The Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA) and the Geospatial Information Technology Association Australia and New Zealand (GITA ANZ) have merged, creating an expanded organisation for the spatial industry.
The new association will continue to deliver services to members as the leading association representing the collective spatial ‘industries’ and the ‘users’ of geospatial technology, particularly those involved in the infrastructure life cycle.
The merger of SIBA and GITA re-enforces the representation of members in advocacy across all three tiers of government. The merger facilitates the ability to more effectively leverage scale and to drive growth and innovation for this dynamic and critical cornerstone of Australia and New Zealand’s knowledge economies.
GITA President, Wanda Skerrett (Open Spatial) and Past President Antoine Burdett (AECOM) will be appointed to the board of the merged organisation.
SIBA Chairman, Alistair Byrom, said, “SIBA’s merger with GITA is a strong and determined response to the growth and consolidation of the spatial industry and draws together two organisations committed to a shared passion and vision for the spatial sector.
“This merger will enable our larger association to provide a more consistent message and consolidate our combined efforts for greater impact. The merger will help increase awareness in the wider community of our members’ products and services and facilitate further growth opportunities.”
GITA President, Wanda Skerrett, said, “With the merging of SIBA and GITA, we’ve set out to achieve a unified industry voice through an association for all.
“Geospatial technology plays a critical role in all fundamental services supporting our community’s way of life as increasingly more companies embrace location information as a strategic focus of their business.
“This merger aligns the aims and visions of each ‘pre-merger’ association whilst enabling the enhanced, broader delivery of services such as member updates in areas such as spatial tools and technologies, industry collaboration and change, user and vendor networking and insight into common challenges.”
