PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — Electronic geospatial maps, images, and data representing geographic information about this city were received Wednesday by Mayor Lucilo Bayron from the Philippines’ National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA).
These are part of an agreement to pursue Puerto Princesa’s resiliency and sustainable urban development.
Estimated to cost PHP1.5 million, the materials were handed to the city government under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that Bayron signed with NAMRIA Deputy Administrator Jose Cabanayan Jr. and witnessed by Bradley Baxter of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity or SURGE Project.
“NAMRIA’s products and services include these maps whose information can be used in urban planning, showing territorial borders, maritime navigation, spatial grounding and evidence, support visuals for claims, and others,” Cabanayan said.
NAMRIA provided the city government with digital orthoimages based on the Philippine Reference System of 1992 (PRS 92) projections, digital terrain model (DTM), and digital surface model (DSM) as derived from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR) Airborne Technology.
Digital orthoimages were geometrically corrected aerial photographs and images that allow the accurate measurement of distance, Cabanayan said.
The DTM is the elevation surface representing bare earth, while DSM captures the natural and built features of the Earth’s surface.
“The data is beneficial to the city as these will update current maps with images that have high resolutions and more accurate information,” he added.
Bayron, who expressed gratitude to NAMRIA, said they could use the geospatial data to develop maps that show hazards and risks in Puerto Princesa.
“With these, we can now identify accurately the residential areas, critical infrastructure, land uses, and other elements at risk,” he said.
The maps could also aid in Climate and Disaster Risk Assessments (CDRA), and in updating the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), he added.
The NAMRIA data can also be utilized to improve the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan.
USAID SURGE’s Baxter, meanwhile, stated that since 2016, their project had been supporting the city in improving its capacity in disaster-resilient urban planning.
“This is where we make a difference. The SURGE’s goal is to foster the development of conditions for broad-based, inclusive and resilient economic growth in second-tier cities outside Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao,” he said.
Baxter added that it is an important project as it is about cities strengthening disaster risk reduction for continuous economic growths.
“Working on urban planning creates opportunities for everyone to participate in sustainable development,” he stated. (Celeste Anna Formoso/PNA)
