GIS and Remote Sensing
Programme at the Mara Institute of Technology, Malaysia
Muhammad Hj. Jaafar, Abdul
Malek Mohd Noor and Wan Mohd Naim AbstractDepartment of Surveying Science and Geomatics MARA Institute of Technology Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysai Tel: 03-5564978 Fax : 03-5564671 E-mail : Muhammad@sug.engr.itm.edu.my Among the problems of implementing GIS and remote sensing as tools to aid decision making in Malaysia as identified at the Seminar for Decision Maker on the Applications of Remote sensing and Geo-information Systems in Pulau Langkawi (December 1994) are associated with data availability and lack of skill personnel especially at the semi-professional level. In trying to rectify the later problem, MARA Institute of Technology (ITM), as one of the established academic institution in Malaysia has taken initiative by introducing two new diploma courses ( i.e. Diploma in Surveying Science and Geomatics option Natural Resources option Natural Resources and Diploma courses Surveying Science and Geomatics option Geographic Information Systems). This papwer intends to highlight the courses in details. Introduction Remote sensing and GIS technology has been widely recognized as efficient tools to help planners and decision makers to make sound and judicious decisions in their work. The idea of having GIS in Malaysia was first recognized by the Federal Land Adminintration Department back in the early 1970's(Kamaruddin, 1974). The established of the Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing in 1989 and the installation of COMPIS at the Centre of Information and Cartography of the ministry of Agriculture in 1982 were two important agendas which reflect the seriousness on the part of Malaysians in embarking on these technologies. Since then many other government organizations such as the Department of environment, the Klang Valley Planning Unit, the Malaysian Centre of Remote sensing (MACRES), Forestry Department, the Shah Alam Municipality, the Petaling Jaya Municipality, the Kuala Lumpur City Council and others have set-up their own Remote Sensing or GIS units. As in many developing countries, the development of Remote sensing and GIS in Malaysia does not progressed so well. Among the main problems which headers the the development of these technologies in Malaysia as identified by several authors (Ramly, 1995), (Ahmad, 1991) and (Ahmad and Jaafar, 1994) and from the Seminar for Decision Makers on Applications of Remote sensing and Geo-information Systems are the availability of digital data, and lack of skill personnel. In Remote Sensing although the availability of data is not much of a problem but the time taken to acquire the data has become n inconvenience to users. Countries, which do not have its own receivingstations, suffered the most. In Malaysia, this problem will be overcome soon with the establishment of our own ground receiving station. Other problems related to the use of GIS as a tool to assist decision making in Malaysia are related to lack of appropriate map data, obsolescence of map information, and secreacy of information. Some of the short term measures that have been taken to overcome the problem of skill personnel, which are mostly on ad hoc basis includes: i) sending officers for short-term training abroad, I) bring in foreign experts to train local staffs, and iii) sending staffs for short courses conducted by local universities and agencies. As a long term measures, several institutions of higher learning including ITM have taken initiative to conduct a formal education in Remote Sensing and GIS either as a subject or as a full course. Remote Sensing and GIS within the Development of Surveying and Geomatics In ITM, activities concerning Remote Sensing and GIS are mostly concentrate in the Development of Surveying Science and Geomatics formerly known as the Development of Land Surveying was established in July 1971. Initially only a three-year Diploma course in Land Surveying was offered. Starting from July 1983 a two and a half year Bachelor Degree programme was introduced. The Diploma and Bachelor of Science in Land Surveying are a two-tier programme. Graduates with better results from the Diploma may continue to study in the degree level but those with less satisfactory results may be eligible to apply after having two years of working experience in the profession. Remote Sensing and GIS were first introduced as subjects to the Land Surveying curriculum in July 1998 at the at the undergraduate level. These subjects were introduced so as to prepare the graduates with the latest technologies, which have attracted a lot of interest from the public and the private sector. In realizing the shortage of skill personnel in the field of Remote Sensing and GIS especially at semi-professional level, the department have taken initiative to introduce two new diploma courses, that is, the Diploma in Surveying Science and Geomatics (option GIS) in early 1997. The Diploma in Surveying Science and Geomatics (optional Natural Resources) provides An education on the principles, image interpretations and applications of Remote Sensing technology in managing earth resources, while the Diploma in Surveying Science & Geomatics (option GIS) provides an education on the principles, concept and applications of GIS as well as on related field of data acquisition. Special emphasis is given on the practical aspects in both the Remote Sensing and GIS. Currently there are 141 students taking GIS, 108 taking Natural Resources and 154 taking Land Surveying option. Course Structure For the first two years, all the diploma students have to take common subjects. Only in the third year, the students specialized in their own selected courses. List of subjects for all the three diploma courses are given in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, GIS option Students have to take subjects such as Land Information Management, Geographical Information System, Remote Sensing, Urban and Regional option, students have to complete the following subjects: Cadastral Surveying, Introduction to Remote Sensing, Introduction to Image Processing, Introduction to GIS, Natural Resources Economics and Management, Land Use and Land Cover Mapping, Tropical Geomorphology, and Coastal and Marine Studies. Brief description of some of these subjects is given below.
Diploma in Surveying Science & Geomatics (option GIS) Land Information Management The first part of the subject introduces the basic principles the land management, data acquisition, multipurpose cadastral, institutional arrangement and applications of remotely sensed data to Land Information Management. The second part covers topics such as data management, hardware and software components, aspects of economics in LIS/GIS and applications. Geographical Information system The GIS subject includes both theory and applications: basic principles of GIS, data modeling, data acquisition and input, data editing, data manipulation and analysis, data output and presentation. To enhance the knowledge of GIS, the students have to carry out laboratory exercise using available GIS such as ARC/INFO, Arcview and MapInfo. Urban and Regional Planning This subjects deals with the principles and procedures in planning at various levels. This subject also involves the use GIS methods of various planning applications. Remote Sensing The subject introduces the basic principles of Remote Sensing such as basic physics, earth resource satellite, mapping techniques using Remote Sensing and data acquisition technique for GIS involving remotely sensed data. Database Management Systems This subject introduces the principles of database and database management systems with is vital to any GIS. Diploma in Surveying Science & Geomatics (option Natural Resource) Introducing to Remote Sensing This subject deals with the basic physics of Remote Sensing, sensors and platforms, earth's resources satellite, weather satellite, introduction to radar Remote Sensing and atmospheric correction. Introduction to Image Processing This subject introduces the basic principles of digital image processing. It involves the manipulation and interpretation of digital images. The topics cover includes pre-processing, image classification, and accuracy assessment. To enhance the theoretical aspect of the subject, the students are exposed to image processing software such as Dragon IPS, PCI, Erdas Imagine and ER Mapper, which run on PCs or workstations. Geographical Information Systems This subject introduces the basic concept of GIS such as data structure, data acquisition, preprocessing, data management, data manipulation, and data analysis and data presentation. Natural Resource Economics and Management This subject covers topics such as the principles of economy, environmental and natural resource economics, and the principles of marketing and investment analysis. Land Use and Land Cover Mapping This subject introduces the students of the various land cover that could be identified using satellite data. Visual interpretation as well as computer-assisted interpretation will be used. The students are also exposed to the development of land cover maps necessary for the production of natural resources inventories. Tropical Geomorphology This subject deals with the introduction of various aspects of terrain characteristics which can be interpreted using aerial photograph and also satellite data. Topics related to the distribution of bedrock type, landforms, soil texture, site drainage conditions, depth of unconsolidated materials over bedrock in the tropical regions are covered in this subject. Coastal and Marine Studies This subject introduces students the complexity and dynamic changes of coastal environment and vegetation. It covers the study of erosion pattern, coastal changes, coastal resources monitoring etc. This subject will also concentrate on the near-shore resources like coral reef and fishing industry. Most of the subjects in the GIS and Natural Resources courses are conducted through lectures, tutorials and practical. Continuous assessments are carried out through laboratory works, assignments, tests and quizzes. At the end of the semester students have to sit for the final examinations. To further enhance the understanding on the concept and the real world applications of Remote Sensing and GIS technology, the final year students have to undertake special projects related to Remote Sensing and GIS. These projects are currently under the department's supervision. Arrangements have also been to made to enable students to carry out special projects at various government organizations and private sectors in the future. Facilities and Laboratory Setting There are four main within the Department of Surveying and Geoinformatic, that is, Photogrammetry Unit, Cartography Unit, GIS and Remote Sensing Unit and the Field Surveying Unit. The GIS and Remote Sensing Unit consist of two laboratories. i.e. the PC-based and Workstation-based Laboratory. The workstation-based laboratory was set up in 1996 and is used for education, training, and also research and consultancy work. The PC-based laboratory is primarily used for education and student's training programme. The Photogrammetry Unit consist of one laboratory and its functions are for training students and to carry out consultancy works. The cartography Unit consists of the main laboratories, that is cartography and reproduction laboratories. The Surveying Unit is well equipped with a wide range of surveying equipments such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Total Stations, theodolites, Electronic Distance Measures (EDM), levels, hydrographic surveying equipments complete with processing softwares, and other modern field surveying equipments. A brief summary of only three of the above laboratories in the Department of Surveying and Geomatics is given below. The PC-based GIS and Remote Sensing Laboratory houses 40 PC's numerous printers, plotters, scanners, digitizers and other peripheral equipments. Forty 486 PC's with GIS, Image Processing, and CAD/CAM software are housed here, primarily for educational purposes. Site and multiple licenses for many software packages ( PC-based ARC/INFO, Arcview, MapInfo, Dragon IPC, AutoCAD and LISCAD) are accessible to students. The workstation-based laboratory houses SUN computing system and a network of 40 Sun Workstations. Software includes workstation-based ARC/Info, Arcview, Erdas Imagine, PCI, ER Mapper and Microstation. Digitizers (A3 and A0 format), plotters (A0 format), scanners (A0, A3 and A4 format) are also available. The Photogrammetry Laboratory is equipped with a variety of stereoplotters ranging from analogue to digital Photogrammetric stereoplotters. There are two Kern AGI analogue stereoplotters, two PG2 stereoplotter- converted to analytical using ADAM softwares, two B8 stereoplotter - converted to analytical stereoplotter and four PC-based Desktop Mapping System (DMS) digital Photogrammetric systems. Besides this, there are also numerous viewing and measuring devices all of which are used for practical purposes. The Future of GIS and Remote Sensing Education in ITM Current Remote Sensing and GIS activities in ITM concentrate on diploma and undergraduate level education and conducting short courses. In meeting the growing future demand for GIS and Remote Sensing education and training, the department have planned the following activities in the near future.
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