Geography Awareness Week was observed in Belize from November 13-19, with the highlight of the week being GIS Day 2016—an event held on Wednesday, November 16, at the Ramada Belize City Princess. The event drew over nine hundred Belizeans students from all over the country including the cayes and villages. During the opening ceremony for the event, Keynote Speaker Adele Ramos, highly respected journalist in Belize and Assistant Editor at the Amandala newspaper, shared with students how she has used Esri open source software to create maps and apps focusing on various issues and events in Belize ranging from social, economic and public safety. She also demonstrated to students how GIS and the maps and apps she has created, such as her app featuring the boundaries of Belize, can be used in schools to build knowledge. “Applications on mobile phones are now ground-breaking tools that allow people who have GIS knowledge to be able to engage the wider public. So for example, somebody could develop an app where if a crime happens right now at a certain location, you could plug it in, report it and it appears on the map,” Ramos said. Many youth may already be using GIS without realizing it. Dr. Diana Sinton, Esri Education Ambassador and Professor at Cornell University, New York, asked the students how many of them are familiar with Pokémon Go. Many of them raised their hands. “So did you know that when you are holding a phone and playing Pokémon Go that [...]