Survey Department to introduce terrestial data collection

A modern spatial data collection system is to be introduced by the Survey Department to improve efficiency and precision of terrestrial data collection in the country.
The system, Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)-Grid co-ordinate system, is a universal advanced technological system used in specifying locations on the earth surface.
Prior to the introduction, the existing technical instructions consistent with Ghana National Datum, established by the British in 1936, has been reviewed by the Survey and Mapping Division (SMD) of the Lands Commission to improve the technical instructions for spatial data capture and presentation.
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda in an address read on his behalf at the review workshop at Sogakope in the Volta Region, was hopeful that the new technical instructions would serve as a guide for land surveyors, map makers, engineer surveyors, hydrographers, geographers and Land Information System managers and other allied professionals.
“It would also serve as tuition materials for training institutions, thereby ensuring quality and uniformity in surveying and mapping in the country,” he said, adding that the old technical instructions, arising from the quality of surveys done and the number of quack surveyors in the country, largely contributed to reasons why there were so much land litigation in the country.
“Ghana cannot afford to remain behind the rest of the world, as techniques and technology for spatial data capture and presentation has changed over the years,” he said.
Consequently, he asserted that “our guidelines should be comparable to what pertains anywhere in the world but at the same time taking into account our local circumstances”, adding that there was the need to constantly improve local capacities through review programmes.
He expressed the hope that when the draft was finalised it would serve as a good guide for all practitioners in the survey and mapping industry in Ghana and gave the assurance that the ministry would continue to provide the necessary support to ensure improvement in the surveying infrastructure in the country.
“Currently under the Land Administration Project (LAP), five Continuous Operating Receiving Stations (CORS) are being established in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tamale and Bolgatanga,” he stated.
Additionally, he disclosed that the Terms of Reference for Phase II of the new Geodetic Reference Network was being developed and was expected to be completed during the current phase of the LAP.
The President of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhiS), Mr Kwadwo Osei Asante, in an address read on his behalf, said access to land by prospective investors and local entrepreneurs had been difficult due to several multifaceted problems some of which bordered on the blatant violation of ethics by quack surveyors.
“Standards in every profession are vital to the proper and astute practice of that profession,” he stated, and expressed hope that the new draft would serve as a good working document to regulate the practice of the profession in the country.
Mr Asante was hopeful that the new UTM-Grid or the ITRF 2005 international datum, if introduced, would help to unify all data sets on a common datum to avoid any overlaps and errors with respect to Geodetic and Cadastral surveys.
According to him, with new Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) equipment, data captured could be processed directly into the UTM-Grid co-ordinating system without worry about transformation parameters to move from the international system to the local national grid system.
The acting Director of the SMD, Mr Emmanuel Adjei Mohenu, whose address was also read on his behalf, said the UTM-Grid had become necessary to adopt as a result of the numerous challenges the department had encountered in the past.
Hence, he noted that the African Geodetic Reference Frame (AFREF), which was consistent with the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), had compelled the department to adopt the UTM-Grid as the fundamental basis for national and regional three-dimensional reference networks.
The reference frame, he said, would comprise a network of points where precise observation would be taken and used to define a terrestrial reference frame in a best-fit datum over Africa.
Additionally, he said, the AFREF would be based on current satellite positioning technologies and would form the geodetic infrastructure for multinational projects that required precise geo-referencing.
“So far all African countries have their national geodetic reference frame for producing maps and other geo-information products,” he said, and noted that all African countries had also embraced the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technologies, particularly the Global Positioning System (GPS), in the various geo-information applications, services and products.
He, however, disclosed that currently under the Land Administration Project (LAP) the SMD and the Lands Commission had established a network with new points at approximately 50km apart covering what he called, ‘the Golden Triangle’ with vertices in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi.
“Within this triangle survey can be done using the UTM-Grid,” he said, indicating that a second phase of the project was underway and would soon be executed throughout the country.