Emergency Management Cook Islands (EMCI) has made history as the first Pacific island organisation to receive an international award for its innovative use of Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) technology.

EMCI, under the umbrella of the Office of the Prime Minister, was recently honoured with the prestigious award at the world’s largest GIS conference, the Esri User Conference in San Diego, USA, witnessed by an audience of 19,000 from 159 countries.

Stephano Rampling-Tou, EMCI geoportal coordinator, said: “We were both surprised and honoured that the news of our efforts has been recognised on the international stage by the biggest GIS organisations in the world.”

Rampling-Tou received the award last month alongside EMCI director John Strickland.

He said the award signified the efforts to create intelligence systems that would support emergency operations and ultimately protect and serve the people of the Cook Islands.

Strickland and Rampling-Tou have been sharing geospatial expertise around the Pacific region and have been requested to host training programmes to support regional partners in developing a system of their own.

“However, our focus remains on continuing the development to benefit our people first and foremost,” said Rampling-Tou.

In a nutshell, he explains GIS is an intelligence system relating everything to a geographic reference point whether it be space, land, ocean, or everything in between.

“From military intelligence, mapping EEZ or country boundaries, to Emergency Management, GIS influences decisions being made worldwide.”

GIS was first introduced in the Cook Islands around the 1990s, mandated under Infrastructure Cook Islands.

EMCI hosts an Esri Geospatial database and software available to government users with 100 licences and has access to many apps that allow for different user cases and data.  This was first donated to the Cook Islands by Esri and Eagle Technology New Zealand in 2015 to support the work of Marae Moana and other conservational efforts in the country.

EMCI now spearheads this platform and has developed various data sets, in particular a dashboard that contains household information, critical infrastructure, statistics and information related to emergency management to support decision-making during a disaster.

It also contributes to prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery and reconstruction.

This dashboard was the award-winning element and contains many years of data from various agencies and GIS professionals in the Cook Islands who have contributed to its success. 

“The long-term benefits are that we make the best decisions to protect our people and achieve the EMCI vision which is - A Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Cook Islands. Te Au Maru, Ketaketa, Turanga Roa o te Kuki Airani 2024,” said Rampling-Tou.