royal Bahamas Police Force and Royal Bahamas Defense Force), Department of Physical Planning, Department of Lands & Surveys, Department of Statistics, Department of Marine Resources, Bahamas Telecommunications Company, Bahamas Electricity Corporation, Water & Sewerage Corporation, Registrar General, Business License/Real Property Tax, Best Commission, National Emergency Management Agency, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Works, Ministry of Finance and the Grand Bahama Port Authority.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS - DELIMITATION COMMITTEE:

The Bahamas National Geographic Information Systems (BNGIS) Centre is a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Delimitation Committee concerned with matters related to the United Nations Convention on Laws of The Sea (UNCLOS). The BNGIS Centre has also served as a member of the Delegation to the Republic of Cuba for the resumption of delimitation negotiations between the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and the Republic of Cuba.

For more information on the BNGIS Centre’s assistance to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNCLOS activities see the following Sections of our Website - Training {provide link} and Projects {provide link}

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL SECURITY - ELECTRONIC MONITORING TECHNICAL COMMITTEE:

The Bahamas National Geographic Information Systems (BNGIS) Centre is a member of the Ministry of National Security’s Electronic Monitoring Technical Committee providing technical support as required.

NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY - DISASTER PREPAREDNESS COMMITTEE:

The Bahamas National Geographic Information Systems (BNGIS) Centre is a member of The National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) Disaster Preparedness Committee, more specifically, Emergency Support Function (ESF) #5 Planning and Information.

The overall Goal of ESF #5 is to coordinate the collection, analysis, processing and dissemination of information about a potential or actual disaster. As such the BNGIS Centre is expected to provide technical assistance during all phases of disaster preparedness including Planning (i.e. what if scenarios, modeling), Response (i.e. evacuation routing, shelter management) Mitigation (i.e. pinpointing susceptible areas) and Recovery (i.e. damage assessment).

PORT DEPARTMENT - NATIONAL OIL SPILL CONTINGENCY COMMITTEE:

The Bahamas National Geographic Information Systems (BNGIS) Centre is a member of The Port Department’s National Oil Spill Contingency Committee concerned with matters related to responding to Oil Spills.