GIS and RS in the Philippines/2009
Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing in thePhilippines: Historical Proceedings
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Tomas D. Reyes, Jr.
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Introduction
Ideally, agriculture, forestry, environment and natural resourcesmanagement (and conservation) is in need of state-of-the-art tools andprocedures to effectively put into practice well-planned integrated (andparticipatory) strategies of all concerned sectors, government and private.Such calls the use of GIS, global navigation system and remote sensingcollectively termed “GIS technology”.GIS technologies have long been realized globally as useful tools incollecting, analyzing and reporting information about the earth’s resources.With the recent advances in information and communication technologies,these become essential tools that improved the planning and implementationof development projects. Both, GIS and remote sensing, providecomplementary capabilities on the exploration, assessment, monitoring andanalysis of vegetation and land cover patterns.In the Philippines, the integrated use of remote sensing and GIS methodsand technologies in gathering, storing, monitoring, and analyzing data andinformation for natural resources and environment planning, development,and management, becomes fully mature in the 90s when most of our localresearchers have taken advantage of the power of GIS.Efforts at totally harnessing the capabilities of these technologies helped usimprove the efficient utilization, protection, conservation of the remainingscarce resources and improving the country’s deteriorating environmentalcondition.This paper presents the historical development of GIS and remote sensing,and how their applications evolved as a technology for baseline informationsourcing into what these technologies are now for. Highlights are thecontributions of different institutions, groups and people who were engagedon using them in forestry, coastal, and natural resources in the Philippines.
Applications of GIS and Remote Sensing
The internet is an online witness to the vast information and researchoutputs on GIS and remote sensing. Most of the current published e-journals
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Term Paper submitted to Dr. N. C. Bantayan in partial fulfillment of the requirements in FRM204 – Geospatial Methods in Natural Resources Management
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Graduate student, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the PhilippinesLos Baños
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GIS and RS in the Philippines/2009
posted are evidences of the powerful integration of GIS, remote sensing, andseveral modeling softwares to model carbon budgets of a particularwatershed, plantation, or natural forest reserve. These technologies are alsoused in land-use planning and, lately, as decision support system tools forenvironmental hazards management.Most of the GIS softwares are expensive, however, some of them areaffordable and available in different (but related) user-friendly designs allcompatible in Windows or Linux environment. Apart from these specialfeatures, there are online GIS also available for everyone to explore.The GIS and remote sensing applications discussed next and on succeedingpages are limited and based only on the current available resources at hand.
A. Resource Inventory and Assessment
While the world learned the powerful integration of remote sensing and GISin the 70s, it was only in that decade when satellite remote sensing had justfound its niche in the Philippines. Though aerial photography has long beenused in map production, we have not been able to recognize its full potentialuntil the late 1970s.The first nationwide application of satellite remote sensing in the country wason the National Forest Resources Inventory (NFRI) project that wascompleted in late 1977. The then Natural Resources Management Center(NRMC) which was created a year earlier (Siladan, 1993) conducted thecomputer-assisted digital processing and image analysis of LANDSAT dataconsisting of 30 LANDSAT Computer Compatible Tapes (CCTs) taken in 1972-1976 (Cabanayan, 1999). The very purpose of the said inventory was todetermine the distribution of forest resources and the areas covered byvarious forest types. According to Siladan (1993), NRMC had processed over150 scenes of Landsat remotely sensed data. Out of these, four forestcategories were classified based on the spectral responses supported withground reference validation. These were: a) full and partial canopydipterocarps, b) mangrove, c) high elevation mossy type, and d) non-forestwetlands. The results of this time and cost-effective forest inventory servedas baseline information for intensive forest management purposes. Accordingto Cabanayan (1999), most of the TLA holders used this data as baselineinformation in the preparation of their five-year Forest Management Plan.Since then, satellite data had been used in a wide range of applications forresource and environmental change detection, monitoring and managementincluding forestry, geology, land use, pollution control, coastal zone (coralsand mangroves) and others. A lot of these applications however, had beendirected more toward scientific and experimental pursuits rather thanoperational purposes. Because of this situation, there had been noconsiderable efforts to assess the economic dimensions of remote sensingapplications in the country, not withstanding the technology’s acceptance as
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GIS and RS in the Philippines/2009
a vital tool for national development. It was only on the onset of the 21
st
century when GIS and remote sensing in the country are utilized as basis forvaluation (payment for environmental services).
B. Land-use Survey, Classification and Map Production
It was in 1978, a year after, when LANDSAT data combined with low-altitudeaerial reconnaissance was utilized for land-use survey and classification(Cabanayan, 1999). Using remote sensing, mangrove forests weredistinguished from other land-uses in coastal areas. This gave way for theissuance of two Presidential Proclamations. One of these was the declarationof the entire Palawan as a protected area and mangrove forest reserve(Rajan, 1984 cited by Siladan, 1993).In the 80s, remote sensing facilitated the implementation of the governmentlivelihood program which required the identification of areas within forestlands intended for food production, industrial tree plantation, agro-forestryand other practical uses. Superimposition of 1976-1978 satellite imageriesand 1969-1981 aerial photographs with 1983 land classification mapsproduced 1:500,000 scale forest cover maps showing denuded and loggedover areas within forest lands, and identified extent of forest denudation inthe twelve regions of the country (Cabanayan, 1999). High priorities weregiven to the survey and demarcation of boundaries between forestland andnon-forest, and also classification of remaining forestlands and updating of land-use cover more especially the Mindanao Region.The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) begun using GIS in 1985(Huke, et al. 1985). The interest progressed when one of its researchersparticipated in the GIS training at the Asian Institute of Technology. IRRI, ata start, purchased two IBM P52 model 55sx-061s networked to the VAX8350, macintosh computer, one digitizer capable of handling input mapsmeasuring up to 48” x 60”, one digitizer half that size, scanner, ink jetprinter, and ARC/INFO software and aerial photos and satellite images of barangay San Bartolome, Municipality of Mayantoc, Tarlac. This area waschosen because it had been the object of several studies by IRRI teams over2 decades prior to GIS application.Based on the available resources at hand, it appears that the first successfulintegration of remote sensing and GIS was its application in coastal resourcemanagement. Prior to the inception of NAMRIA, Versoza (1986) reported thatthe combination of GIS and remote sensing provided a reliable andeconomical source of information for conducting inventories and formonitoring or evaluating coastal (marine and coral reef) resources. Onespecific example is the comparison of hydrographic charts and Landsatimages of atolls and fringing reefs which revealed discrepancies primarilycaused by the charts being based on surveys conducted 70 years ago. Theutility of remotely sensed data was reinforced, especially for revising andupdating maps or charts at appropriate scales.
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Reyes Philippine GIS & RS History
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