GIS group building interest in Geography
The group of enthusiastic GIS professionals, from left, CHPA GIS Analyst Malini
Jaikarran; UG Lecturer, Faculty of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Dina Khadija
Benn; GPL Information Technology Director, Vijay Datadin; GGMC Process
Coordinator, Donald Singh; and GGMC Technical Assistant, Shenice Blackman
The group of enthusiastic GIS professionals, from left, CHPA GIS Analyst Malini Jaikarran; UG Lecturer, Faculty of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Dina Khadija Benn; GPL Information Technology Director, Vijay Datadin; GGMC Process Coordinator, Donald Singh; and GGMC Technical Assistant, Shenice Blackman

GEOGRAPHIC Information Systems (GIS) are designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage, and present all types of geographical data. It allows users to visualise scenarios and understand relationships, trends and patterns in our environment by digitally linking information to maps, and displaying this information through maps.

Over the past few years the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) has been using the technology to assist in their development of housing schemes and projects across the country.

“We’re able to collect data, show where our house lots are, where our schemes are, how many persons live there, who has occupied, the level of occupation all of that and it helps us whenever we’re developing a new area to say what exists already. The services that exist will inform our designs, what do we put into our new design, do we need a new school, all of what exists will inform what our new design will comprise,” shared GIS Analyst at CHPA, Malini Jaikarran.

“We’ve actually used this information to monitor our infrastructure works, for example with the sustainable hinterland housing project, which we have in three regions. There’s another project that’s coming on stream where we will be using the GIS and drone technology as well to monitor a section of the new IDB programme.”

Passionate about the technology and the doors it opens up, Jaikarran and a number of her colleagues have been advocating the celebration of GIS Day for the past five years. Internationally the day is officially observed on the second Wednesday of November.
Last Wednesday, in commemoration of the day, a ceremony was held at the University of Guyana (UG) Education Lecture Theatre (ELT), attended by a number of students from secondary schools, and the university.

Aside from advocating the GIS technology, celebrations of GIS Day is also used to garner interest in the field of geography.
“We realise the interest in geography is waning at secondary and at university level so we wanted to get people to start enrolling more for the geography programme. Because they’re thinking you can only do geography and then go teach, but there’s so much more you can do. At this year’s event we have a student talking about all the different careers you can get into once you study geography at university,” Jaikarran noted.

This year, in Guyana, the event was celebrated under the theme “Visualising Guyana with drone mapping technology”, and saw collaborations between the CHPA, and UG, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, and the Guyana Power and Light among others.

“We wanted to focus on drone mapping technology because it’s the technology of the day what most young people are interested in but they may not know much about it like the safety regulations and so on. It is a way to showcase the work being done by the different sector agencies in the GIS fields in Guyana. To get people more involved in using spatial applications,” she said.

Caption: The group of enthusiastic GIS professionals, from left, CH&PA GIS Analyst Malini Jaikarran; UG Lecturer, Faculty of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Dina Khadija Benn; GPL Information Technology Director, Vijay Datadin; GGMC Process Coordinator, Donald Singh; and GGMC Technical Assistant, Shenice Blackman

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