MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: The Star

Sarawak is now able to carry out more accurate land surveying in difficult and remote areas with the help of the global positioning system (GPS), said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam.

He said surveyors had in the past relied on the prismatic compass and taken astronomical readings, which were carrying out surveying in remote areas.

"The GPS, which is the most advanced technology in land surveying, is now widely used in the state." he added, when opening the inaugural Geo-information and Surveying Conference in Kuching on Wednesday.

Some 200 participations attended the two-day event jointly organised by the Institution of Surveyors Malaysia, Sarawak branch and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Unit of the Chief Minister's Department.

Dr Chan said the state now acquired the largest-scale resolution satellite images available commercially for all the major towns and small-scale satellite images for the smaller towns.

"With the implementation of a surveying e-book system for the state Land and Survey Department last year, land surveyors collect data directly from their total stations into hand-held ICT devices for storage and survey computation in the field.

"Back in the office, the system interfaces directly with the survey and mapping modules of the department's information system."

The total station is a computer system that not only measures and computes distances and angles but also stores and processes the data.

"By integrating the total station with other ICT systems, the entire surveying and mapping work process can be made more efficient and effective," he added.