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As part of JAMPRO’s ongoing efforts to extend its marketing reach, attract more investors and land greater foreign direct investment (FDI), the agency has launched an interactive online Investment Map that conveniently provides pictorial views and data on key infrastructure, investment projects, lands for development and natural resources.

The Investment Map, which is powered by Mona GeoInformatics Institute’s 1Map framework built atop the Google map platform, was unveiled at JAMPRO’s Trafalgar Road office on February 3 to a gathering comprised of public and private sector stakeholders as well as the media. The Hon. Karl Samuda, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce – the parent ministry of JAMPRO, described the Investment Map as an excellent example of applied technology and a clear reflection of the level of intellect that exists in the country.

“This is one of the most powerful tools I have seen, unquestionably. With it, we are able to expose to the world all that really matters about Jamaica in terms of infrastructure, geographical composition, existing development and investment opportunities…it is absolutely incredible. If after seeing this someone is really interested in investing Jamaica, they can’t help but be impressed,” stated Minister Samuda.

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Claude Duncan, JAMPRO’s Vice President of Investment Promotion, also endorsed the Investment Map as a human capital statement for Jamaica, and added that it would cost-effectively bolster the agency’s activities by providing round the clock access to a wide range of information, which will go a far way to positively influencing potential investors in the early stages of the investment cycle.

“With the Investment Map, we are trying to do more with less through innovation in this competitive global FDI landscape. Investors want to know the lay of the land, the location of resources and infrastructure and the proximity of these things to each other, and the Map provides this 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Right now we are pursuing interests in China and India and these places are in different time zones. We are sure that this tool will better enable investors to consider and evaluate Jamaica as an investment destination and act on the information they have accessed,” said Duncan.

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Parris Lyew-Ayee, Managing Director of Mona GeoInformatics Institute (MGI), indicated that the Investment Map was the result of a close collaborative effort between JAMPRO and the MGI team.

“We worked on this for over two years and we are happy to have partnered with JAMPRO. The Map brings Jamaica to the investors, allowing them to interrogate a database and ask questions they couldn’t ask of a person. It also allows them to find answers to things that they wouldn’t simply find in a brochure,” said Lyew-Ayee.

The Investment Map boasts six different categories of data ranging from general information, educational, workforce, investment opportunity and development projects and registered exporters. Under the six categories, 90 different datasets are loaded up, such as hotels, airports, sea ports, beaches, training centres etc. The Map was developed at a cost of J$2 million, which was heavily offset by the use of Google’s open source software.

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