Mori: Highway corridor mapped using GIS

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday 24th January 2012

By ZACHERY PER
STRUCTURAL developments in the 40m corridor of the Chimbu section of the Highlands Highway have accurately been identified using the Geographical Information System (GIS), the contractor says.
Principal of Mori Resources Wera Mori reiterated this over the weekend in response to a statement by Mary Pati of PGS Ltd in The National last Friday.
He said the Global Positioning System (GPS) was used to collect data that was processed using GIS software.
Mori said before the satellite data was correctly go-referenced it had to synchronised with the data on the ground.
The images of the 40m corridors of the highway are accessed through NASA through Pitney Bowes Solutions in Sydney, Australia.
All data collated are processed and hot-linked to the Works Department’s main server in Port Moresby.
“If Mary Pati has an issue with accuracy, she must understand that the final data process has been reconciled with satellite imagery,” Mori said.
Mori Resource engaged Pati as a consultant for some six months in 2009.
However her services were later discontinued by the firm, Mori said.
He described Pati’s statement in the media as a retaliatory attack on the success of the overall exercise.
 “I welcome Pati to any of our presentations regarding the use of the GIS in mapping out the 40m corridors of the highway so she could see for herself,” Mori said.
He said as a professional, she should check with Mori Resources and the Works Department before making allegations in the media.
Payment for structure owners in the 40m corridor in the Chimbu section will start this week.
Payment was stopped following confusion and disagreements, which were them buried after Mori Resources made a public presentations on how the GIS was used to map out the corridor.