Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Land and Environment Seymour Mullings takes a close look at maps generated by the satellite Ikonos. With him are William Aymard, (right) Mexico and the Caribbean Regional Sales Manager for Space Imaging, and Silburn Clarke, president of Spatial Innovision, the local business partners of Space Imaging.
IKONOS, THE world's first one-meter resolution commercial imaging satellite, is likely to be working for Jamaica in the very near future. The Government and private sector groups are presently assessing proposals from a New Kingston company, Spatial Innovision, for digital earth mapping of the country by the Ikonos satellite which has been beaming back data on the earth over the past 10 months.
While the earth mapping technique known as space imaging is not of itself new, the launch of Ikonos (pronounced eye-ko-nos) has enabled the furnishing of more economical information with delivery timelines far in excess of previously accepted standards in the mapping marketplace.
Countries are said to be lining up to take advantage of newly-available technology being introduced to the Caribbean by a Denver, Colorado-based company called Space Imaging an acknowledged world leader in digital earth information to better map, measure, monitor and manage the world.
Map
Jamaica's land-related agencies readily admit the need for a modern base map of the island. Ideally, such a map would comprise all of the country's land-based information assembled in a format that is adaptable to applications for farming, housing, mining and oil exploration, road construction, disaster management, electoral research, security, telecommunications, cadastral mapping, urban mapping, transmission systems designs, telecommunications, real estate, population, property rights and a host of other uses.
Deputy Prime Minister Seymour Mullings, who is also Minister of Land and Environ-ment, says the Jamaican government has been concerned for some time that the country lacked the necessary techniques capable of delivering such vital data in the required format and in a timely manner. The last time colour aerial photographs were even assembled for the entire island of 4,411 square miles was in 1991. And the last comprehensive land mapping exercise was done 20 years ago in 1980. Data delivery then was on a scale of 1:50,000 and took up to six years to complete. By contrast, today's high-resolution digital space imaging delivers significantly more detailed pictures on a scale of 1:5,000 within a few weeks.
These factors explain the warm reception which several officials and private sector agencies extended to William Aymard, Sales Manager for Space Imaging in Mexico and the Caribbean, when he arrived in Jamaica last week as part of a regional mission. Silburn Clarke, President of Spatial Innovision, the local business partner for Space Imaging, arranged seminars where over 40 of the island's spatial scientists, technocrats and representatives were briefed by Mr. Aymard on the powerful capabilities of the Ikonos satellite, orbiting some four hundred miles in space.
Interest
Among organisations showing strong interest in space imaging were: Cable & Wireless, Statistical Institute of Jamaica, Sugar Industry Research Institute, Water Resources Authority, National Water Commission, University of the West Indies, University of Technology, Electoral Office of Jamaica, Urban Develop-ment Corporation, National Land Agency, Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, the Jamaica Public Service Company, the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Agriculture.
"It seems clear," Deputy Prime Minister Mullings affirmed during later discussion, "that the digital technologies of satellite imaging can assist Jamaica to prepare our much-needed maps and plans in a short time and at costs more competitive than the other aerial mapping systems which we have been using."
Several imaging maps and computer systems were displayed for the Minister during the meeting at his Jamaica House office and Mr. Aymard presented him with a recent image of the island. Mr. Mullings assured the representative that his Ministry would be giving careful study to the matters discussed. Mr. Aymard said ultimate affordability would be made easier by the fact that so many concerned agencies now had the option of joining together to finance the acquisition of this vital data.
Space Imaging, formed in 1994, markets a wide range of image products under its Carterra brand name. Carterra products provide a global resource for governments, business leaders and private citizens to access a wealth of data about the earth's ever-changing and natural features. Access to this cache of vital information facilitates deeper understanding of the environment, international security and economic change.
For example, farmers use it to precisely monitor the health of crops and estimate yields, scientists can look at environmentally-sensitive areas and predict trends, government officials can plan and monitor enlightened land-use policies, city planners can further the development of new housing communities, and insurance companies can measure and map property damage after natural disasters.
Space imaging can also provide definitive and rapid solutions to help planners determine land ownership and national border disputes. Real estate brokers might use space imagery to show home buyers potential properties thousands of miles away, and film producers might use it to create backdrops for the big screen. What makes Carterra product unique is that they are complimentary in nature and can help respond to a variety of business and consumer needs.
By Glen McFarlane,
Contributor
