Pacific GIS and RS User Conference

4 - 7 December 2007

Marine Studies Campus, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

Download the Brochure

Introduction

Since the first Pacific GIS&RS Conference in 1999, this annual event has attracted a lot of participants from as far as the Americas to the sunny islands most of us call home. Each year the range of GIS&RS technologies presented cover an array of applications including the management of resources of the small island Pacific nations. Shallow water bathymetry derived from satellite imagery, forest function maps to identify areas for to be protected, areas identified for developments in flood zones are some of the applications where the development of GIS&RS in the region have been applied in various sectors. As with previous conferences, there are no fees levied for those wishing to attend. Donations however are graciously accepted. This year's theme of the Conference is Networking Pacific Island Countries

Conference Group Photo

Important Dates

9th November	Deadline for Abstracts
28th November	Final day for Registration
3rd December	Deadline for Full Paper
4th December	Deadline for Presentations

For those who would like to apply for SOPAC EU Funding , please submit abstract before 20th October 2007 to and cc

Registration, Flights and Accommodation

Please see PacGISRS2007Registration

Conference Centre

Marine Studies Campus, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

Host Organising Committee

Name	Role	Organisation	Contact
Jone Cavu	Conference Committee	FLIS	jcavu@lands.gov.fj
Atelini Boletakarakadavu	Conference Committee	FLIS	abole@lands.gov.fj
Lorosio Raikivi	Conference Committee	FLIS	lraikivi@lands.gov.fj
Joe Wakolo	Conference Committee	Forestry Dept	josuawakolo@yahoo.com.au
Akosita Lewai	Conference Committee	Forestry Dept	akosita_lewai@yahoo.com
Etika Naitini	Conference Committee	FEA	EtikaN@fea.com.fj
Timoci Bavadra	Conference Committee	FEA	timoci.bavadra@fea.com.fj
Silika Tuivanuavou	Conference Committee	NLTB	stuivanuavou@nltb.com.fj
Paul Wilisoni	Conference Committee	PWD	pfwilisoni@unwired.com.fj
Nacanieli Senibaravi	Conference Committee	TFL	Naca.Senibaravi@TFL.COM.FJ
Conway Pene	Conference Committee	USP	pene_c@usp.ac.fj
Wolf Forstreuter	Conference Committee	SOPAC	wforstreuter@yahoo.co.uk
Emily Artack	Conference Committee	SOPAC	eartack@yahoo.com
Naziah Ali	Conference Committee	SOPAC	naziah@sopac.org
Elizabeth Whippy	Conference Committee	SOPAC	lizlomani@yahoo.com
Joy Papao	Conference Committee	SOPAC	joy@sopac.org

Conference Schedule

Time	Session	Presentations	Organisation	Presenters
DAY 1
08:00-09:00	Session 1: REGISTRATION & OPENING
09:00-09:20	Opening Speech by Minister of Lands - Fiji
09:20-09:30		Conference Overview	Committee	Wolf Forstreuter

	Session 2: Organisational Statements
10:00-10:10		SOPAC GIS and Remote Sensing	SOPAC	Bhaskar Rao
10:10-10:20		FLIS New Directions	FLIS	Rashmi Rita
10:20-10:30		PPA as Regional Organisation Supports GIS for Power Utilities	Pacific Power Association	Gordon Chang
10:30-10:40		GIS&RS Support in the Region through USP	USP	Conway Pene
10:40-10:50		GIS and Remote Sensing within PICISOC	PICISOC	Rajnesh Singh
10:50-11:00		MDA Data Provider and the Pacific Island Countries	MDA	Farida Raghina
11:00-11:20		Township land use strategy through participatory gis and public consultations	Pacific German Regional Forestry Project	Christoph Dreiser
11:20-11:40		GIS Application on the Rainwater harvesting network in Funafuti, Tuvalu	Lands Department - Tuvalu	Loia Tausi
11:40-12:00		++++ FREE ++++
12:00-13:40	Lunch
	Session 3: Spatial Data Handling
13:40-14:00		Radarsat & Other new Remote Sensing Satellites	MDA	Farida Raghina
14:00-14:20		New Space Borne Image Data for Pacific Island Countries	SOPAC	Wolf Forstreuter
14:20-14:40		Image Pre Processing for Pacific Island Countries	SOPAC	Joy Papao
14:40-15:00		National Spatial Data Infrastructure in Fiji	USP	Conway Pene
15:00-15:20		SOPAC Geonetwork	SOPAC	Shareen N Taiyab
15:20-15:40	Afternoon Tea Break
	Session 4: Water Catchment
15:40-16:00		National Forest Cover Mapping using RS/GIS	Pacific German Regional Forestry Project	Christoph Dreiser
16:00-16:20		National Forest Inventory: Forest Cover Mapping	Fiji Forestry	Akosita Lewai
16:20-16:40		++++ FREE ++++
18:00-20:00	Opening Cocktail at the Bistro, USP Lower Campus
DAY 2
	Session 5: Waterbodies mapping
09:00-09:20		Fiji Maritime Boundaries	Foreign Affairs	Luna Wong
09:20-09:40		Republic of Kiribati Maritime Boundaries Project	Lands Management Division	Romano Reo
09:40-10:00		Shallow water bathymetry from multispectral imagery: the Neural Network approach	SPC	Franck Magron
10:00-10:20		Aggregate Assesment in Majuro Lagoon Marshall Islands Using GIS tools	SOPAC	Salesh Kumar
10:20-10:40		Potential application of GIS tools in strategic planning for freshwater aquaculture in SPC countries	SPC	Nadia Chagnaud
10:40-11:00	Light Refreshments in the Exhibition Room
	Session 6: Vegetation Mapping
11:00-11:20		RTK GPS for Establishing Beach Profiles at 1:10,000 Scale	SOPAC	Wolf Forstreuter
11:20-11:40		Enhancements to GPS and data capture technology in the past 12 month Interest Area: GPS Data Capture Surveying	Geosystems Ltd	Martin Hewitt
11:40-12:00		Checking Geometric Accuracy of Pan Sharpened Quick Bird Images	SOPAC	Forstreuter & Whippy
12:00-12:20		NZ Aerial Mapping: Our Place in Your Community	NZ Aerial Mapping	David Napier
12:20-13:40	Lunch
	Session 7: Urban Mapping
13:40-14:00		Development of the Land Information System in Tonga to support Emergency Recovery & Management of Hazards	Beca Consultants	Malcolm Archbold & Seli Taufa
14:00-14:20		Commercial Town Planning	EMPREINTES	Myriam Gallois
14:20-14:40		Lewelling the Field in the Field with Google Earth, Re-Mapping? the Vegetation and Endangered Flora in Nauru	USP	Randy Thaman
14:40-15:00		Using Google images and aerial photos to study changes in channel positions of Jourdain River Santo preliminary results	USP	Anupma Ratiram
15:00-15:20		Building a world class Information System for NLTB Interest Area	NLTB	George Tami
15:20-15:40	Afternoon Tea Break
	Session 8: Land Mapping
15:40-16:00		Participatory 3D GIS Modelling for Resource Use, Development Planning and Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage	NLTB	Silika Tuinivanuavou
16:00-16:20		GIS Pilot Project on Coffee	DATEC	Mary Pati
16:20-16:40		Land use change and population growth in the Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea between 1975 and 2000	University of Dublin	Tine Ningal
16:40-17:00		++++ FREE ++++
17:30-20:00	Grog Session at the Oceania Centre
DAY 3
	Session 9: Power Utility Application
09:00-09:20		Utilising GIS tools at FEA	FEA	Etika Naitini
09:20-09:40		Setup of SIEA GIS as Demo Unit	SIEA	Robinsoon Wood
09:40-10:00		Electric Power Corporation and GIS	EPC	Nomeneta Saili
10:00-10:20		GIS contributions to TEC	TEC	Brown Manao
10:20-10:40	Light Refreshments in the Exhibition Room
	Session 10: Water and Telecommunications
10:40-11:00		Implementation for GIS Database for Water Utilities for Aitutaki Island, Cook Islands	Water Utility	Aporo Kirikava
11:00-11:20		Water Utility GIS in Solomon Islands	SIWA	Alan Lilia
11:20-11:40		TCC GIS	TTC	Meelina Ailesi
11:40-12:00		GIS in Telecom Fiji Limited	TFL	Nacanieli Senibaravi
12:00-12:20		Latest GIS developments for Utilities	Intergraph NZ	Ken Mathers
12:20-12:40		++++FREE++++
12:40-14:00	Lunch
	Session 11: Utility Solution 1
14:00-14:20		The Application of Satellite Imagery for Power Utilities GIS	Avon Solutions	Edwin Liava'a
14:20-14:40		ArcGIS for the Electric Utilities	ESRI	Craig Clouet
14:40-15:00		Comparing ArcGIS Internet Map Server (Commercial Software) with Tikiwiki map server (Free and Open Source Software)	SOPAC	Etuate Cocker
15:00-15:20		GPS work on Tarawa and updates	Ministry of Fisheries & Marine Resources	Kabure Yeeting
15:20-15:40	Afternoon Tea Break
	Session 12: Utility Solution 2
15:40-16:00		Results of Utility Workshop	Avon Solutions	Edwin Liava'a
16:00-16:20		Sustainable GIS Solutions for PICs	Avon Solutions	Leslie.Allinson
16:20-16:40		++++ FREE ++++
18:00-20:00	Free night in Suva
DAY 4
	Session 13: Hazard Mapping
09:00-09:20		Spatial Analysis of Cyclone Track Shape and Cumulative Impact on PICs Interest Area	USP	Nick Rollings
09:20-09:40		Mapping Landslides in NZ using remote sensing and probabilistic modelling	GNS Science	Karen Joyce
09:40-10:00		GIS modelling of tsunami inundation	GNS Science	Biljana Lukovic
10:00-10:20		GIS Modelling of Fire Urban Areas	GNS Science	David Heron
10:20-10:40	Light Refreshments in the Exhibition Room
10:40-12:00	Session 14: Discussion
12:00-13:40	Lunch
	Session 15: Mixed Presentation
13:40-14:00		Development of Map Server applications in Pacific Island Countries	SOPAC	Etuate Cocker
14:00-14:20		Nauru Rainwater harvesting: asset condition survey of domestic infrastructure using GPS and GIS	MRD	Vilisi Tokalauvere
14:20-14:40		USP student Project Overview	USP	Conway Pene
14:40-15:00		Analysis of Tarawa's coastal change using remote sensing	SOPAC	Naomi Atauea
15:00-15:20		Habitat mapping of the Coral Coast's reefs, Fiji Islands	USP	Jeanne de Mazieres
15:20-15:40		CLOSING
15:40-16:20	Afternoon Tea
18:00-20:30	Dinner at the Defense Club: theme "Christmas Bula"

Discussion on Day 4

Demand for Method Development to Apply GIS and RS in Pacific Island Countries

As it has been done for the past years, the 4th day of the Conference is dedicated to an open discussion about methods of GIS, RS and GPS applications, which have to be developed to specific Pacific Island needs. Please send an e-mail to for any additional areas, where methods have to be developed for Pacific applications.

The topics will be discussed via GIS-PacNet. The final list of topics will and status of development will be printed and included in the conference folder.

Creation of Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) at 1:10,000 Scale with sub-metre Contour Lines.

Sand or beach movements of atoll islands cause major problems for housing and infrastructure. It is important to monitor where the sand drifts away and where beach is building up. The reasons for these shoreline movements are still not fully known. More understanding would allow a forecast to reduce negative impact. Contour lines of sub-metre accuracy are required to map the shape of the beach in a way that change detection will be possible as quantitative approach providing figures in cubic metres.

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is an interesting tool and example applications show the potential to monitor beach movements over time. The disadvantages are the high investment cost and the expense of flying in a special plane from Australia or New Zealand. Also it will be difficult to base the system in the Pacific and therefore Pacific Island Countries rely on overseas companies.

To document historical coastal change of Islands old aerial photographs can be rectified towards geo-referenced high resolution satellite images (see GIS&RS Newsletters 2002-01 on this website). The technique does not show volume change but documents coastline change at 1:10,000 scale level and still needs to be implemented in Pacific Island Countries.

Space borne radar data can be used to show beach movements. Examples have indicated earth movements in decimetre range in areas where coal mining has caused a landscape sinking. The system is weather independent and no planes have to be brought to the islands. A new satellite is in space, TerraSAR-X, which can provide data with 1m spatial resolution (see GIS&RS Newsletter 2007-02), where the space borne radar data before RadarSat?, ERS-2, ENVISAT have 25 to 30m resolution. To test the TerraSAR-X data and upgrade of ERDAS Imagine software is necessary.

Large-scale aerial photography using balloons should be investigated, as a potential tool in islands, particular since photogrammetric software utilising digital images is becoming less expensive.

RTK GPS is one way to create DTMs with suitable vertical accuracy. The technique is easy to handle and software requirements are low. ERDAS is distributed in most Pacific Island Countries, which is sufficient to create DTMs from the data sets and calculate the change. The method is successfully tested see GIS&RS Newsletter 2007-02 on PICISOC website. The disadvantage are the high investment costs of the system.

Bathymetry of Shallow Water

SOPAC has two swath mapper systems, which are almost permanently in use. The data produced by the instruments allow the creation of under water DTMs, which are necessary for near shore fishery, navigation and other purposes. However, the boats carrying the swath mapper cannot drive in shallow waters, which leave a gap between the contour lines on land and in deeper water. Space borne image data could be analysed to map this shallow water areas between about 25m water depth and shoreline. Franck Magron SPC carried out intensive investigation with promising results. SOPAC is financing a person to develop the technique or a method applicable for GIS units in Pacific Island Countries.

Ocean Colour Monitoring

The observation of ocean colour, wave height, ocean temperature and wind speed can be carried out utilising space borne sensors. The data show where nutrient rich water attracts fish and therefore has potential economic benefits to the Pacific Island Countries. Remotely sensed images of open water also allows for the improved guiding of the local fishing fleets, as well as indicating areas where foreign fishing vessels could fish within the EEZ. No fishing or navigational department in the Pacific has implemented these technologies. Use of this information is being addressed in the immediate term under the auspices of the Pacific Islands Global Ocean Observing System (PI-GOOS) based at SOPAC, however, the activity was cancelled.

Fishing Vessel Detection and Monitoring

The Vessel Monitoring System was established years ago at the Forum Fisheries Agency in Honiara. Some Pacific Island Countries want to have their own monitoring system in addition to the central one. Vessel detection and monitoring will be one of the target areas in research and method development for the next few years. The new satellite TerraSAR-X provides 1m resolution image data, which allow seeing the shape of fishing vessels. This creates a new potential of vessel detection. Investigations have to be carried out.

Open Source Software

GIS and remote sensing units in Pacific Island Countries work with a very limited budget. For this reason investment and maintenance of software are serious financial issues. One solution would be to switch to open source software as soon as such products are available in a quality allowing application for a “normal” user. It is expected that such products are available within the next few years for a) database management, b) GIS application and c) image enhancement and analysis. The ITC developed GIS and RS software ILWIS is freely available now, where testing should be carried out. Other database or RS and GIS software is still not at the stage to replace existing software.

Monitoring Biodiversity

Pacific Island Countries have a high biodiversity, which refers to the number of species in the water and on land. Remote sensing data and GIS will help to monitor the biodiversity, however, new methods have to be developed where statistically sound monitoring is applied to a large geographical area. Monitoring biodiversity was not further discussed.

Inventory and Monitoring Palm Cover

Many Pacific Island Countries are 100% dependent on imported fuels. At the same time world market prices dictate the earnings from major export production coconut oil or copra. Currently there is a cross over of diesel supply cost and net earnings for copra. The coconut resource was neglected during the last decades. Coconut could potentially substitute diesel; but for this to occur, it is essential that inventories have to be carried out to estimate the amount of available resource. High-resolution space borne satellite images have proven to be an ideal tool to map the coconut cover. Methods have to be developed to map and monitor the coconut resource in a statistically sound way. Coconut palm stratification in Rotuma (see GIS&RS Newsletter 2006-02) shows that the spatial resolution is critical to estimate palms per hectare. The increase of spatial resolution with the new satellite WorldView-1? could increase results. Investigations should be made.

Data Sharing Map Server Spatial Data Infrastructure

Users have indicated the need to make data sharing easier between organisations. For this to occur, it is important to have policies of public data accessibility. Such datasets can then improve economic development. Data, which are publishable, can be accessed through MapServer? that provides maps, geographic data and metadata via a wiki system. Such a system is already being deployed in the Pacific Islands: http://maps.tikiwiki.org/ There will be further development at SOPAC to make the system more user friendly. It was also recommended that SPC demographic data should be included. The MapServers? established in 14 Pacific Island Countries are the first step towards a spatial data infrastructure..

Early Detection of Landslides

Landslides can create major damage on roads and houses in volcanic Islands. Mapping of potential landslides employing remote sensing methods would be helpful. It should be investigated how far GIS&RS can be utilised.

Ground Control Point Identification in Reef Areas

It is difficult to map outlying reef areas with aerial photographs. Reefs closer to the main land are easier to map as each model can be linked using minor ground control points or by tie points using triangulation network through Photogrammetric means. Out lying stereo pairs requires Ground Control Points (GCPs), points visible in the image with known X, Y and Z (height) coordinates for the orientation of the stereo model. Such points are difficult to identify on reef areas. Orientations of stereo photographic models are not possible as the models are incomplete and therefore levelling (setting of correct heights) on a strip of reef coverage is difficult. The characteristic of reefs can not satisfy correct positions.
Satellite image data could be employed for reef mapping, however, this data also require at least a few GCPs. A method needs to be developed to identify GCPs in reef areas.

Ground Control Point Identification in Coastal Areas

High-resolution, georeferenced satellite images can be utilised to rectify historical aerial photographs. This enables change detection of coastal areas. However, problems exist to identify GCPs in near shore areas to rectify the satellite image. A method should be developed to identify more GCPs (image enhancement, GPS). In addition, a method needs to be developed to identify more possible features usable to rectify the historical aerial photographs towards the rectified satellite image.

Ground Control Point Identification for Rectification of QuickBird? Images

Pan-sharpened QuickBird? image data allow with a spatial resolution of 60cm a thematic mapping at 1:5,000 scale. The data arrives as georeferenced image data, however, the georeferencing has to be checked, which requires GCPs with sub-metre accuracy.
The method is tested to identify such points in the image data and employ appropriate GPS equipment to determine x and y coordinates (see draft reports on SOPAC website).

Development of Management Information Systems for Utilities

Utilities are main GIS user in the Pacific and can be split into:
o Power utilities
o Water utilities
o Telecommunication utilities
o Road maintenance

The term Management Information System is are more fancy word for GIS and connected tabular database, which is now frequently used for GIS systems in power utilities. There is ready-made software for GIS employment in the utility sector, however, these systems are made for organisation have many more customers than a typical utility in the Pacific. It is proven that the best and most sustainable GIS systems are established where own staff customises GIS and database software. In these cases maintenance and adaptation to new tasks can be carried cost effective and sustainable by the own staff. In cases where ready-made systems required maintenance by specialists from overseas the cost and benefit were not in acceptable correlation and systems were not supported by the management.
To avoid repetition the SOPAC-EU Project starts to establish models of Pacific Islands GIS customisation, where the methods and the code are freely available on the Internet. The first model for power utilities is setup at SIEA and the documents are available on the Solomon Islands MapServer?

DVD of Conference

Conference DVD version 1 which contains all presentations, conference report and media coverage is now ready.
We will not send to each person of interest directly, we collect the names and send a corresponding number of DVDs to the distributor of the GIS&RS Newsletter in each country.

To get a DVD please send e-mail to with CC to a cc to newsletter distributor in your country. List of newsletter distributors is on this web site under chapter newsletter.

2007 Conference Report

Conference report is now available with updates sent via GIS-PacNET mailing list. A copy is also in the Conference dvd which is now ready for distribution

Contributors to this page: joy , efc , lizlomani and wolf .
Page last modified on Tuesday 18 of November, 2008 12:22:59 PST by joy .

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