Guyana, with FAO help, to update maps for the first time in 50 years

Last Updated on Tuesday, 1 November 2022, 22:02 by Denis Chabrol

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Tuesday said it was assisting Guyana in updating its base maps of the country for the first time in more than 50 years.

“The resulting data will then be entered into key layers to update the national base maps, which are over 50 years old,” that United Nations member organisation said in a statement.

This activity is part of the objectives of the Sustainable Land Development and Management (SLDM) project, which seeks to advance technology in land management and development.

The project is implemented by Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission and the FAO with funding from Guyana’s REDD+ Investment Fund.

The FAO says aerial survey and mapping is being done across Guyana with  laser imaging, detection, and ranging (LIDAR) technologies.

The FAO says the aerial survey will use an aircraft carrying LIDAR sensors and mapping cameras to collect highly accurate and detailed LIDAR and orthophoto maps of the land surface within targeted regions. 

According to the FAO, the data collected will be processed to produce digital terrain models and map imagery for extracting infrastructure, water features, and 3D building models. 

At the end of this exercise, over 500 square kilometres of the urbanised land area and more than 15,000 square kilometres of the rural area will be surveyed using  this new technology. In the coming weeks, international expertise will be provided by Medici Land Governance and its partners to conduct aerial surveying. 

Mr. Enrique Monize, Commissioner of GLSC, today said, “We are excited to see the latest mapping technologies being employed to advance land surveying. Even though LIDAR has been used before in Guyana, this is the first large scale activity that also combines the
traditional imagery with LIDAR for mapping purposes in the country.”

Dr Gillian Smith, FAO Representative, added, “It is our pleasure to support Guyana’s efforts to transform land management and administration.”