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Pacific and New Zealand surveying and geospatial professionals join forces for capacity development

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Pacific and New Zealand Professionals join forces

10 Apr 2018 | Nuku’Alofa

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Pacific Geospatial and Surveying Council (PGSC) and New Zealand Institute of Surveyors (NZIS) today signals new opportunities to enhance geospatial capacity and professional support in the Pacific Islands. The signing took place during the fourth PGSC meeting currently underway in Tonga and attended by Pacific Island lands survey and geospatial experts. This meeting is held in coordination with the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) International Workshop on Legal & Policy Framework for Geospatial Information.“We are grateful that NZIS has come on board as we need to work with regional partners to advance geospatial and surveying services in the region,” said the chair of the PGSC and Director of Tuvalu Lands and Survey Department, Mr Faatasi Malologa.

 

“The PGSC has developed significantly over the last few years and this is another great step forward.”

President for New Zealand Institute of Surveyors, Ms Rebecca Strang noted, “NZIS will assist in advocating for the development of capability in the Pacific and explain to our own ministers and aid organisations why NZ should share our skills, resources and learnings with you and in turn, learn from you.”  Strang commended the work of the PGSC in developing a comprehensive 10-year Strategy to guide and enhance surveying and geospatial services in the region. She noted that the strategy presented a number of opportunities for NZIS to contribute, and was particularly interested in the establishment of a Young Surveyors Network, noting that a similar initiative has been successful in New Zealand.

The Pacific Community has established the Pacific Geospatial and Surveying Partnership Desk to provide secretariat services and support the PGSC in achieving their goals and objectives. “Members of the PGSC will no doubt benefit from today’s MOU signing as services provided by Pacific geospatial scientists and surveyors support a multitude of industries and sectors and contribute significantly to the security and well-being of Pacific people,” said Deputy Director for Geo-resources and Energy Mr Akuila Tawake.

The PGSC Strategy 2017-2027 will be launched tomorrow evening by The Honourable Prime Minister of Tonga Samiuela ‘Akilisi Pōhiva. The Pacific Geospatial and Surveying Council Strategy is the product of several years of collaborative consultation and design on the part of PGSC members and development partners, including SPC, Geoscience Australia, Land Information New Zealand, the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), and the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). Made possible by Australian Government funding, it is the first such regional strategy ever produced by a surveying and geospatial body.

 

Media contacts:

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 April 2018 09:57  

Newsflash

“Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing is one of the fastest developing technologies no matter whether you are a provider, and developer or a user. And here in the region and for the benefit of Pacific island countries and territories we are all striving to stay at the ‘cutting edge of the technology.’  In this regard the theme of this Conference focusing on mapping Pacific resources is very timely”, said Dr. Russell Howorth, Director, SOPAC Division of SPC, in the opening keynote at the Pacific GIS/RS User Conference held at Suva last week.

The growing impact of GIS and Remote Sensing was very much evident by the record number of attendees and presentations at the conference. Around 300 participants, from the around the Pacific Region convened for the three and half days of presentations, workshops and discussions.

Current and upcoming trends in the geospatial fields such as LiDAR (light detection and ranging) Imagery, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), recent progress in vegetation and land cover mapping, improvements in satellite technologies, imagery classification and open source software were heavily covered during the conference.

The conference has been held annually in Suva for the Pacific region since 1999, is free to attend and jointly organized by Secretariat of the Pacific Community, University of the South Pacific, various departments of the Fiji Government, with support from GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), satellite data and GIS software companies.