Geospatial technology should be employed to reduce floods - Minister

Accra, Aug. 27, GNA - The recent floods that took lives and property in parts of the country could have been better managed and it effects considerably reduced if the use of geospatial technology to foster early warning signs were employed. Minister of Land and Natural Resources, Collins Duada, said this in a speech read on his behalf at the 2009 Annual Land Surveyors Seminar in Accra.

"We have the advantage of the telecommunication industry in Ghana. With these networks and the help of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and the Global Positioning System GPS, location based intelligence could be provided for emergency alert". Geospatial Technology refers to technology used for earth data capture, visualization, measurement and analysis of features or phenomena that occur on earth.

He said the technology has the ability to identify the location of mobile phone users within a hazardous area and to advise them on the most appropriate route away from danger. It also pinpoints possible safe areas to them and could be a useful tool for the security as well as a boost for the tourism industry.

Mr. Collins Dauda commended the institution for the designing of surveyors' jacket with latency right from the Registrar's General's Office that would uniquely identify professional surveyors and protect them from land guards and other dangers, and said he would be following with keen interest to see to it that enough publicity was provided to ensure its success.

Surveyor Kwadwo H. Osei Asante, President of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors catalogued the origins of surveying techniques from ancient Egypt where the boundaries of the Nile River were re-established, the division of the Roman Empire for tax purposes, and the rise of the Caliphate which led to extensive surveying throughout the Arab empire. He noted that surveying had changed little over the years but the tools used have evolved tremendously, adding that civil engineering depended heavily on surveyors especially in building of roads and railways.

He said surveying had been an essential element in the development and management of the human environment since the beginning of history. He further noted that it was a requirement in the planning and the execution of nearly every form of construction and in every human endeavour, adding that its most familiar uses were in the field of transport, building and construction, communications, mapping and the definition of legal boundaries for land ownership. Surveyor Osei stated that the greatest challenges and threats of the surveying profession was conflict of interest. "We are considered to have conflict in terms of conflicting activities, conflicting assignments and conflicting relationships."

He said surveyors are required to provide professional, objective and impartial advice, hold the interest of Ghana paramount at all times, and avoid conflicts between their individual and corporate interests. "We have the obligation to disclose any situation of potential conflict that impacts our capacity to serve the best interest of Ghana," he said, adding that failure to disclose the said situations could lead to undesirable consequences.

Kumbun Naa Yiri II, Paramount of Chief of Kumbungu in the Northern Region, advised them to eschew envy and discard the notion that "if it is not me nothing can be done." He said training and capacity building should be vigorously pursued in addition to writing professional papers to be abreast with current demands of the surveying profession.

He also advised surveyors to write extensively on the survey profession to serve as reference for the next generation. The seminar was on the theme "Using Geospatial Technology in Promoting Peaceful and Sound Environmental Management." Thirteen technical papers including spatial data infrastructure initiative, cadastral models, land administration, and hydrological and mining surveys, will be presented. There would also be an examination of purported best practices in terms of government policy, technology, institutional and financial approaches and their ultimate effect on the country's economic advancement.