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| Using space-age technology to care for Heritage sites |
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| Thursday, 13 May 1999 00:00 | ||||||||
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Source: The New Straits Times (page 59) Penang, Wed - Managers of world heritage and other cultural sites were today urged to adopt the Geographical Information System in preserving and managing the remains of ancient civilizations.Making the call, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) regional adviser for culture in Asia and the Pacific, Richard Engelhardt said the spaceage technology had been used successfully by the UN body in overseeing the protection of world heritage sites. Speaking at the launch of a printed manual on GIS at the "Economics of Heritage" conference this afternoon, he explained how Unesco had pioneered the use of GIS as a cultural resource management tool. The printed manual is being sold for US$40 (RM152) while a CD-ROM version, which is to be released later, is expected to be cheaper. A web-based version is also expected to be made available on the Internet later. "GIS can be used to build detailed databases and record the geometry and location of real-world features in layers of a computerised map," Engelhardt said. "Once the data has been compiled, GIS can give heritage site managers ready access to information they need effectively to oversee all aspects in the conservation and management of their sites," he added. GIS could, in one application, allow site managers to prepare historical and physical research into a site, analyse its physical condition or cultural significance, prepare conservation and management strategies and implement, monitor and evaluate site management policies. This empowerment, he said, would change the face of heritage management, and help in the preservation of endangered heritage sites, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, adding that Unesco had used it in the conservation of the Angkor Wat site in Cambodia. Engelhardt said while the safeguarding of heritage has always been a central concern of Unesco, the use of modern electronic and computer-based information technologies to support the network is relatively new. He stressed that proper information management systems were vital for the continued conservation and future planning for a site. "We first used computer-based tools for archaeological site management in the early 90s at Angkor to test the usefulness of GIS in a difficult situation where map data was non-existent, electricity rare and where no local manager had ever heard of this technology," Engelhardt said, adding that it was later tried in Hue, Vietnam and Vat-Phu and Lao. "Through GIS, we were able to successfully integrate data from the fields of archaeology, geology, hydrology, climatology, environmental science and demography together with plans prepared for the development of agriculture, irrigation, road construction and tourism." Engelhardt said Unesco was meanwhile looking to the private sector to sponsor the acquision of remote sensing data projects and for the purchase of software, training and system support.
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