I remember vividly the opening ceremony of the first Digital Earth Summit held in Auckland in 2006 ... I was excited at the opportunity to be involved back then, and I'm even more excited to be involved in this year's event.

I remember vividly the opening ceremony of the first Digital Earth Summit held in Auckland in 2006. Helen Clark, New Zealand’s then Prime Minister, commented that the summit would forever change the way we used digital tools to support sustainability. Six years later the advances have been extraordinary and truly have changed the way we look at managing our world resources. I was excited at the opportunity to be involved back then, and I'm even more excited to be involved in this year's event.

The passion behind this years summit is amazing. Co-hosts Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and Wellington City Council are providing the driving force behind the summit, and between them they have some impressive credentials in this area. Celia Wade-Brown, Mayor of our host city Wellington also holds the position of Portfolio Leader on Climate Change, and LINZ Acting Chief Executive Sue Gordon is responsible for driving work to establish a spatial data infrastructure framework for New Zealand.

Combine this with a number of the world’s leading speakers who spoke at the first Summit including Prof. Guo Huadong and Tim Foresman returning to the Wellington summit, and the likes of Dr Carlo Ratti and Dr Peter Woodgate joining them, we have the world’s greatest proponents in one place.

The opportunity to not only learn, but to contribute to a forum like this is rare in New Zealand so I would urge all those who have a passion for true sustainability to join us in Wellington In September at Digital Earth 2012.