Land surveyors on Wednesday, October 17, 2018 called for the adoption of Continuous Reference Station (CORS) system in surveying to ease land administration system and prevent land boundary overlapping.
Lagos State Chapter Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Mr Adesina Adeleke, made the call at the Mandatory Continuous Professional Development (MCPD) programme of the institution in Lagos. The programme was themed: “Improving Geospatial Deliverables through Modern Mapping Technologies.”
Adeleke described the CORS system as the latest modern application used for land surveying and mapping for efficient and effective service delivery, adding that it was in operation in other developed and developing countries.
According to him, land survey practice is evolving with new trend.
He underlined the need for surveyors to move and keep abreast with the new developments to remain relevant in the profession.
Adeleke said that the essence of the programme was to maintain an up-to-date technical knowledge on modern surveying practices among members of the institution.
“The MCPD is a skill renewal process and a channel for knowledge acquisition through training and retraining.
“The aim of the programme is to encourage the use of modern mapping technologies in improving geosepatial deliverables.
“It also focussed on assisting surveyors for inter and intra professional competitiveness, and also help surveyors to discover new areas of opportunities open to them in this information age,” Adeleke said.
The expert said that there was only one existing and functional CORS system in Lagos, while the state government had embarked on the construction of five other CORS system across the state.
He urged the state government to hasten construction of the CORS system for effective mapping/surveying operation that could put an end to boundary overlapping across the state.
Also, Mr Chika Okorocha, the Principal Consultant, Sacridion Geospatial Engineering, enjoined surveyors to embrace usage of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for enhanced services delivery.
Okorocha said that GNSS was a network system/instrument of the CORS that empowers its operation.
According to him, surveyors can form into groups and pull resources together to purchase the GNSS/CORS system.
He said there were low cost instruments, irrespective of the high cost of the GNSS/CORS system.
Okorocha added that all over the world, the surveying and mapping sector had been enjoying the innovative opportunities brought about by the GNSS and CORS technologies and in particular, the precise positioning provided by GNSS satellites constellation.
“The need for the use of modern technology and making it a standard in surveying practice in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole cannot be overemphasised.
“Modern surveying instrument and data processing software packages play an important role in how surveys are carried out. It also encourages the management of geospatial deliverables.
“Accurate positioning is of great importance to surveyors and with the GNSS in place, more accurate positioning is possible even in challenging environment.
“The discipline of land surveying has changed significantly through the introduction of new technologies and processes such as the GNSS/CORS system.
“These changes have brought about the need to check the opportunities the technology provides and make changes to the traditional processes of data acquisition, processing and presentations,” Okorocha said.
By Lilian Okoro
