RI develops new mapping machine

JAKARTA (JP): The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) and PT Remedial Piranti Jaya trading company have developed a sophisticated mapping machine called Geolink.

"We'll soon start promoting the new mapping equipment to the Indonesian public," BPPT project manager Iwan Gunawan said Tuesday.

He said the mapping machine used global positioning system and geographical information system technology, developed by GeoResearch Inc. of the United States.

One machine, which is linked to 27 satellites, comprises a satellite data receiver, data recorder, data monitor and range finder.

Using 27 satellites (and three reserves), which operate 24 hours a day covering the whole world, the portable machine can accurately record longitude, latitude, elevation, velocity, and time.

"One advantage of this equipment is that it can make a very detailed map. The equipment, for example, can be used to record the number and positions of oil palm trees in a plantation," he said, adding that this included recording the kinds of plants around an oilpalm tree and the contour of the land where it grows.

He said an appraiser could use the machine to measure the size and contours of land and any transaction agreements.

Cindy Tolle, a GeoResearch field research scientist, said the machine was used in U.S. transportation.

"By using this kind of sophisticated technology, the government can now save a lot of road maintenance costs as it has an accurate and detailed map of the country's roads," she said, adding that the U.S. government now required the country's aviation and shipping firms to use the machine for safety.

PT Remedial Piranti Jaya president Sugiarto Muljadi said the machine could be used in telecommunications, energy, navigation and fishing industries.

He said his company received a license to develop and market the mapping machine in Indonesia from GeoResearch last year. "We chose to cooperate with BPPT because we thought the agency had the technological capability to develop such equipment," he said.

He said his company had spent about Rp 500 million (US$215,517) developing the technology, and that it would sell the machine for $10,000 each.

PT Remedial signed a memorandum of understanding recently to sell the machines to the University of Lampung, he said.

He said his company and BPPT would develop the technology further for applications in other sectors. (bnt)