|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 11 June 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Geoinformatics - indispensable for Rational Governance by N. T. Sohan Wijesekera,
Today, many Sri Lankans know what a computer could do. A good majority, even if they have not worked with a computer, have seen one or have heard of what is capable of. Desktop and Laptop computers, mobile phones, Pokcet Diaries and Palmtops, memory sticks, compact disks, DVDs, internet, e-mail, worldwide web etc., have elevated modern presentations, data sharing and communication. Most of the organisations have realised the need of Digital Databases and Management Information Systems. Public is getting used to a cashless society working with smart cards, online payments and automatic teller machines. A good many of the organisations and individuals are in the process of either improving or preparing their own home pages on the web to enable information sharing for businesses, research or projects. We are now at a juncture where it is necessary to evaluate whether we are moving in the right direction to harness the best of the IT. The key to information technology is information itself. Almost all information are linked to a spatial location and hence geographically referenced. Those information lose the value significantly when the geographic representation is taken off. It is often said that a good visual is worth more than a thousand words. Therefore for most of us a graphical presentation of geography using a map provides a better explanation than a description using text. Hence map based information systems are considered as the most effective and useful.
This technology called Global Positioning Systems popularly known as GPS, facilitates the identification of a location via a constellation of approximately twenty-four satellites has now become less expensive and hence affordable to many. Therefore spatial data recording for data sharing has become an affordable reality. Analysis and presentation The analysis and presentation of map based data for resource management, requires an information system that incorporates both traditional computer database computational facilities and geographically referenced digital maps, which are linked to each other. Though the importance of such systems had been realised by many for a long time, the hardware limitations for computing and transmission did not create an affordable environment for a majority of organisations. However the presentday's revolutionised IT facilities have changed the picture. The advancements and improvements in computational capabilities of today's computers enable handling of large map based information systems with relative ease. As such the hesitancy of many to explore different IT options with the fear of spending significant time and financial resources is diminished. Geoinformatics for governance Spatial data management systems called GIS (Geographic Information Systems) enable a user to input, store, retrieve, analyse and present spatially distributed data. These systems can easily and effectively function on commonly available computer systems. There are several software to select from and all these are very user friendly and affordable. The outputs or uses of a Geographic Information System can be grouped into three. One is that a GIS can be used to generate "Inventory Type" outputs that would present the stored/acquired data and statistics with the associated spatial variation. Second are the "Policy Analysis" outputs identifying the present policy or the behaviour of data by carrying out computations using one or more data layers. The third is the "Policy Making' type that are either recommended alternatives or proposed solutions based on computations using validated concepts and theories. Tough a resource manager's dream is to rationally plan and manage spatially distributed resources, the databases or the yesteryear did not permit the visualisation of the spatial variations while preforming analysis incorporating different datasets having spatially varying characteristics. This limitation of visualising data layers at will and the storage and processing constraints that were with previous generation personal computers, significantly restricted the desire of a resource manager to anlayse many alternatives. A GIS enables a user to work with many data layers that could be merged and analysed to arrive at policy analysis or policy making outputs. Since these systems are computer based, this strength of GIS provides a resource manager the luxury of analysing an unlimited number of alternatives within a reasonable time, to arrive at the best implementation option satisfying the demands of the decision makers. The capability of GIS to handle many data layers, facilitates the dynamic monitoring of spatially distributed resources at whatever the frequency. In the past, dynamic monitoring of spatially distributed resources over large areas is seldom done because of the data collection constraints. Though the conventional surveying cannot cater to the data needs for the dynamic monitoring of large spatial extends, the Satellite Remote Sensing Images and aerial photographs do provide that capability. Present day GIS can incorporate these data for analysis. Today a wide variety of observation satellites provide earth surface characteristics at different resolutions for affordable prices. In essence, a resource manager can easily study many alternatives based on a GIS, which is strongly backed by the Global Positioning Systems and well supported with satellite imagery of good spatial and temporal resolution. Therefore a good knowledge of Geoinformatics and its potential applications is a must for any management team that is dealing with the good governance of geographically distributed resources. Resource management applications Geographic Information Systems have immense potential in resource planning and management for good governance because of its capability to provide alternatives solutions while incorporating variability in the spatial domain. In the education sector, decision makers can identify the spatial distribution of school infrastructure in comparison with the schooling children and plan to manage the infrastructure accordingly; relationship between the distribution of development finances and the population served can be looked at from a point of other infrastructure availability to identify whether rural and urban populations are served adequately; spatial distribution of Samurdhi recipient data, water and other services can be compared to identify possibilities of employment generation or other ways of poverty reduction. Spatial data in a GIS have a wide variety of environmental applications such as identifying environmental changes or urbanisation trends, selecting waste disposal sites, identifying proper locations for infrastructure and carrying out environmental impact assessments. Recent GIS enables easy analysis of terrain features such as slopes, slope directions, shadow areas, streams and stream orders, thereby providing various good governance options for a watershed manager, agricultural personnel, landscape designers or security planners. Irrigation managers can carry out water distribution planing to suit the spatial distribution of rainfall, soil crops and farmer practices. Monitoring and identifying management options for coastal erosion is another area where GIS is widely used. Forest cover monitoring, spatial assessment of crop yields, and identifying the spatial distribution of livestock are several other GIS application areas. Real estate developers can identify the spatial distribution of preferred settlement areas and venture into different investment options. Water supply, electricity and telecommunication managers can identify the present status of coverage and plan for better services and identify options for expansion. GIS facilitates the assessment of networks whether they are for road transportation, Water transport in canals or spatially distributed infrastructure facilities. Network analysis in GIS has a wide range of applications in marketing where it enables analysis of resource distribution in groups of business outlets. University of Moratuwa Most of the Government organisations and private sector institutions are already using Geoinformatics for resource management. Some have developed their databases, some are carrying out implementation and some are trying to takeoff the ground. Though many of the government and private sector organisations are improving their computer networks and related infrastructure, one finds that there is a lack of human resources capable of carrying out GIS applications to suit the planning and management needs of such institutions. Having realised the need for a critical mass of human resources for the country to rationally manage its resources, in the year 1992, Moratuwa University embarked on the human resources development in the field of Geoinformatics. In this year the Department of Town and Country Planning introduced GIS for urban planning at postgraduate level teaching and this had been continuing since then. In the year 1994 the Department of Civil Engineering conducted a short course on Remote Sensing Techniques for the industry. Subsequently in the year 1998 the postgraduate program of the Department of Civil Engineering introduced the subject of planning and management using GIS. (To be continued) |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
Information Technology has revolutionised the world with hardware and
software to receive, process and transmit information and is continuing to
do so at a tremendous pace.
Collecting geographic data is not new. Maps have been in existence
since 2300 BC. Along with the traditional surveying methods to collect
geographical references, the modern world resorts to much advanced
technology with satellite based positioning systems which provides both
reasonable accuracy when identifying a position while maintaining
uniformity in referencing.
