The 37th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing commenced in Colombo yesterday under the patronage of the Minister of Lands John Amaratunghe. The conference themed, ‘Promoting Spatial Data Infrastructure for Sustainable Economic Development’ will be held from 17th to 21st October with the participation of nearly 600 local and foreign participants. ACRS is an annual event organized by the Asian Association of Remote Sensing (AARS). Earlier, Sri Lanka had hosted the ACRS in 1983, 1996, and 2008.