West to host Fijian geospatial information system forum

Fifty Geospatial Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing(RS) users are expected to be part of the Fiji GS/RS Forum on May 2 in Lautoka.

The event will take place at the Lands Department office at Tavewa Avenue at the Sugar City.

The four speakers will be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs principal foreign affairs officer Sala Tagicakibau, iTaukei Land Trust Board senior land use planner Doni Waniqolo, The Pacific Community coordinator Applied Ocean Science Zulfikar Begg, and Kahuto Pacific/Drone Works Consultancy representatives Christopher Saii and Salmen Chand.

The range of topics covered by the speakers will include the Maritime Affairs Project in Fiji, TLTB land use master plan, regional tide monitoring and updating topographical maps as well as country wide LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) survey.

Director Geospatial Information Management Division of the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources Meizyanne Hicks said 30 of the participants would be part of the forum meeting in the face-toface mode while 20 were expected to join virtually.

“The user forum takes place once a month, with various agencies taking turns to host the forums,” Ms Hicks said. “Updates on GIS projects and activities, GIS and related events, research and collaboration initiatives, idea exchanges on GIS issues will be discussed.”

She said the hoped outcome of the meeting would be to raise awareness on the scope of work covered by Geospatial Information System and Remote Sensing users.

“Issues raised are taken to Fiji Geospatial Information Council for discussions,” she said.

GIS is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth’s surface. It can show different kinds of data on one map.