SUNDAY 5 AUGUST, 2018 – UWI TODAY
7
CAMPUS NEWS
In 1960, St. Augustine
became the Trinidad campus ofThe
UWI. And in the 58 years that followed, UWI St. Augustine’s
growth has been phenomenal – thousands of students,
myriad programmes of study, groundbreaking research, and
of course, buildings. Like a small society, the campus has
grown, and one of the most dramatic signs of its growth is
its structures and the assets within them.
UWI St. Augustine is made up of offices, lecture rooms,
laboratories, commercial spaces, and many other facilities
housed in more than a hundred buildings. And for the
people responsible for managing and maintaining the
campus, access to reliable information on these facilities is
critical for informed decision-making. This information, if
used strategically, can save the University great amounts of
time and money. But first, it must be stored in a structured
database that can be easily accessed by decision makers.
Enter the Geospatial Information Research and
Innovation (GIRI) Group from the Department of
Geomatics Engineering and Land Management (GELM),
of the Faculty of Engineering.
“Our campus is a very complex place to manage and
good data is crucial to make it work,” says Adam Thomas,
a graduate student who is a member of the GIRI Group.
Since 2014, Adam and other members of the GIRI
Group have been using a combination of geomatics
(traditionally referred to as land surveying), drones,
digital cartography and information and communications
technology (ICT) to collect and manage data about the
campus. This led to the creation of the Interactive Campus
Map that is available both on the UWI website (
.
uwi.edu/campus-map) and mobile app. The map gives a
layout of the campus buildings, other structures, green
spaces and even trees.
In 2017, the group embarked on an even more
ambitious project.
“The map is a frame of the buildings, a topographic
map. Now we are going inside the buildings,” says Anushka
Ramnath, an undergraduate geomatics student.
Over the 2017 and current vacation periods, Anushka
and a small team of student interns have been going to
buildings throughout the campus, measuring rooms and
other hard spaces such as permanent cubicles, and drawing
building plans that will eventually become part of a Campus
Enterprise GIS.This Campus BuildingMeasurement Survey
(CBMS) Project, is a partnership between the Office of the
Campus Registrar and the GELM Department.
“For a long time we have been doing this kind of work
for clients outside of the University, and internally we don’t
have the very systems that we have been implementing in
other organisations,” says Dr. Earl Edwards, Lecturer in
Geoinformatics at GELM.
Dr. Edwards, the mind behind the UWI St. Augustine’s
Campus Enterprise GIS project, says: “We have the resources
in terms of software and expertise. We have young minds
eager to learn. So it’s a win-win situation.The University gets
an Enterprise GIS system which can be used for managing
its facilities and assets. And the students will be able to play
a role where they can work, first-hand, from step one to the
final stage of building an Enterprise GIS.”
One of the most exciting aspects of the project is
how pivotal the students have been. Adam and his fellow
supervisor, Arrio Lokai, are very much in leadership
positions and they are both in their twenties. Most of the
fieldwork is carried out by undergraduate students.
“Many times we will go to a building and they will
say, ‘oh students! Is this an academic project?’” says Adam,
smiling. “I tell them no, we are working.”
At 23, he is obviously a very driven young man with
clear ideas about the role of GIS in both education and
society. “I am going to get into education for sure,” he says.
“I love to teach. I also want to be involved with GIS on a
national level for decision-making.”
Anushka, 23, from Chaguanas, also enjoys geomatics,
particularly the fieldwork, andwould like to pursue it further.
“Last year (the initial round of building measurements) was
my first time working professionally,” she says, highlighting
what a valuable experience the internship has been.
Apart from this, there is the benefit of a campus
Enterprise GIS. The administration at UWI St. Augustine
is aware of the benefits of GIS and is working with GELM
through the Office of the Campus Registrar. In fact, Dr.
Edwards was initially approached by Asset Manager Keith
Chin Pang to collaborate on building on the trove of data
collected through the interactive map project.
“More than 80% of the decisions we make involves
location,” says Dr. Edwards. “Can we answer questions
about our campus facilities without having to go and look?
Wouldn’t it be more efficient if this information can be
provided on an ICT platform that is easily accessible by
university decision makers?”
The CBMS project has made good progress but
still has some way to go. Interns have collected data and
drawn plans for several buildings, including the Faculty of
Humanities and Education building and the Alma Jordan
Library (which was particularly challenging because of its
incremental construction). Campus Administration has
given the team a list of priority buildings for measurement
and data collection.
The challenge is limited resources, particularly the need
for dedicated workers. Currently they only carry out field
work during the vacation period. However, they are doing
great work and they are confident the results will be just as
outstanding.
“I have seen many of these data sets from all over,”
says Adam, “and I believe ours will be one of the best ever
developed.”
The St. Augustine Campus.
Geo s pa t i a l I n f o rma t i on Sys t em
(GIS)
– integration of information and
communication technologies for gathering,
managing, analyzing, visualizing and sharing
data about our world.
Geomatics Engineering
– Traditionally
referred to as surveying. Involves the
measurement and analysis of data on or
near the earth’s surface using tools and
techniques such as: drones, GPS, remote
sensing, photogrammetry, hydrography,
cartography and GIS.
Geoinformatics
– the art, science and
technology involved with the acquisition,
storage, processing production, analysis,
presentation and dissemination of GIS data.
UWI St. Augustine’sDepartment ofGeomatics
Engineering and Land Management in the
Faculty of Engineering, offers a Bachelor
of Science degree in Geomatics; Master of
Science degree inGeoinformatics andMPhil/
PhD degree in Geoinformatics.
GIS
defined
Mapping the Campus Inside Out
B Y J O E L H E N R Y
Adam Thomas of the GIRI Group and student intern Camay Cuffie
continue their measurements at the Marketing and Communications
Office.
PHOTO: ATIBA CUDJOE
“More than 80% of the decisions
we make involves location. Can
we answer questions about our
campus facilities without having
to go and look?Wouldn’t it be
more efficient if this information
can be provided on an ICT
platform that is easily accessible
by university decision makers?”
–Dr. Earl Edwards
