MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: New Straits Times

Kuala Lumpur, Wed - The ground receiving station for remote sensing in Temerloh will be operational this December, which will be a boost for many fields such as forestry, environment and disaster management in the country.

One of the 20 stations in the world, it will enable Malaysia to receive realtime data and images that are transmitted directly from satellites instead of having to rely on foreign sources, which are sometimes delayed.

Deputy Science, Technology and Environment Minister Datuk Zainal Dahalan said with the station, remote sensing technology would be used with greater capacity to obtain data for applications such as monitoring of land use.

He said with remote sensing and the Geographic Information Systems, an integrated national database on biodiversity could also be set up.

The ministry, he said, was currently trying to find ways of putting various information held by different agencies under one data system centre.

"We have all the information but it is scattered. It is high time that we use modern technology to integrate this information," he said today after opening a seminar on Applications of Remote Sensing and Related Technologies for Biodiversity Management at the Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing (Macres) here today.

Macres director Nik Nasruddin Mahmood said holding the seminar was a first step, allowing those related in the field to be aware of latest technologies and development.

"With the station, we will be able to use remote sensing technology for the purpose of creating a co-ordinated database which the National Council on Biodiversity could use it for quality direction and development," he said.

Agencies that will be involved in the biodiversity database would include the Departments of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Environment and Wildlife, the Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute and local universities, he said.

The station will cover an area of 2,500km in radius, which means it will be able to extend its services to all Southeast Asian countries as well as east India and South China.

In his keynote address, Nik Nasruddin said data received at the ground station would be analysed and interpreted by Macres, and then be sent for spatial data analysis and modelling before it reached users.

"The station is configured to receive data from American satellites Landsat TM and NOAA, French satellite SPOT and Canadian Radarsat."

The station would help save the country RM4 million a year.