By Babatunde Tiamiyu
A Professor of Environmental Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba – Akoko, Ondo State, Prof. Ebenezer Ogunbadewa, has emphasised the necessity of establishing a national geospatial agency to coordinate the development and application of GIS to address various challenges facing Nigeria.
Prof. Ogunbadewa made these recommendations while delivering the Inaugural Lecture of the University, titled, “Visualization Without Barriers: The Quintessence of Geospatial Technology in Environmental Management.”
The academic, who defined GIS as a computer-based system that has the capability to input, store, manipulate, analyse, and display outputs of geographically referenced information about anywhere on the earth’s surface in a database system using appropriate software.
The academic said, “Governments at all levels should develop geospatial data infrastructure for storage, management, and sharing of geospatial information; build capacity and expertise through training and education programmes which in turn will benefit our environmental health, security, satellite revisits period, natural resources management, climate change, disaster management, agriculture, and forest management, among many others.”
He highlighted GIS’s role in educational administration through online classes, attendance tracking, and enrolment projections, as well as in healthcare for epidemiology, needs analysis, and service inventory.
“In security enforcement, GIS is beneficial for surveillance, intelligence gathering, smart barcodes, creating virtual boundaries, and crime spot identification’ he said.
The environmental expert also pointed out that GIS is also useful in election results transmission and analysis, voter registration, infrastructure planning, maintenance, business management through demographic and market analysis, and site selection.
He also emphasised adequate support for research and development to enhance technology applications and collaboration with international organizations to share knowledge and best practices.
Prof. Ogunbadewa noted that the future of geospatial technology is promising, with the potential to improve how global environmental challenges are addressed by providing a more coordinated, connected, informed, and sustainable context for optimizing decision-making processes and offering clear views without hindrance.
He also called on the Ondo State Government to create a State Geographic Information System (SGIS) to harness its potential benefits.
Earlier in a remark, the Vice Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba – Akoko, Professor Olugbenga Ige, encouraged researchers to always share their research findings and ideas for the benefit of society and to propose solutions to societal needs.
