Saturday, July 12, 2014

From Solomon Islands to the Philippines: my PGIS learning journey – Preparations and challenging encounters (blog post 3)

On July 11, I arrived in the Philippines, after a series of flights.


View Don's Journey in a larger map

I was welcomed at the Iloilo Airport by Melvin Purzuelo coordinator of the Green Forum-Western Visayas (my local mentor) and driven to my accommodation. I was briefed on the following day about the upcoming activities. On July 13, we went to the REBUILD Project Implementation Centre in San Dionisio. However we had to adjust our travel plans due to ensure travellers safety in an area which has been affected by super typhoon Yolanda. Recent past has witnessed a couple of incidents along the San Dionisio and Estancia Highway, involving armed robberies that included loss of lives. The locals believe that displaced people affected by the super typhoon Yolanda who are dispossessed and resort to illegal activities to sustain their living. We therefore were advised to be vigilant at all times and take the necessary precautions while travelling within the devastated area. Yet, the PGIS activities were maintained as planned.

While working with Melvin, I took the opportunity for preparing the base map for organising a similar 3D modelling exercise to the one back home in Solomon Islands. We discovered that the topographic maps of Solomon Islands are the work of the US air force, the same as in the Philippines. Considering that these maps were made decades ago, we realised that we had to improve them to be suitable for use in a P3DM process. I am exploring possibilities for establishing a long term partnership between our organisation in Solomon Islands and Melvin’s NGO in terms of PGIS activities.


Related posts by Wilfred Don Dorovoqa :

From Solomon Islands to the Philippines: My PGIS learning journey ... 
  • Blog post 5: Participatory data extraction and digitization
  • Blog post 4: QGIS introduction and P3DM in action
  • Blog post 3: Preparations and challenging encounters 
  • Blog post 2: My expectations
  • Blog post 1: How it all started

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