News

Fijian companies encouraged to use Geospatial Information

November 13, 2014 11:59 pm

The use of Geographic Information System has become an important tool in many sectors like urban and regional planning, climate change and green growth.

GIS is a computer-based tool used to collect, combine and overlay information in the form of easily understood maps.

The effective use of this technology was stressed by Minister for Lands Mere Vuniwaqa at the opening of the First High Level Geo-spatial Information Management Conference this morning.

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“We may not have the vast resources that other developed nations have to create such a tool overnight but we as one team can pull together our resources to come up with something that can be used for better management and strategic decision making, in agriculture, in disaster management, in disaster management, in land management, in public utility management, in town and regional planning and tax collection as well as elections.”

Vasiti Soko from the Sugar Industry Tribunal says this conference is important for a number of reasons.

“For such high calibre kind of conference it is important for other organisations to come together with their special data to share information; not so much for the ministries or departments but for the people of Fiji.”

Soko is also encouraging other organisations that may not have GIS technology to learn about it.