Sultanate to witness BIG launching soon
By Azaraimy HH

The Sultanate will soon witness the launching of the Brunei Institute of Geomatics (BIG), which is said to be a welcome addition to the country's commendable growth in the technology sectors.

Geomatics - one of the fastest growing technology sectors of the 1990's - helps address problems and opportunities in areas such as the environment, land management and reform, development planning, natural resource monitoring, as well as sustainable development among others.

BIG is a professional institution encompassing and representing land surveyors, geodesists, hydrographers, geographical/land information managers, remote sensing scientists, cartographers, photogrammetrists, geographers, urban and rural planners, land valuers, land officers, land economists, property and asset managers as well as estate managers among others.

The institution was registered on January 15, 2003, and will hold its official launching ceremony this Tuesday, September 16, at the Ministry of Development. Seminars on various aspects of Geomatics will be held throughout the launching day.

Geomatics is the science and technology of gathering, analysing, interpreting, distributing and using geographic information. It encompasses a broad range of disciplines that can be brought together to create a detailed but understandable picture of the physical world and our place in it.

These disciplines include surveying, mapping, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS).

At present, the institution has three sections, namely, Land Surveyors and Geographical Information Managers Section, Town Planners Section and lastly, Real Estate Section.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin