Geography Information System: Think geo-spatial!

Friday, 27 March 2009 00:17

Source: New Straits Times

Geography Information System technology and its range of possible applications can address the spectre of unemployment as the global recession bites, writes MICHAEL SUN

PROFESSIONS utilising the Geography Information System (GIS) are still growing in a direction opposite to the economic downturn, says Associate Professor Dr Noordin Ahmad from the Engineering Faculty at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang.

The launch of the next satellite, RazakSat - upon which the GIS and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology depends -- will create a New Age economy of futuristic jobs which can address the spectre of unemployment as the global recession bites deep into Malaysia's export-driven economy.

Malaysia needs to diversify and sell its services to the world.

But Malaysian schools ought to address the lack of instruction in basic Geography as only a geo-spatial culture of awareness in a literate population can capitalise on the new development, says Associate Professor Dr Abdul Rashid Mohamed Shariff, who is also from UPM's Engineering Faculty.
Encouraging entrepreneurial projects, the venture capitalism of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) can play a pivotal role in financing new jobs in a geo-spatial economy.

The GIS is based on Geographical Information Science as it is first known to the French.

An important component of this system and the essence of the GIS is the location of the information.

"This makes the information powerful," says Abdul Rashid at UPM's recent GIS Day in Serdang, which featured a public lecture, career talk and exhibition.

The GIS was born out of war.

"It was not intended to help us tend to our plantations. The launch of the first satellite was to spy on others.

Since then, the GIS and GPS remote sensors have been harnessed for civilian use in activities ranging from police and military security, calamity tracking (such as for landslides and agriculture productivity) to disease control in Malaysia.

Other possible projects involve land use and land titles, changes in watershed run-off, road accident prevention, street map guidance, traffic systems to ease congestion and tracking diseases such as dengue and AIDS."

Natural disasters -- typhoons, hurricanes or tsunamis -- cause fewer casualties in the West, thanks to the meteorological experts trained in handling emergencies using an installed GIS.

Such events -- even if happening off the coast such as in the South China Sea and heading towards Kelantan or Trengganu -- can be stored in a GIS database, which can then be monitored for immediate weather alerts and a proper evacuation.

"(In Malaysia) we have not been able to implement a systematic operational programme during emergencies.

"Here, the GIS can be a help to security if it is properly installed, monitored and there is public awareness of its utilisation."

The GIS could save the environment -- from deforestation, pollution and the control of logging.

UPM doctoral students have conducted studies on the impact of land use on watershed run-off and flooding in the Upper Bernam Valley.

The GIS can also trace substance contamination such as the use of melamine in food production.

It is crucial to set up a traceability system.

Information on food processes, locations and sites of the entire production cycle must be entered into a GIS information system to be unravelled through a bar code on the packaging.

Over-fertilising the soil may be toxic to the environment. This is where precision agriculture comes in handy.

"We need to know what we planted and where during a specific fertilising or a disease control campaign. This can be done through geo-referencing seeds."

RazakSat, which will go along the equator and snap images of Malaysia, will also capture Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

African countries covered include Somalia, Rwanda and Nigeria. Even South America would be on the radar.

"This is a positive development in the light of the recession. GIS students with access to these data would be able to tabulate a clause (in a customer agreement or a contract of employment) to serve clients in any of these countries and more.

"They can do this without physically being in these countries.

"You may get data about coffee plantation or the growth of oil palms in Nigeria. We have lots of experience in the palm oil industry from which we could market to them."

Abdul Rashid urges MSC-status organisations to form a company specialising in geo-spatial technology -- GIS and GPS remote sensing -- through a special directive to encourage Malaysians to use their own satellite.

The commercial spin-off would be road and agricultural maps.

An entire industry could be born. This is a positive area from which jobs can be created.

Malaysia may be able to sell these specialised map images to countries such as Suriname in South America and Nigeria and be consultants to them.

However, Abdul Rashid notes that Malaysians generally do not use maps and prefer to ask for directions verbally. Tourists, on the other hand, would use maps for directions.

Abdul Rashid hopes that the GIS Day seminar had given participants a broad view of GIS technology and its applications.

But he fears that Malaysians may not have the fundamental knowledge -- basic Geography -- to appreciate the satellite data coming in (see accompanying story).

"It is very sad you know, when Malaysia launched its first satellite -- TiungSat-One -- for imaging (in 2000), very few images were used by Malaysians."

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