ISSN 2091-198X

Annual Geo-ICT Journal of GES

Volume - 1, 2012
GeoSpace
Annual Geo-ICT Journal of GES

Team GeoSpace 2012

Editor-in-Chief
Mr. Shital Upamanyu Dhakal

Editors
Mr. Bishrant Adhikari
Mr. Ganesh Prasad Sigdtel
Ms. Florencia Matina Tuladhar
Ms. Laxmi Thapa

Marketing
Mr. Niroj Karmacharya
Mr. Shivajee KC
Mr. Surendra Pokharel

Technical
Mr. Amrit Karmacharya
Mr. Bikesh Twanabasu
Mr. Dinesh Lamichhane
Mr. Dinesh Shrestha
 GeoSpace
Annual Geo-ICT Journal of GES
Volume - 1, 2012

Published by :
Geomatic Engineering Society (GES)
Kathmandu University,
Department of Civil and Geomatics Engineering
Land Management Training Centre
Dhulikhel, Kavre
Email : [email protected]
Copy right © : GES
ISSN 2091-198X
Editorial

Nothing defines this Journal more eloquently than its title

‘GeoSpace’. Every word written in it by the professional and students
of Geo-information domain narrates their individual journey to
research, aspirations, progress, and achievements. Within the pages
of this magazine are the cherished collection of knowledge, wisdom
and intelligence, hand-picked by a successful batch that commenced
with a newborn hope of producing Geomatics engineers to solve
the ongoing demand for spatial problems and solutions.

‘Geomatics’ is in its path from being ‘brand-new’ to a ‘new’ domain

in the country. Full-fledged geo-problems are evolving and are also
being addressed using corresponding techniques and scientific know-
how. Geo-spatial industry is in its phase of expansion and as far
as the academia is concerned, the fresh second batch of Geomatics
Engineering is almost ready to test their potential in the market
inside the border and abroad. Thus, realizing the need for
documentation of our knowledge and experiences, we have created
‘GeoSpace.’

Primarily, this journal shall serve two purposes: first, increase awareness
about the ‘Geo-Information’ and scope of ‘Geomatics Engineering’.
Secondly, it shall act as knowledge sharing platform between the
students, specialist and professionals related. We genuinely hope
that GeoSpace bridges the existing gap between end users of
geospatial data effectively.

‘Strike a flint and it flashes out sparks of fire! Gentle stroking and
there is nothing to admire.’ Precious stones may sparkle and dazzle,
yet it is the ubiquitous greystone covered with dust that ignited the
human civilization. This is the similarity between the vain soul and
a persevering mind. The attitude of the latter is prerequisite to
succeed. To succeed, one does not require the qualities of a gemstone
but rather the perseverance of a flint. By publishing this first issue,
we have ignited the sparkles of fires, we have set on a journey that
can only be defined by the pace and eminence of the travel, never
by its destination. We shall reserve the future days for apprasing
the efforts we have presently made. We thank our well-wishers,
Seniors from batch 2007, writers and financial contributors for your
assistance.
 KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY
Dhulikhel.PO Box 6250, Kathmandu Nepal
Tel : (011)661399, Fax : 977-1-5533543, 977-11-661443
E-mail : info @ku.edu.np

Message

Dear Reader,

Geomatics Engineering is an interdisciplinary subject. This includes

GIS, Survey, Remote Sensing, Photo-grammetry, Cartography, Computer
Science and other relevant subjects. Its study allows for an integrated
approach to acquire, anlyze and administer geo-informationfor
sustainable develpment.

The field of Geomatics is still in its state of infancy in Nepal's context.

To maximize the benefit of this field, there is a need to continue its
activities. To promote these activites the students of Geomatics
Engineering of Kathmandu University have been, from time to time,
organizing programs through the Geomatics Engineering Society (GES)
In addition to this GES is attempting to publish its first journal focused
on the domain of Geo-information. I am happy to announce the
publication of GeoSpace.

I am confident that by this very first issue, the GI community will be

benefitted at large by the sharing of scientific and professional articles.
I also look forward to future issues of the journal. I believe that this
effort will boost networking among the students and professionals.
I extend my hearty congratulations to GES for bringing the GeoSpace.
I wish them all the best for continued endeavor.

Prof. Dr. Suresh Raj Sharma

Vice Chancellor
Kathmandu Universtiy
Ref No : 068/069 Tel No : 011-66455
Dep No :- Fax No : 011-662078

Government of Nepal
Ministry of Land Reform and Management
Land Management Tranining Centre
Dhulikhel Kavre
Date : 2069/01/22

Message

It has been very difficult to trace the dynamics of Geo-information

(GI) technology. Partnership, Co-operation and sharing have been the
mainstay for rapid development in the filed of GI science. Keeping
this aspect in point of view, I would like to express my best wishes I
believe, that this publication will assist to further boost up GI activities
in Nepal. This journal, which has arisen from the pool of knowledge
of GI veterans will ultimately help to enhance the sight of the readers
who have keen interest on the GI discipline. I would like to express
my sincere gratitude for the effort applied to materialize the publication
work in terms of this journal.

Thank you,

Nagendra Jha
The Executive Director
 Contents
SN. Aritcles Authors Page No.

1 GIS In Age of Internet Abhash Joshi 1-2

2 Shaping the Future Geospatial Baburam Acharya 3-6

Information Through Geomatics
Engineers

3 Need for Land Information System in Bishrant Adhikari 7-7

Nepal

4 Impact of GIS on Organizational Nab Raj Subedi 8-13

Performance

5 Study of the Ocean Mesosacle Features Nawaraj Shrestha 14-16

Using Sea Surface Temperature (SST):
A case Study of Gulf Stream

6 Planetary Mapping Punya Prashad Oli 17-20

7 An Approach to Improve Instructional Rabin K. Sharma 21-25

Method of Training

8 Dissecting Web Coverage Service (WCS) Shashish Maharjan 26-30

and its Clients

9 Land Cover Change and Urban Shital Dhakal 31-33

Settlement Extraction in Kathmandu
Valley using Remote Sensing: A
Proposition

10 Methodology for Assessing the Role of Subash Ghimire 34-39

Land Tenure in Hydropower
Development

11 Prefeasibility Study of Mini- Abhishek Manadhar, 40-42

Hydropower at Eastern Part of Prashant Ghimire, Nishchal
Sagarmatha Region Aryal, Prof. Dr. Ramesh
Kumar Maskey, Anthony
Carvalho
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

GIS In Age of Internet

Abhash Joshi
Web GIS Developer
Soyan Mega Soft Pvt. Ltd.
[email protected]

In year 1854 central London was hit by massive basic GIS functionalities. Public API of Google maps,
cholera outbreak which has killed more than 120 Yahoo maps, Bing maps and MapQuest have also
people in three days. The officials were unable to made web mapping piece of a cake. Development
find out its cause, thus unable to control the of additional complex GIS function in addition to
epidemic. Then Dr. John Snow depicted its source, data dissemination is also possible in recent days
a contaminated water pump by plotting location of with development of technology like AJAX.
the death and water pump in map, thus helping to Web GIS has demonstrated stellar performance
end the disease. Many believe this was earliest use ever since its inception. The user and application
of GIS analysis. However maps have been used for have grown at incredibly rapid rate. Web map has
centuries for sharing geographic information and increased public demand and awareness for the
understanding pattern between human and nature. map. The evolution leads GIS away from data
The development of the computer hardware and browsing, analyzing and managing for individual
software technologies accounts for the development decision making, more towards group participation
true Geographic Information System and now it and communicating on social decision issues. Its
has become an integral part of the information capability to combine data from different source
infrastructure in many organizations. The advent and create, query, update and delete data has made
of web based GIS is major new trend in evolution it a robust system. It opens the possibility of real
of GIS. Developments of wired and wireless time mapping, more frequent map update and
communication technologies and media in past few cheaper data sharing. Since we do not need
years have revolutionized the way our mapping sophisticated hardware and software also cost of
and analysis activities function. the GIS is dramatically reduced in web based
system. Web mapping also enables collaborative
Wikipedia has defined Web GIS as the process of mapping. Since data can be acquired from distributed
designing, implementing, generating and delivering users data update is very efficient. Open street map
map on the World Wide Web. In this chapter and google earth, Ushahidi project of Africa are its
WebGIS, web mapping, distributed GIS and cloud examples. Excellent application can be made by
computing are used synonymously to define server integrating Management Information System (MIS)
based mapping and analysis technique though there and GIS which enable better decision making.
actual meaning is not exactly same. The basic idea National Informatics Center India is very good
of this system is data is stored in database server. example where this technology is well functioning.
The data is processed and converted to desired Google earth and World Wind developed by NASA
information in mapserver which are then accessed are virtual globe and provide high interaction. They
by the clients. These heterogeneous and distributed are good source of data and can be used to study
systems are connected by communication our environment.
technology such as Internet, Intranet,WAN or LAN.
Different commercial and open source technology In Nepal few organizations including ICIMOD, Land
are developing in WebGIS field. Open source web Use Mapping Project, Survey Department etc t
mapping technologies such are Geoserver, already using web mapping. In Nepal it can be
Mapserver, Openlayer, Scalable Vector Graphics etc further applied on real estate business, for
are developed by communities and can be used for emergency management, security agencies,
free. It is being developed rapidly with the environment department, meteorology and
involvement of large number of people. But they hydrology department, Tourism department, Forest
have poor documentation. Commercial vendors are Deprtment, Central Bureau of Statistics, Department
also focusing more on developing web based of Land Information and Archive (DOLIA) among
technologies. Erdas Apollo servers, ArcGIS server, others. For instance DOLIA can develop LIS to
Smart Client, Geomedia etc are few examples of manage its spatial and aspatial data. DOLIA has
commercial technologies. Commercial technologies generated large volume of Cadastre and Land
have more functionality, easy to use, have less registration data. Now DOLIA need to manage,
bugs and more documentation but the price for update and disseminate this data. The only solution
them is high. Databases are also becoming more is developing a distributed GIS network. They can
GIS friendly these days. Postgresql/Postgis and store the data securely in central server. The data
Oracle not only support spatial data but also provide can be accessed and updated by survey office and

1
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

land revenue office but only of their jurisdiction. facilitate data sharing and increase interoperability
Technology is available which allow transaction to among automated geospatial information systems.
take place offline also and database on central The disadvantages like long transmission times and
server is updated whenever the connection is non-uniform user interfaces can be overcome by
available. This functionality has special benefit in more efficient code and a better bandwidth of the
countries like Nepal where steady connection are Net. Map Tiling and Image pyramid strategies are
not available. View only access of the data can also also solution of the slow response of web based
be easily given to unlimited number of users. This mapping technology. ECWP protocol developed by
will make the system more transparent. Intergraph provides the fastest image delivery on
web. Image seeding is even faster than many
While WebGIS is gaining popularity some important desktop based systems using this protocol. Some
issues such as Interoperability, Speed and Data organizations are reluctant to use this system
security should be considered. Sharing and because of lack of policy and data security issues
interoperability of heterogeneous spatial data on which needs to be solved.
complex web based system become a challenge.
The emergence of Web Services provides a new The development of the internet technology is
WebGIS framework for dealing with this issue. Web
redefining the collection management and
Services can package data, message and behavior
dissemination of spatial information. Making GIS
based on unified standards, without considering
applications available through the World Wide Web
the specific application environment. The Open GIS
will lead to an enormous increase of the usage and
Consortium (OGC) defines the standard services
accessibility of spatial data. This new internet
aimed to solve the problem of heterogeneity at the
spatial data modeling level. OGC is an association computing environment is bringing GIS out of special
looking to define a set of requirements, standards niche into broader information technology market
and specif ications that will suppor t GIS and thus this technology has enormous potentials
interoperability. The objective is technology that and possibilities. The demand for web based GI
will enable an application developer to use any system is going to increase worldwide in near future.
geodata and any geoprocessing function or process Nepal need to develop clear data sharing policy,
available on ‘the net’ within a single environment good communication network and sound manpower
and a single workflow. OGC is also successful to to take advantage of this technology.

Survey Department
Geodetic Survey Branch
Minbhawan, Baneshwor, Kathmandu, Tel : 4622547, 4622314

Available services
w The geodetic data produced by this branch can be applied to different engineering works.
The geodetic data are available on official request with voucher of Nepal Rastra Bank
9A/C No 1-1-12-25) against the payment of listed below
w In addition to provide the geodetic data this branch also provides instruments on hire
for control survey in different surveying and maping activities. For detail instrument hire
rates, contact the office.
Price list of Gedetic Data
Description Prices Per Point (In Rs)

w 1st Order Trig Point 3000.00

2nd Order Trig Points 2500.00
w 1500.00
w 3rd Order Trig Points 250.00
w 4 th Order Trig Points 1000.00
1st & 2 nd Order Bench Marks 250.00
w 1000.00
w 3rd Order Bench Marks
w Gravity points

2
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Shaping the Future Geospatial Information

Through Geomatics Engineers
Baburam Acharya (Mr), MSc , FRICS
[email protected]

Introduction Kathmandu University have started Bachelor in

Nepal is in dire need of infrastructure development Geomatics Engineering in a partnership model since
for sustainable socio-economic and environmental 2007. Indeed, this is a milestone for the fulfillment
development. This obligation must be guided by of academic human resources on geomatics
national policies well backed by accurate & reliable
geo-spatial information which solely depends on Rationale of the Paper
Geomatics. In Nepal, the sensible use of geo-spatial Geomatics science is an ever-evolving technology
information in development processes has not been and its application is spreading rapidly to offer the
emerged. Therefore this is the opportunity to great functionality for using and disseminating geo-
persuade geomatics engineers to make comprehend spatial information. As an interdisciplinary nature,
the state, business communities, producers and Geomatics has become so far a platform for all kind
users in shaping future geo-information towards of disciplines. Also, geo-information as the serving
sustainable development perspective. And for it, discipline needs to explore and evaluate applications
concerning all geo-communities including geo- for sustainable development. Otherwise, it will be
spatial world forum, universities and UN communities valueless and nowhere. Therefore, the young
have to take lively initiation. This is the age of geomatics engineers have to make generous uphill
information, so numbers of technologies are evolving struggle and promise efficient performance, cost
day by day. Among them, geo-spatial information benefits, efficiency gains, resources allocation and
technology holds the potentiality of depicting efficient management of geo-spatial services. They
significant contribution on policy-making, formulating must focus on spatially enabling systems to cater
plans, infrastructure development, resource present and future challenges of planning and
management and others. Though Nepal has difficult decision making processes of sustainable socio-
terrain, it has great geographical diversity, plenty economic and environmental developments. The
of natural resource and large potentiality for writer focuses his view for encompassing the quality
economic development which are neither explored services and move with hand in hand for shaping
nor envisioned. Nepal has already experienced its future geo-spatial information within nation building
more than five decades of structured planning perspective. The paper also highlights to deliver
history, the country is still facing the major challenges message for planners, decision makers and business
on basic services, safe drinking water, road access, communities on the potentiality to work together
health facilities, education, electricity, emergency for the advancement of geo-spatial industry in
service, income opportunity etc connecting with Nepal. Finally, it concludes with its necessity and
the vicious circle of poverty. This is because of the potential areas to shape and reinforce geo-spatial
lack of quality geo-spatial data, the techniques and services through quality geomatics engineers. In
methods used in structured planning process or turn, it may incorporate serving the South Asian
designing programs and decision making. region as a potential geo-market.
Geomatics development in Nepal is noteworthy.
Land surveys were done by Dangol caste in Malla Geomatics
era (1324). Military compass school called “compase” Geomatics, the mathematics of the earth, the science
after first great world war and later, Amin (surveyor) of the collection, analysis and interpretation of data,
training school was established under army. In especially instrumental data, relating to the earth's
1964, land reform program was announced and surface (Oxford English Dictionary).
surveying training had conducted under UNDP’s
assistance and Colombo plan. In February 1965, Geomatics Engineering is a modern discipline,
Mr. J. R.G. Harrop, became the Director of Survey which integrates acquisition, modeling, analysis,
Department and Survey Training Center, at the and management of spatially referenced data, i.e.
moment, Land Management Training center (LMTC) data identified according to their locations. Based
was established in 1967. In the changing context, on the scientific framework of geodesy, it uses
the center’s single efforts could not be sufficient to terrestrial, marine, airborne, and satellite-based
cop up growing academic needs. As a result, a sensors to acquire spatial and other data.
private institution 'School of Geomatics' has emerged
in 2000 to produce basic surveyors and diploma in Geomatics science includes the process of
geomatics engineering. Similarly in the challenging transforming spatially referenced data from different
environment, the government institution LMTC and sources into common information systems with

3
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

well-defined accuracy characteristics. A Geomatics According to the Rio Conference in 1992,

Engineer uses knowledge coming from several sustainability has been the central principle of
disciplines, such as: international development. Also, the World Summit
on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2002, in
w Geodesy (terrestrial, celestial, and orbital Johannesburg had unconditionally recognized
coordinate systems measurements) "Geomatics" as a significant part of the world
w Positioning and Navigation (e.g. with GPS, sustainability. It focuses on place, people and
GNSS), Engineering surveys (e.g. planning, information as the key elements of the development.
design, construction)
w Digital Imaging (how to extract useful Potential Intervention Areas
information from images according to the Geomatics engineers are likely to move towards
application, e.g. environmental studies or nation building making socio-economic and
agricultural studies) and Mapping (how to make environmental developments sustainable. Therefore,
the maps of tomorrow) using Photogrammetry the following potential intervention areas, among
(airborne photographs) or Remote Sensing others are put together:
(images taken by satellite sensors)
w Geographical Information Systems (computer 1. Establish the role of measurement science or
systems capable of assembling, storing,
geomatics or geo-spatial information discipline,
manipulating, and displaying geographically
and rigidity to maintain professional integrity,
referenced information)
code of conduct and responsibilities of
w Land Tenure Systems (land information
geomatics engineers in the society as a whole.
managing, land surveying, land right, land use
and land value).
2. Develop geomatics and geo-spatial professional
Geomatics as a science of visualization or expression societies, consortium and relevant forum to
of all kind of information provide and maintains the advocate the importance of geomatics and
triangular relation between geospatial data to its spatial knowledge. Encourage the government,
producer and end users. In many engineering works, especially the decision makers about the
ignorance of spatial information, various projects enormous value of geospatial data from
are hanging or unsuccessful which were made planning to implementation stage of the
feasible but technically failed. The examples can development programs such as in road
be taken as, there is a canal but no irrigation; there construction, housing and settlements, traffic
is a pipeline but no water; there is a land in a map management, pollution reduction, disaster
but not in a ground; there is a bridge but not across management, land use planning, monitoring
the flow of water; there is urban and regional natural resources and environment protection
planning but traffic jam, slums, solid waste and etc.
pollution etc. are mounting. Similarly, geography
and earth sciences rely more and more on spatial 3. Widen strong base on Geodesy because it
data. Geomatics application helps to acquire, manage serves society by providing reference frame
and interpret such data by providing digital maps for the navigation on land, sea and in the
and images of resources and infrastructures from building of infrastructure and determination of
different technologies; field surveys, GPS, remotely reliable boundaries for real estate properties
sensed images which are analyzed and visualized or even maritime zones. Geodesy has become
on different formats and styles through geographic more concerned with the changes in 'geometry'
information system (GIS). Moreover, the blending and 'gravimetry' of features on, beneath or
of ICT with Geomatics is providing new insights into above the surface of the solid Earth and ocean
global issues such as the patterns and degradation than it was previously. It also serves all
of forests, monitoring of crops, home land security geosciences including geophysical,
and prevention of cultural heritages, war strategies oceanographic, atmospheric, hydrological and
and conflict management activities. At present, environmental science communities. Geodetic
various applications of space technology are used products serve disaster prevention and
in the country. The highly developed Internet mitigation, prevention of the biosphere and
mapping and the wireless based geospatial data the environment, security, a better use of
dissemination to the vast array of users accelerate natural resources for sustainable development.
the space technology as seamless disciplines. In It serves for:
real life, there are many multi-disciplinary or potential
cross-disciplinary applications and usefulness with
other disciplines. One must be aware on the w Monitoring the solid earth, variations in the
earth's rotation, the atmosphere with satellite
integration and holistic orientation of such
geodetic techniques and the temporal variations
applications through a separate academic discipline.
in the earth's gravity field.
That is not anything else, except geomatics. In this
context, w Determining the satellite orbits, and positions

4
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

4. Make understanding on land rights, land use w Identify energy sector using geo-spatial
and land value to the professionals, users, technology for asset management and grid
producers and general public. Create immense analysis, power market assessments, tools for
awareness towards the development of cadastre assessing renewable energy potential,
and geo-spatial data infrastructure because monitoring big hydro-dams, planning and
the value of a cadastre cannot be limited to management of right-of-way activities, property
human rights and legal certainty. Also, convince appraisal and property acquisition etc.
people that cadastre gathers, manages and w Make extensive use of geo-spatial technologies
share information that defines and reinforces (RS, GPS & GIS) for watershed management,
property rights. In turn, the property rights water supply, drainage systems, modeling of
translate directly into economic development, recharge zones and water quality monitoring,
social stability, good governance, physical well hydrologic & hydraulic analysis and vulnerability
being and value of life. Drive geo-spatial analysis.
technology to leap towards the modernization w Keep up fine knowledge in area selection,
of cadastre as a milestone to support fieldwork planning, project designing,
sustainable development. subsurface investigation and spatial modeling
in mining and exploration.
w Enhance adjudication process in cadastre as w Build trust upon surveyors and emphasize
simple and transparent. sustainability of geo-spatial systems.
w Adapt fixed boundary principle (coordinated)
for accurate parcel measurements. 6. In the context of the complexity of infrastructure
w Compel existing land administration system and value of buildings, move towards 3D RRRs
towards the title registration systems. registration (rights, restrictions and
w Initiate and make substantial efforts to establish responsibilities) not only for cadastre but also
scientific land valuation systems. for planning, crisis management, taxation,
w Initiate and create massive efforts to integrate environmental impact assessment and many
land registration and survey office, and to other land and resources management
devolve the land services to the local activities.
administrative unit e.g VDC level.
w Convince decision makers to adapt geomatics 7. Encourage mastery in engineering surveys and
education to all cadastre professionals. learn to carryout large scale integration of
w Make generous efforts to change the existing advanced survey-sensor raw data and data
mismanagement situation on land into desired processing results. This process it is very difficult
land management process. due to complexity of data format
w Identify the attributes of some 'best practices' standardization. In big projects, project itself,
in land administration from the world where corporate IT groups and vender technology
sustainable economic development concerned experts like ESRI, Leica, Trimble etc. accomplish
to Nepal. the tasks. Therefore, essentially educate
surveyors and field engineers to fulfill knowledge
5. Role of geospatial data is dynamically increasing, gap between surveyors and construction
so convince business communities that geo- managers (Joseph Betit, Bechtel Corporation,
spatial data can generate significant USA).
improvements in their business.
8. Make understanding on the wider use of Earth
w Define the interrelation of geospatial industry observation technology and develop consortium
and economy. Link geospatial techniques, to and forums of various stakeholders Earth
location based services (LBS), contingency observation community.
planning, preserving historic or cultural heritage
and structures, urban and regional planning, w Capacity development for utilization and
rural-urban linkages, food security, monitoring deployment of Earth observation projects and
of big constructions (such as dams, high-rise programs.
buildings) seismic acquisition, early warning w Advocacy for maximizing benefits of Earth
and alarm functions, disaster management observation in nation building. Elucidate the
and security etc. role of photogrammetry and imaging for
w Persuade vivid technology geo-ICT as a public application in car navigation, disaster
good for good governance, the rules, process management and monitoring of fast growing
and structures for decision making in land and urban centers by GIS ready geo-information.
its resources. w Make realization on the needs and benefits of
w Initiate to bridge the gap between the public real-time geo-informatics and
and private entities who are key stakeholders Telegeoinformatics.
of PPP model for spatial data infrastructure. w Keep up, up-to-date knowledge on the
Also identify steps with benefits to invite or development of latest sensors technologies,
encourage private sector participation. positioning and tracking technologies, CCD

5
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

cameras, GPS/INS systems/map matching b e tween organizations through education exchange

algorithms. Also, integrating GNSS positioning programs. Take initiation to expand RICS
data to detect rapid motion and long-term professional in the country.
movement trends.
w Develop awareness on mobile mapping with 10. Maintain Surveyor's role as Geo-data Manager
UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) technology, and encourage innovations for good land
integrated mobile mapping systems, mobile governance. Make efforts to cop up with global
3D laser mapping, mobile multi-sensor systems, geo-industrial market covering the vast gamut
mobile mapping applications and on-line mobile of technology for foreseeable future which is
mapping services. on the horizon.
w Initiate on the principle of 5D modeling, full
integration of 3D space, time and scale. Also 11. Initiate to adapt Seoul Declaration on Global
the applications in practical situation of 5D Geo-spatial Information Management (GGIM),
models. 24-26 October 2011 as; Geo-information to
w Prepare yourself to keep up with modeling address global challenges.
spatial geometry, making observations and
estimating spatial positions, and their 12. Others
uncertainty, as a key component of the w Lead to make appropriate legal arrangements
Geomatics Engineering education. in geomatics and geo-spatial industry.
w Initiate open source legal, technical and
9. Calculate the current limitations and prospects business perspectives.
of future developments by identify the need w Fostering natural and real estate property
of human resources in geomatics and geospatial through rule of law.
industry. w Initiate for Cyber infrastructure and social
w Identify the constraints on capacity building networking.
and continuing professional development (CPD) w Geomatics world is constantly evolving, so
in the geo-industry. essentially keep up with the rapid growth of
w Introduce Geomatics education in schools and the know-how, methods and tools of this multi,
side-by-side, including Geomatics science as cross and interdisciplinary field.
an extensive academic degree program in
university level as a collective discipline applied Conclusion
to independent fields of study such as Spatial information, which has its base on Geomatics
cartography, photogrammetry, remote sensing, science, provides essential and adequate grounds
geodesy, GIS and other mapping sciences. for planning overall development activities. Geomatics
Also, conduct awareness program to geo- offers great functionality as a science of visualization
information stakeholders; engineers, real estate for the geo-spatial information related to almost all
brokers, geo-consultants, notary public, IT of the disciplines. It has numerous applications
institutions and others. even in government activities from regulatory
w Make exchange of ideas between industry and functions such as law and order maintaining, crime
institutions leading to relevance and control and conflict management to various
marketability of the trained human resources. development functions. So, the sector of applied
And foster the importance and usefulness of Geomatics science plays a pivotal role in the
the spatial information to the end users in their development process of a country, and, therefore,
daily activities. offers a significant role to the geomatics engineer
w Make efforts to establish sister relation with for shaping and spreading quality geo-spatial
the foreign institutions for the expansion of applications as a key element in sustainable economic
geospatial technology and collaboration development.

Choose favorite adventure and shape your future

References
w Initiatives for Geomatics Education in Nepal, FIG Working Week 2007, Hong Kong
SAR, China, 13-17 May, 2007, Mr.Baburam Acharya & Mr. Keshav Sharma.
w Burrough, Peter A. & McDonnell, Rachael – Principles of Geographic Information
Systems, Oxford University Press, 1998.
w Dowman Ian, Geomatics education needs attention, Coordinate, issue-1, Jan 2007.
w Kraak, M. J – exploratory cartography: map as tools for discovery, 2003.
LMTC Booklet, Land Management Training Centre, 2004.
w Molenaar, M. - Geo Information System, ITC, 2003.
w GIM International January 2012 and December 2011
w Programme for Geospatial World Forum 23-27 April, 2011

6
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Need for Land Information System in Nepal

Bishrant Adhikari
Geomatics Engineering-2008
Kathmandu University
The cadastral and land information system in Nepal are building the application for web solution, they
has started going in the digital form just a few currently are not much interested in bringing that
years back. Previously as well as till now the land in Nepal.
and parcel records used to be limited in the papers
and large chunks of the files and folders. When the Although questioned by many of the management
government of Nepal started using the software and decision level personnel there is a true potential
especially built to solve specific problems in the for making all these tasks a systematic and much
specific offices. As a result of the constant research simple. Actually there could be made a geospatial
and dedication they came out with some pretty web-portal that provides the users (or the authorized
good software such as Parcel Editor for the Digital persons) the ability to query the current status of
cadastre record keeping and printing out the land the selected parcel of the selected person in the
record and ownership information, Spatial Analyst certain location and display the results in the tabular
Extension (SAEX) developed for Department of as well as in map format. In addition to the query
Land Information and Archive(DOLIA) to serve the ability it could be extended to support the transaction
purpose of digitizing the previous land records and and record updating and deletion. Other stakeholders
hard copy maps and DLIS developed by for land such as the VDC or Municipality could as well be
Revenue offices to make them able to keep the served by providing them with the ability to
land and parcel’s ownership and transaction administer the property construction and
information in the digital form. As the times passed land/property taxes. The major ability of this solution
those software started functioning, the managerial will be that it will be accessible via all the ordinary
personnel who were in the development phase of computers and even mobile devices that have
these software were shocked by their access to internet. The problem of personal privacy
shortsightedness. The problem here was that these will be dealt by segregating the ordinary citizens
software were good at what they were made for from the managers via the use of the user
but they had created the technological islands authentication and clearance levels according to
because those software could in none of the way
which their access rights are defined.
interact with each other. This meant that the
information that they kept and maintained were Technically the servers will be established at Land
not compatible and usable by the others. Thus Revenue office and District Cadastral offices. The
there lacks a single information system that could servers must be able to run Apache on the backend.
acts as a warehouse of the cadastral and land The basic strategy is to maintain the information
ownership information. We just have to go to two in both the land revenue office and the cadastral
different offices physically in order to get the
office using a spatially enabled database program
information about a certain parcel its ownership
such as PostgreSQL. Then the maps will be served
and taxes.
via any servers such as Geoserver or Mapserver
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has started that uses the information in the database. Finally
its works in implementation of the free and open the results will be displayed in the user’s browser
source land administration in Nepal. The Solution through some server side includes such as PHP,
on Open Land Administration (SOLA) project of ASP or via the use of the java applets.
FAO has been previously implemented in Ghana
and Samoa and now they are implementing this in Geomatics engineers will be the guiding personnel
Nepal. SOLA is primarily the desktop solutions that in this whole task as they know cadastral information
need to be setup in the each of the offices but needs of nation and the programming techniques
function with either one central server or the along with the database and GIS knowledge that
distributed ones. The major problem that lies here needs to be deployed for solving this problem. The
is that it has not been customized to be able to field experience aided by the strong theoretical
serve the land information system in Nepal. Also base of the geomatics engineers could be a major
the need for setup of SOLA admin in each machine help. This complete information system if made
the task has to be done puts a significant amount will be a major help in the standardization and in
of memory overhead. The works are undergoing the increment of the efficiency of the tasks done
in the customization of the SOLA. Although they at the land related offices.

7
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Impact of GIS on Organizational Performance

Nab Raj Subedi
Director, Land Management Training Center
Ministry of Land Reform and Management, Nepal
Visiting Assistant Professor, Kathmandu University

1. Introduction

Pervasive use of GIS indicates a high degree of by the respective authors in their research vis-à-
expectation for bringing positive changes in vis organizational impact. Generally they are focused
organizations broadly in terms of productivity, on productivity, benefits, effectiveness, efficiencies,
efficiency and ultimately organizational behavior. cost reduction brought about by GIS.
Although evaluation framework of information
system is a multidimensional construct and peering 3. GIS Less Capable in Saving and better Quality
merely from organizational perspective does not Decision
end up in completeness in the measurement of
impact of GIS, the paper only attempts to focus on Campbell and Masser (1992) carried out study to
the advancement made so far on the organizational find the impact of GIS in local government authorities
impact by GIS. The method followed in this study in Great Britain. The method applied was a
is the review of the literatures used to review by combination of detailed case studies as well as a
Nedovic-Budic (1998) on the aspect of organizational comprehensive telephone based survey of all 514
impact brought about by GIS technology. In the local authorities. The authors justify that the
base paper of Nedovic-Budic (1998), there are collection of response through the postal
fifteen cited pre-1998 papers in the context of questionnaires from all 514 authorities could be an
organizational impact, (out of 22 citations in the intensive task considering the size of the response.
context, some are repeating). Papers reviewed are At the same time, possibility of non-response to
Campbell and Masser (1992); Campbel (1994); the postal surveys exits which renders difficulties
Worrall (1994); Tveitdal and Hesjedal (1991); to draw precise conclusions on the overall study.
Gillespie (1992); Smith and Tomlinson (1992); On the other hand, the previous descriptive case
Antenucci et al (1991); Brown (1997); French and studies in the topic are failed to provide comparability
Wiggins (1990); Johnson (1995); Hitt and between studies and therefore it is difficult to identify
Brynjolfsson (1996); Landauer (1995); and two the general trend in the use of GIS. Therefore, as
post-1998 literatures, namely Nedovic-Budic (1999) the authors explain, combined method has been
and Gonzalez (2007). All these papers have been applied in this study. The findings of the case studies
reviewed focusing on the organizational impact are based on the analyzed statistics as well as
issues. Discussion has been made regarding the interviews. The research has come up with the
generation of additional insights, method applied findings that GIS does not help savings in the
and justification for the choice of method. organization, as Nedovic-Budic (1998) has
highlighted. But I found the paper stressing that
2. The Context GIS is less capable in supporting better quality
decision as well.
Organizational impact of GIS has been one of the
dimension of measurement of success of IS success Campbell (1994) alone adopted a combination of
model (Delone & Mclean, 1992). Since organizational methods, including a case study of 12 experienced
efficiency and effectiveness caused by the authorities in implementing GIS and a
implementation of GIS depends on the other comprehensive telephone survey of 514 local
dimension of the IS success model such as user authorities in Great Britain. A key feature of the
satisfaction, dependency relationship exists among approach adopted towards the case studies was
these dimensions (Miles, 1980). However, this paper that interviews were undertaken with those involved
does not drift to model the ‘ecology’ caused by both directly with GIS including potential users,
these elements of success model. It mainly focuses senior managers, mapping and computer specialists.
on the original findings on the paper referred by An element of participant observation was also
Nedovic-Budic (1998) in the context of organizational involved in this process. The rationales behind the
impact and the same on post-1998 literatures. I combined approach are the same as explained in
classified these papers based on the emphasis given the case of Campbell and Masser (1992). The finding

8
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

of the study is that short term success can be administration in the actual organization with least
achieved for relatively for small project. An idea ratio of benefits/cost 2:1. But additionally I saw
emphasized by Nedovic-Budic (1998) in a broader that, the benefit cost is 1:1, if GIS is introduced as
perspective is that GIS users attach low importance a production tool and it helps in the staff reduction
to saving. that too not fully. The highest beneficial effect for
the community can be achieved, if there exists
4. Planning and Policy making inter-organizational coordination and they use the
same geographical information for planning design
Worrall (1994) studied on the role of GIS-based and administration of public utilities, with the ratio
spatial analysis in strategic management in Local of benefit and cost, at least, as 4:1. This is referred
government. The study was based on the study of as “1:2:4 rule” for benefit from GIS introduction
relevant literatures. The research briefly explains (figure below left). Furthermore, it takes time to
how to overcome the difficulties of integrating the accrue benefits from GIS for the user organizations
opportunities provided by the new technology (figure below right).
embedded in a GIS to the whole range of strategic
social, economic, demographic, and environmental
issues currently facing public policy analysis in
general and local government in particular. Finally
the author develops a research agenda which will
seek to enhance the role of GIS-Based spatial
analysis. In a nutshell, Use of GIS can be made in
analysis of spatial distribution of income based
population, urban facility management etc so that
proper policy can be developed to solve these
problem in these areas.

Referring to Nedovic-Budic (1998) quotation that

in “Worrall’s (1994) review of cost-benefit analyses
conducted in the three UK authorities it is claimed
that productivity gains and cost avoidance are
possible with GIS, but not immediately”. To our
observations this quotation/citation is wrong,
because nowhere in the paper I could find such a
paragraph except at a point it says that few GIS
applications in local government have been formally
cost justified and a cost-benefit model has also
been developed. Although I can implicitly see there
are many intangible benefits of GIS implementation
in the paper.

5. Cost-Benefit
Smith and Tomlinson (1992) carried out analysis
Tveitdal and Hesjedal (1991) have put forwarded of the costs and benefits of GIS for the city of
the result of a case study carried out by “Nordic Ottawa. The benefits of 100 information products
Kvantif”, a joint Nordic Project which focused on were measured through interviews with city of
the quantification of the community benefits of Ottawa staff members responsible for the individual
digital spatial information carried during 1985-87. products. 46 senior staff members from 10
The result of the study is based on the Cost-Benefit departments were contacted to obtain data on both
Analysis (CBA). The reason to adopt CBA is that, current and planned future uses of these products.
it being an element in the overall appraisal, forces In measuring costs, they were estimated in detailed
anyone involved in the decision making to analyze from 1990 to 1996. The narrative descriptions of
the impact of a project in a systematic way and, in GIS products provided the basis for the detailed
the words of the authors, helps to recommend appraisal of benefits. Their approach was built on
strategy for implementation. The report concludes existing work dealing with assessment of investments
that benefits of GIS rely on the level of its in GIS. The methodology outlined advances existing
implementation. Nedovic-Budic (1998) has only methodologies that focus primarily on cost savings
highlighted the point that beneficial effects can be that are due to reductions in staff time from
achieved if it is used for internal planning and producing existing information products. Nedovic-

9
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Budic (1998) uses example from Smith and planning agencies. The survey came up with findings
Tomlinson, (1992) of GIS adoption in public sector on system development that half of the planning
agencies where substantial savings were calculated agencies they surveyed experienced a large positive
to justify that spatial data technologies results in returns or small positive returns unlike Nedovi?-
long term benefits. Budi? (1998) highlighting on small returns on
investment. Authors also emphasizes that in all
Antenucci et al (1991) have shown that GIS brings samples used no one suggested that their system
benefits into organization by comparing the was not a good investment.
cumulative cost of manual operation over a period
of time to the cumulative cost of the implementing Johnson (1995) conducted a study to observe
automated system over the same period of time. dissemination policies in Local Government GIS
Benefit-cost analysis shown by them consists of agencies in the US using a multiple case studies.
costs of both systems for 10 consecutive years. The study presents several case studies; six case
They argue that the comparative approach (using studies were selected for the research. The foremost
benefits and cost) is helpful in weighing the positive criteria that the study includes equal numbers of
and negative aspects, both quantifiable and open access and cost recovery sites. Other criteria
unquantifiable of introducing GIS, and can be used included the extent of available documentation at
to compare the relative merits of implementation each site, evidence of any interesting anecdote,
alternatives. The authors conclude, as I saw, that the willingness of GIS administrators to participate
although the earlier phase of implementation suffers and to some extent geographic diversity. In each
high investment cost in comparison to the incurrence case study, the primary method of data collection
of costs in manual system, the cost curve declines was phone interviews, at about two hours, with
as investments diminish and consequently benefits several follow up conversation with primary and
are enjoyed as the system become operational. secondary contact at each site. Phone and email
The following figure shows this. discussions with state level policy makers were
important in several cases for the prompt reply.
The research found that many proprietary GIS
agencies are likely to recover little funds, even when
expectations are very high. On the open access
side it was found that many open access policies
are not tremendously successful either. Conclusion
was that the benefits of both open access and cost
recovery policies do not meet GIS agency
expectations.

6. Effectiveness and Efficiency

Gillespie (1992) describes a model, called "digital

Additionally I found the classification of benefits. benefit model" developed by USGS to measure the
Out of 5 benefits type, 4 are quantifiable. They are value of GIS in more than 40 case studies of Federal
efficiencies in current practice, expanded capabilities, GIS applications. Two qualitative benefits, as the
unpredictable events, and sale of information author says, namely, efficiency and effectiveness
services. The non-quantifiable benefit type is can be measured by using the model. The model
intangible benefits. requires 5 common independent variables to
measure along with other 4 dummy variables to
measure these benefits. The independent variables
French and Wiggins (1990) conducted a mail survey
are: extent of the study area, physical amount of
technique to study the role of GIS and automated
the relevant data, information dimension, complexity
mapping in public planning agencies, in 35 agencies
of environmental constraints, and likelihood of use
that had operational computerized mapping systems.
in adversarial hearings. Depending on the size of
This was a third survey in series they have
the independent variable, the application of GIS
undertaken to track the adoption and use of
can be classified as small, moderate and big. As
computing technology in the field of urban and
these values differ according as the application type
regional planning. The authors state that as the
in an organization, only the case study method is
sampling is based on the 1988 survey responses,
appropriate for benefit measurement using this
the newest innovators may be somewhat model. Apart from efficiencies of GIS, I see that
underestimated. Even by knowing that limitation, effectiveness benefit can also be measured using
they still argue that their data provide useful insight the model and moreover, effectiveness benefits are
into the use of automated mapping and GIS in local much higher than efficiency benefits of GIS.

10
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Issue like reduction on the cost of data collection of IT firms is correlated with time. Business
has not been expressed by the author as Nedovi?- profitability was calculated by using the profitability
Budi? (1998) has stated in her paper but it says function as the ratio of IT stuck to firm employees.
there is cost saving in the production of a result in Then relationship between IT and Profitability was
comparison to the same production by the manual tested by computing correlation and then using the
method. regression function in year by year basis. The
consumer surplus between two periods was
7. Productivity and other issues calculated by using the translog function as a ratio
of IT stock to Value added, the price of stock and
Landauer (1995) has focused on the usefulness, Value added. The overall finding is that the IT has
usability, and productivity of the computers. Concept increased productivity and consumer surplus but
put on the book chapter-wise has been made not supranormal profitability. Additionally, for higher
basically using macroeconomics. Usability profits, they suggest that management should focus
assessment has been done by plotting benefit-cost on IT's other aspects such as product position,
ratio verses number of user test of the computer quality or customer service.
system. Since the usefulness and usability depends
on the user perspective, the methodologies followed Brown (1997) in her study seeks to ascertain the
are case studies as understood between the lines goals and challenges of GIS adoption according to
since it has not been explicitly stated in the book. local implementers. The method applied was a
As Nedovi?-Budi? (1998) has highlighted, it states survey with non-random sample of the 262 local
that introduction of computer does not increase government members of the Urban and Regional
the productivity in general. It has been Information System Association (URISA). The
recommended in the book that the productivity can research used two types of questionnaires. The first
be increased after increasing the usability and was sent to those identified as being knowledgeable
usefulness by the following four ways: about GIS implementation process and the second
was sent to users of the technology. Only 88
w Reducing unnecessary and duplicate work by responses were obtained. The majority of respondent
storing and transpor ting information rated the GIS favorably in the better category for
electronically. stimulating productivity, performance and customer
w Improve the coordination and synchronization service. The idea was also cited by Nedovi?-Budi?
of work by better planning, monitoring, tracking (1998). The author also concludes that the attitudinal
and analysis. and perceptual measures are preferred for examining
w support new high-productivity products and the process of implementation and achievement
services that depend on powerful information outcomes from technological innovations. The
processing. quantitative measures are not able to adequately
w Help individuals perform information work tap perceptions. Therefore a qualitative instrument
more efficiently. is employed in this study to analyze perceptions of
Information System Success. The research came
up with findings that organizational impediments
Hitt and Brynjolfsson (1996) have found opposite offered the greatest resistance to achieving GIS
to what Landauer (1995) has found regarding success.
productivity. Hitt and Brynjolfsson (1996) studied
on the issues of IT's economic contribution with 8. Post-1998 research
the three issues: productivity, profitability and
consumer surplus. Authors justify that although 8.1 Applying non-traditional approach for impact
these issues are related, they are different topic in measurement
themselves and therefore value of IT in economic
sense should not calculated by simultaneously taking Nedovic-Budic (1999) have made a review of existing
them together. Therefore, they carried out empirical frameworks, methods and criteria used in evaluations
analysis by setting separate hypotheses pertaining of geographical Information Systems, Management
to each of these issues and based on the secondary Information Systems, other computerized
data collected by International Data Group (IDG). information technologies and other information
Hypothesis related to productivity was tested by systems. The review is aiming at checking how the
using production function. For this, estimate of effects of GIS use should be measured specifically
parameters were obtained using Ordinary Least to the evaluation of GIS technology in urban
Squares and enhancement of estimation was done planning. Using literatures review as an instrument
by using Iterated Seemingly Unrelated Regression for the research, she justifies that there exist
(ISUR) model with the assumption that productivity varieties of frameworks, quantitative and qualitative

11
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

criteria, and methods that can be used to assess of ambiguity and contradictions of the social reality
GIS effects but none of them have been developed being investigated and existence of prospect of
to specifically deal with evaluation of GIS in urban alternative explanation. Data collection in the
planning. research was based on criteria-based sampling
followed by semi structured interview and
The author describes that the review of the potential questionnaire.
measures of GIS effects draws on five broad
frameworks, basically focusing the evaluative Her finding claims that the degree of impact of the
framework presented by DeLone and McLean adoption of GIS in organizational level is correlated
(1992). Basing on evaluation dimensions by DeLone with four main factors which are: attitude of
and McLean (1992), she tries to review all criteria
leadership and involvement of GIS staff within the
and methods reviewed under each dimensions and
organization; organizational commitment and
complement by a discussion of measures and issues
support in terms of formal policy establishment and
that are relevant in the context of urban planning.
availability of resources for the GIS strategy; strategic
She adds one more dimension, societal effects to
reflect the attention to societal issues that are vision and strategic thinking to assume GIS as
present in the GIS literatures and the relevancy of enabling tool; and lastly, the necessity to set off a
societal to planning. After discussion, she came up continuous and widespread GIS learning process
with a table summary of the methods and criteria that promotes inclusiveness with other organizational
that can be used in evaluating GIS effects in planning structures in order to create the link between the
and the planning situations to which these methods user needs and the GIS applications. She also
and criteria can be applied. concludes that GISs are implemented generally to
support planning, decision making and e-government
As to the measurement of organizational impact, policies but not targeted to implement sustainable
she emphasizes the use of non-traditional cost- development at local level. In her own language
benefit analysis that turns the intangible benefits 'better outcomes' is possible if the technology is
into some sorts of value. Such values signify adopted for long term project except for the specific
operational (saving labor, clerical time etc), initiatives for which the middle or short term 5-1
managerial (communication between managers, year is sufficient.
improved planning and improved use of manager
time etc) and individual (deeper and broader To critically comment on her findings through our
exploration of alternatives, clear understanding of view, I say that the author is completely failure to
problems) benefits. She also highlights that find any organizational impact of GIS from her
measurement of productivity and efficiency are studies. Her conclusive statement "…the councils
generally used methods to calculate the do not measure GIS in terms of GIS function and
organizational performance.
in terms of GIS contribution to organizational
improvements, the impact was clearly not feasible
One strong reservation I have in this paper is that
to verify. Within this context, the conclusion is that
the author says the effects are favorable if the ratio
it is too early to give an unequivocal answer" proves
of cost to benefit is generally greater than 1. As to
our understanding, the ratio of benefit to cost (not this. She claims that apart from planning,
cost to benefit) should be greater than 1. technological and data frameworks, periodic process
of GIS measurement for search of best practices
8.2 GIS impact and its correlation with other and cross-sector approach to local sustainable
factors development are critically essential to engage in
GIS for the local authorities.
Gonzalez (2007) conducted a study to find the
fundamental reasons for the GIS adoption at local 9. Conclusion
level as well as impact and implications of GIS
technology at organizational level. To assess I conclude that there has been gradual enhancement
integrated information systems as a strategic tool in the concept of measurement of organizational
to support sustainable development in British local impact of GIS from the mere measurement of
government taking case of geographic information tangible cost and benefits to the measurement of
systems (GIS), she conducted four case studies. intangible benefits. I also witnessed that the concept
Regarding the case study methodology in her of impact of GIS on sustainable development has
research, the author justifies explicitly stating that been raised. However, it is found that there is not
the data and analysis are grounded in the condition a single holistic approach to measure the impact
of social existence in her case. There is tolerance of GIS due to its diversified field of application.

12
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

References
1. Antenucci J C, Brown K, Croswell P L, 1991 Geographic Information Systems—A Guide to the Technology (Van No strand
Reinhold, New York)
2. Brown MM, 1997, "An empirical assessment of the hurdles to geographic information system success in local governments"
State and Local Government Review 28 (3) 193-204
3. Campbell H J, 1994, "How effective are GIS in practice? A case study of British local government" International Journal of
Geographical Information Systems 8 309 – 325
4. Campbell H, Masser I, 1992, "GIS in local government: some findings from Great Britain" International Journal of Geographical
Information Systems 6 529 – 546
5. DeLone, W.H. & E.R., McLean, 1992, Information Systems Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable, Information
Systems Research, 3(1):60-95
6. French S P, Wiggins L L, 1990, "California Planning Agency experiences with Automated mapping and geographic information
systems" Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 17 441-450
7. Gillespie S R, 1992, "The value of GIS to the federal government" in GIS/LIS '92 Conference Proceedings, American Society
for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing-American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, S410 Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda,
MD 20814-2160, USA
8. González, A. (2007), Assessing integrated information systems as a strategic tool to support sustainable development in
british local government: the geographic information systems (GIS) case. Revista Chilena de Economía y Sociedad 1(2):pp.
89-114
9. Hitt L M, Brynjolfsson E, 1996, "Productivity, business profitability, and consumer surplus: three different measures of
information value" MIS Quarterly 20(2) 121 -142
10. Johnson J P, 1995, "Case studies of dissemination policy in local government GIS agencies" Computers, Environment and
Urban Systems 19 373 - 390
11. Landauer K, 1995, The Trouble with Computers (MIT Press, Cambridge MA)
12. Miles, Robert, H., 1980, Macro Organizational Behavior, GoodYear, SantaMonica, CA.
13. Nedovic-Budic Z, 1999, "Evaluating the effects of GIS Technology: Review of Methodsc", Journal of Planning Literature, Vol.
13( 3), 1999
14. Smith DA, Tomlinson R F, 1992, "Assessing costs and benefits of geographical information systems: methodological and
implementation issues" International Journal of Geographical Information Systems 6 241-256
15. Tveitdal S, Hesjedal 0,1991, "GIS in the Nordic countries", in GIS Applications in National Resources Eds M Heit, A Shortreid
(GIS World, Fort Collins, CO) pp 75-81
16. Worrall L, 1994, "The role of GIS-based spatial analysis in strategic management in local management" Computers, Environment
and Urban Systems 18 323 – 332

g]kfn ;/sf/
e"ls;'wf/ tyf Joj:yf dGqfno
gfkL ljefu
:yn?k gfkL dxfzfvf
gS;f÷xjfO{ kmf]6f] pknAw u/fpg] ;DaGwdf
gS;fx?sf] ljj/0f tflnsf
l;=g++ gS;f ljj/0f dfg gfk lnkL d"No ? l;6 ;+Vof s}lkmot
! 6f]kf] gS;f !@%,))) c+u|]hL !%).– %()
@ 6f]kf] gS;f !M%)))) c+u|]hL !%).– !!^
# ljsf; If]q !M%))))) g]kfnL %).– %
$ Dofk ckm g]kfn !M %))))) c+u|]hL %).– # tLg l;6
% c+rn gS;f !M@%)))) g]kfnL %).– !%
^ lhNnf gS;f !M!@%))) g]kfnL %).– &^
& lhof]nf]lhsn Dofk !M!@%)))) c+u|]hL $).– *@
* Nof08 o'6LnfOh]zg !M%))) c+u|]hL $).– @^^
( Nof08 Sofkfljln6L !M%)))) c+u|]hL $).– @^^
!) Nof08 l;i6d !M%)))) c+u|]hL $).– @^^
!! g]kfn !M!)))))) c+u|]hL %).– !
!@ g]kfn !M!)))))) g]kfnL %).– !
!# g]kfn !M@)))))) c+u|]hL !%– !
!$ g]kfn !M@)))))) c+u|]hL !%– !
!% -lkmlhof]u|flkms_ !M@))))))) c+u|]hL !%– !
b|i6Jo M
w s0ff{nL c+rnsf] s / v u/L b'O{ l;6 c+rn gS;f /x]sf 5g\ .
w lhNnf gS;fx¿df sf7df8f},+ nlntk'/ / eQmk'/ lhNnfx¿sf] Pp6} l;6df sf7df8f}+ pkTosf
egL pNn]v 5 .
w uf]vf{, x'Dnf, 8f]Nkf lhNnfsf] b'O{ b'O{ l;t gS;fx? /x]sf 5g\ . -:6s ;dfKt ePsf gS;fx?
cfjZostf cg';f/ kmf]6f]skL ug{ ;lsg]5 kmf]6f]skL b:t'/ k|lt l;6 ? %).– nfUg]5 .

13
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Study of the Ocean Mesosacle Features Using

Sea Surface Temperature (SST): A case Study
of Gulf Stream
Nawaraj Shrestha
Kathmandu University
Department of Civil and Geomatics Engineering

Abstract

Mesoscale features are the instabilities present in the ocean. These play important role in maintaining
climate, energy balance and nutrients cycling within ocean and the atmosphere. Sea surface temperature
(SST) is an important parameter that is estimated by the remote sensors in the study of the mesoscale
features like eddies, fronts, meanders and upwelling. The sensors use infrared and microwave radiation
to determine SST and helps in understanding the ocean process and changes. The present study focuses
on the study of Gulf Stream mesoscale features using the remotely sensed satellite data.

Introduction

Sea surface temperature (SST) is a function of the sensors are invariant to cloud but have low spatial
radiation emitted by the water which depends on resolution (50Km) and are affected by heavy
the temperature of the ocean. Depending upon the precipitation. The most widely used infrared remote
depth and instrument used for measurement, SST sensors are the Advanced Very High Resolution
can be from the skin (SSTskin), subskin (SSTsubskin) Radiometer (AVHRR), Moderate Resolution Imaging
and any depth (SSTdepth). The temperature sensors Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Advanced Along track
fitted in the buyos, ships gives the SSTdepth while scanning Radiometer(AATSR) and Advanced
the microwave radiometers on ship can be used for Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observation
measuring SSTskin. The satellites measure the Satellite(AMSRE_E), Tropical rainfall measuring
SSTskin at 10-13 µm infrared wavebands emitted mission(TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) abroad
by water to measure the temperature. The variation (Guan and Kawamura2003). The geostationary
of the temperature of the ocean with presence of satellites have high temporal resolution of 30 minute
different features makes it possible to detect with and can have diurnal SST data but the problems
SST by satellites sensors. Mesoscale features are are the detection of mesoscale features with its low
the structures that follow distinct pattern in oceans spatial resolution. There are also different ground
can be represented by the use of SST gradients. based methods that measures SST with the help
Besides temperatures various factors like baroclinic of buoy, ships that carries instrument to measure
and barotropic instabilities, wind forcing and the SSTdepth temperature. However these methods
topographic interaction also aids in the formation covers relatively small area and are point based
of those features (Robinson 1994). These features measurements. The SST from space borne sensors
are important because they maintain and help to is important in measuring the mesoscale features
transport heat, momentum and nutrients within because of the high spatial and temporal resolution,
and between the ocean and atmosphere. The regular sampling capacity and synoptic view of the
measured data usability of the features however ocean.
depends upon the sensor characteristics and their
accuracy. Gulf Stream is a western boundary current that
originates from the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
SST measurement by remote sensing can be grouped It is a strong, warm and swift current characterized
into thermal and microwave remote sensors. The by high velocity and volume of flow that exert a
thermal infrared sensors have spatial resolution of considerable influence in the dynamics of the ocean
1Km for detecting the micro and mesoscale features basin because of the amount of water and the
(0.3K-0.7K of rmse) but are affected by clouds, evaporation of the warm water that they carry.
aerosols and atmospheric vapour. The microwave

14
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

a northern part that crosses Europe and a southern

part that moves towards West Africa as seen in
Figure 1. As the stream extends north it forms
clockwise warm core ring with water from Saragossa
Sea that can be traced for several months, and in
south it forms anticlockwise rotating cold core ring
that are engulfed by the cold water of Atlantic
ocean(http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/oceancolor/tu
torials/module1.shtml). In the figure the splitting
of the Gulf Stream is visible at around 380N, 600W
at the downstream of Cape Hatteras. The image
also shows Gulf Stream mesoscale features like
eddies, front and meanders.

Oceanic fronts are relative narrow zone of horizontal

gradients that separate the border area of different
vertical structures. These fronts exhibit large
variability over time scales from daily to inter-annul
due to the instabilities in the ocean (Robinson 1994).
SST can be used to find the narrow horizontal
Figure 1: MODIS/aqua 8 days SST level 3 composite gradient that separates the two distinct layers of
image showing Gulf Stream features in May 2007. waters. The Gulf Stream itself is a large-scale front
that separates the cooler continental and warmer
Sargasso water where warm water of the stream
creates the temperature gradient that separates
water with different water temperature and moves
relative to each other in horizontal direction
(Robinson 1994). Various methods can be applied
to detect the fronts in images. The most common
method is the edge detection method. The figure
2 shows the oceanic fronts according the
temperature gradient represented by different
colour. The front separating the cooler coastal water
from the warmer water near Cape Hatteras is
represented by dark blue colour. There are four
different water fronts north of the Gulf Stream
which are distinct as shown by the colour at different
temperatures. In the above figure The Gulf Stream
is shown as orange colour (260C) acts as front
separating the cold Atlantic water represented by
green colour (18-200C). The instabilities of front
in some lead development of meanders.
Figure 2: The initial stage of the Gulf Stream showing
the fronts represented by different colours at varying The Gulf Stream meanders show a wavelike lateral
temperature. movement pattern along its path. The wavelength
and the propagation speed changes as it moves
The Gulf Stream can be divided into three major from the Gulf of Mexico to Atlantic Ocean particularly
sections, the loop current zone that originate from at Cape Hatteras where it enters the open ocean.
the Gulf of Mexico with narrow, linear and directed The downstream propagation rate decreases from
flow of water, the transition zone where it turns 45Kmday-1 with wave length of 180Km to about
into Atlantic Ocean with increasing velocity and 14 Kmday-1 and wavelength of 500Km (Tracey
double in size, and the open sea zone where energy and Watts 1986). The meanders form generally at
dissipates. The initial stage is characterized by the east of 750W (Mau et al 1978). In the figure 3 it
coastal interaction resulting in number of eddies can be seen that the meanders are formed at 380N
and ocean fronts that are permanent in nature 57 0 S which is east of 75 0 W. The meander
while the open sea stage is characterized by the deformation produce isolated eddies as in the case
formation of the rings. The Gulf Steam splits into of Gulf Stream.

15
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

In the figure the meanders pinching can be seen

at 370N, 680W and the cold core eddies is seen in
380N 570S. The temperature can be predicted to
be 18-200C at the core of the circular eddy which
is about 100C cooler than the surrounding water.
The average life of these type of eddies are generally
more than six months with higher life span of the
warm core eddies than those of cold core eddies
(Lai and Richardson1975). In the figure it can also
be seen the small scale eddies at the right side of
stream near North Carolina.

Besides the expert judgment and manual detection

of the mesoscale features, there are models that
have been designed to detect the features
automatically. These models basically uses two
Figure 3: The meanders and the circular eddies approaches: matching the thermal gradient maps
formed in Gulf Stream. This is a MODIS 8 days SST with analytical description of the target structure
composite at year 2006 May provided by NASA and generating artificial neural networks to train
ESIP tool the algorithms based on approximate matching and
parallel distribution of process information (Castellani
Eddies are the mesoscale features that are formed 2006).
by baroclinic instability, topographic generation and
wind forcing (Robinson 1994). Eddies identification Conclusion:
is based on detecting borders delimited by strong The instabilities in ocean cause variation in
horizontal thermal gradients in relation to their temperature, which is sensed by sensors to detect,
adjacent waters. The change in gradient is however monitor and map the mesoscale features. The
dependent on the intensity and stage of the eddy clouds and atmospheric effects that affect the
formation. The Gulf Stream shows different pattern measurement of SST can be reduced by combining
of eddies along its course and the most prominent SST data from various sensors and ground based
are the circular eddies with warm or sold cores. measurements for the better measurement. The
These eddies are formed due to the development SST data of Gulf Stream showed the variation in
of the meander in the Gulf Stream that increases the spatial and temporal pattern of eddies, fronts
in size and pinches off. If the pinch off takes place and meanders that can be identified, monitored
to the northern hemisphere it is the warm core and predicted with the analysis of the gradient of
eddies and if to the right of the stream it is the cold SST variation.
core eddies that moves towards Mid-Atlantic water.

References:
1. Castellani, M. 2006, ‘Identification of eddies from sea surface temperature maps with neural
networks’, International Journal of Remote Sensing vol.27, no. 8 pp. 1601-1618.
2. Guan, L. and Kawamura, H. 2003, ‘SST Availabilities of Satellite Infrared and Microwave Measurements’,
Journal of Oceanography vol. 59, pp. 201-209.
3. Science focus- Classic CZC Scenes, Chapter 6: The Gulf Stream (Western Boundary Current) [online]
Available: http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/oceancolor/classic_scenes/06_classics_boundary.shtml
[Accessed 2008, November 20].
4. Lai, D. Y., and Richardson, P. L. 1977, ‘ Distribution and movement of Gulf Stream rings’, Journal
of Physical Oceanography v0l. 7, pp. 670-683.
5. Maul, G. A., Witt, P. W., Yanaway, A. and Baig, S. R. 1978, ‘Geostationary satellite observations of
Gulf Stream meanders: Infrared measurements and time series analysis’, Journal of Geophysical
Research vol. 83, pp. 6123-6135.
6. Robinson, I.S. 1994, ‘Satellite Oceanography: An introduction for the oceanographers and remote-
sensing Scientists’, John Wiley and Sons, England.
7. Tracey, K.L and Watts, D.R. 1986, ‘On Gulf Stream Meander Characteristics Near Cape Hatteras’,
Journal of Geophysical Research vol.91, no.c6, pp. 7587-7602.

16
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Planetary mapping
Punya Prashad Oli
Survey Consultant, Lecturer in Astronomy
Himalayan College of Geomatic Engineering and
Land Resources Management,
Former DG, Survey Department.
Email: [email protected]

Abstract
Many countries are planning or sending manned or unmanned spacecrafts or probes outsides
the earth. They have/are being developed GNSS and deep space networks to fix the position
of and communicate with satellites and other objects. The rockets, ICT, star tracker /astro-fix,
inertial measurement system and sensors, remote sensing and other systems are developed.
Star tracker, GNSS, IMU, LiDAR, remote sensing and satellite spectroscopy are developed to
acquire the data remotely. The terrestrial surveying and mapping techniques could be miniaturized
for celestial mapping. Various international surveying communities also created commissions
to standardize the data capture, recording and analysis of data of celestial bodies. Therefore,
surveyor should study and participate in these programmes.
Background

Mapping of solid surface of planet, satellite, minor mission flyby or orbiting the celestial bodies. The
planet and other celestial bodies are new areas of detail mapping of bodies is usually carried out by
exploration and mapping. The mapping of the moon sending satellite or probes equipped with the
and mars completed and mercury is under progress. positioning, imaging, altimetry and other
New generation of surveyors will also involve in measurement equipments to the bodies. It can be
mapping of solid crust of celestial bodies beside of an example of present Messenger used for mapping
the earth. The terrestrial planets have solid crusts, of the mercury which briefly describe as publish
the Jovian planets have liquid surface, the sun like materials.
star has gaseous surface and minor planets and
other smaller celestial bodies have frozen gaseous Messenger mission
solid surfaces. Some planets have no atmosphere,
some has opaque and some have transparent MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment,
atmosphere. The mapping involves precise GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored
measurement of orbit of the planet, latitude and scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and
longitude and altitude of the point on the surface, the first space mission designed to orbit and detail
composition of the crust, atmosphere and core as mapping of the planet. The MESSENGER spacecraft
well as situation of gravity, magnetic and effect of launched on August 3, 2004, and entered orbit
solar wind fields. The position of satellite which is about Mercury on March 18, 2011 UTC to begin a
being used to study is required to know accurately yearlong study of the planet.
in relation to the celestial body. The primary science objectives of the mission
include:
Many countries like USA, Russia, EU, China, India
are planning or sending manned or unmanned w determining accurately the surface composition
spacecrafts or probes outsides the earth. They of Mercury
have/are being developed GNSS and deep space w detail mapping of the planet
networks to fix the position of and communicate w characterizing the geological history of the
with satellites. The rockets, ICT, star tracker /astro- planet
fix, inertial measurement system and sensors, w determining the precise strength of the magnetic
remote sensing, other systems are developed in field and its variation with position and altitude
miniature form. w investigating the presence of a liquid outer core
by measuring Mercury's libration
Most of the study of universe is being carried out w determining the nature of the radar reflective
by terrestrial or orbiting telescopes and satellite materials at Mercury’s poles

17
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

w investigating the important volatile species and Scientific instruments

their sources and sinks on and near Mercury.

Information for attitude control is provided by star

trackers, an inertial measurement unit, and six sun
sensors.

Communications

The probe includes two small deep space

transponders for communications with the Deep
Space Network. The high gain antenna is used as
transmit-only at 8.4 GHz, the medium-gain and
low gain antennas transmit at 8.4 GHz and receive
at 7.2 GHz, and all three antennas operate with
right-hand circularly polarized (RHCP) radiation.
One of each of these antennas is mounted on the
front of the probe facing the sun, and one of each
is mounted to the back of the probe facing away
from the sun.

Power MESSENGER Satellite with instruments

The space probe is powered by a two-panel, gallium Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
arsenide/germanium (GaAs/Ge) solar array providing
an average of 450 watts at Mercury. Each panel is Includes two CCD cameras, a narrow-angle camera
rotatable and includes optical solar reflectors to (NAC) and a wide-angle camera (WAC) mounted
balance the temperature of the array. Power is to a pivoting platform. The camera system will
stored in a common-pressure-vessel, 23-ampere- provide a complete map of the surface of Mercury
hour nickel hydrogen battery, with 11 vessels and at a resolution of 250 meters/pixel with 20–50
two cells per vessel. meters/pixel images of regions of geologic interest
during the orbiting phase. Colour imaging is possible
Computer and software only with the narrow-band filter wheel attached to
the wide-angle camera.
The computer system is based on the Integrated It is acquiring of near-global coverage at •'98500-
Electronics Module (IEM), a device which combines meters/pixel and Multi spectral mapping at •'982-
core avionics into a single box. The computer kilometers/pixel during the flyby phase.
features two radiation-hardened IBM RAD6000, a
Radio Science (RS)
25 megahertz main processor and 10 MHz fault
protection processor. For redundancy, the spacecraft
It measures the gravity of Mercury and the state
carries a pair of identical IEM computers. For data
of the planetary core by utilizing the spacecraft
storage, the spacecraft carries two solid-state positioning data to determine the position of the
recorders able to store up to one gigabyte each. spacecraft during both the cruise and orbital phases
The IBM RAD6000 main processor collects, of the mission, observes gravitational perturbations
compresses, and stores data from MESSENGER's from Mercury to investigate the spatial variations
instruments for later playback to Earth. of density within the planet’s interior, and a time-
MESSENGER uses a software suite called SciBox to varying component in Mercury’s gravity to quantify
simulate its orbit and instruments, in order to the amplitude of Mercury’s libration and provide
"choreograph the complicated process of maximizing precise measurements of the range of the
the scientific return from the mission and minimizing MESSENGER spacecraft to the surface of Mercury
conflicts between instrument observations, while for determining proper altitude mapping with the
at the same time meeting all spacecraft constraints MLA.
on pointing, data downlink rates, and onboard data
storage capacity A nadir-looking monochrome global photomosaic
at moderate solar incidence angles (55°–75°) and
250-meters/pixel or better sampling resolution, a

18
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

25°-off-nadir mosaic to complement the nadir- atmosphere surrounding Mercury by measuring

looking mosaic for global stereo mapping, completion ultraviolet light emissions and the prevalence of
of the multispectral mapping begun during the iron and titanium minerals on the surface by
flybys and high-resolution (20–50-meters/pixel) measuring the reflectance of infrared light.
image strips across features representative of major 3.9 Energetic Particle and Plasma Spectrometer
geologic units and structures during Orbital Phase . (EPPS)

Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS) It measures the charged particles in the

magnetosphere around Mercury using an Energetic
It measures gamma-ray emissions from the surface Particle Spectrometer (EPS) and the charged particles
of Mercury to determine the composition by detecting that come from the surface using a Fast Imaging
certain elements (oxygen, silicon, sulphur, iron, Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS).
hydrogen, potassium, thorium, uranium) to a depth
of 10 cm. Control points (Attitude data)

Neutron Spectrometer (NS)

It determines the hydrogen mineral composition to

a depth of 40 cm by detecting low-energy neutrons
that result from the collision of cosmic rays and the
minerals.

X-Ray Spectrometer (XRS)

It maps mineral composition within the top millimeter

of the surface on Mercury by detecting X-ray spectral
lines from magnesium, aluminum, sulphur, calcium,
titanium, and iron, in the 1-10 keV range. LiDAR Survey with GPS in Nepal

Magnetometer (MAG) The control points in terrestrial LiDAR and aerial

mapping works in Nepal, is carried out by using
It measures the magnetic field around Mercury in differential GPS receivers located at one or two first
detail to determine the strength and average position order trig. points and another GPS receiver on
of the field. aircraft / helicopter equipped with LiDAR altimeter,
inertial measurement unit and imaging camera. It
Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) can be similarly used by imaging satellite if they
have reception of sufficient number of GNSS
It provides detailed information regarding the height satellites.
of landforms on the surface of Mercury by detecting
the light of an infrared laser as the light bounces In case of mars mission, four Doppler satellites
off the surface which may be summaries as following: were used in addition to other facilities to fix the
position imaging satellites. Presently star tracker/
Provide a high-precision topographic map of the astro-fix which is instrument to fix its position by
high northern latitude regions. observing stars, inertial measurement unit and
Measure the long-wavelength topographic features sensors are used to determine the instant position
at mid-to-low northern latitudes. of satellite like Messenger satellite. The deep space
Determine topographic profiles across major geologic network which is the network of 3 stationary satellites
features in the northern hemisphere. of the earth stationed separately by USA, Russia,
Detect and quantify the planet’s forced physical EU, China and India, is used for communication
librations by tracking the motion of large-scale and to control the position of satellites.
topographic features as a function of time.
Measure the surface reflectivity of Mercury at the Parameters
MLA operating wavelength of 1,064 nanometers.
The parameters are latitude, longitude and mean
Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition surface / sea level, major and minor axis of celestial
Spectrometer (MASCS) bodies. Mean position of north and south the axis
of rotation is the equator which is origin of latitude
It determines the characteristics of the tenuous and a fix point on the surface is the origin of longitude

19
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

which is decided by International Astronomical Mapping

Union (IAU) and mean surface level (altitude) is Ortho photos and DEM will be generated using
fixed on the basis of starting point of sea like photogrammetric techniques. Vector data will be
depression on the surface. The Major axis (a) and created and annotation will be carried out. The
minor axis (b) will be fixed on the basis of ground features will be classified as agreed internationally
based observations and finalized by the shape of by ICA. The feature names will be assigned as
mean surface level. The map projection generally approved IAU. The feature symbols and
for the globe will be Mollweide projection. classifications will be generally agreed from the
planetary cartography commission of ICA.
Imagery
Resources data
The imagery will be both mono and stereo images The magnetic and gravity field observation, surface
using dual imaging system. The cameras will have and atmospheric compositions of the body will be
narrow and wide angles. The resolution of bodies observed by magnetometer, gravimeter, radio science
will be 250 m to 500 m pixel during the flyby phase and various spectrometers respectively. They will
and the stereo images will taken from the cameras be transmitted to ground station and analyzed by
inclined to the nadir with 250m like resolution during ground based laboratories. These data will provide
orbital phase. Special areas of interest may take at situation of magnetic field and seasonal variations
higher resolution of 25-50m pixel. on the surface, the chemical composition of outer
Opaque celestial bodies like Venus will be imaged crust and the core. It will also provide the
using radar imagery to avoid poor visibility. composition of atmosphere, geology as well as
effects of solar wind, magnetic field on the surface.
Altimetry
Conclusion
The height variation and nature of the surface of The technology is being developed for mapping and
the bodies will be measured from the LiDAR detail study of the surface or crust and composition
altimeters of the altitude is lower than 1500 km. of inner and outer surface of the celestial bodies.
Otherwise, it is measured photogrammetrically. The satellites or probes are being sent by various
Hight of certain points on the bodies will be measured countries. Various surveying communities like ISPRS,
from other techniques and ground based techniques. ICA, IAU, IGA are also created commissions to
The satellite gravety observation will also be carried standardize the data capture, recording and analysis
out, which will assist on determinate of mean surface of data of celestial bodies. Therefore, surveyor
level and composition of the body. should study and participate in these programmes.

References
w Norton Star Atlas,
w Messenger Mission, Wikipedia
w Messenger Mission. NASA, www.nasa.gov

l8lh6n lsQf gfkL ;DjGwL] ;"rgf

gfkL ljefu lsQfgfkL dxfzfvf cGt/utsf gfkL sfof{no jg]kfjf6 jg]kf / w'nLv]n g=kf=df l8lh6n k|ljlwjf6 lsQfgfkL
sfo{ ;kmntf k"j{s eO{/x]sf] ;j{ljbLt} 5 . pQm sfof{non] jg]kf ^ / & g+= j8f hUuf wlg k|df0f k"hf{ ljt/0f ;d]t
ul/;s]sf] ;xif{ hfgsf/L u/fpg rfxG5' .

gfkL ljefujf6 jiff}{ b]lv lsQf gfkLdf k|of]u eO{ /x]sf] u|flkmsn k|ljlwnfO{ lj:yflkt ub}{ hfg] eGg] lg0f{o eO{ cfP cg'¿k
o;} cf=j= jf6 gfkL sfof{no l8NnLjhf/, emfkf, lj/f6gu/, ;nf{xL, k;f{, ¿kGb]xL, sf:sL, jfs], wgu9L, rfjlxn, sn+sL,
eQmk'/ / nlntk'/jf6 qmdz l8lh6n k|ljlw åf/f lsQfgfkL x'g] ePsf]n] ;f] If]qsf hUufwgLx¿ cfkm\gf] hUufsf] l;dfgf
k|i6 ¿k nufO{ gfk gS;f ug{ cfpg] sd{rf/Lx¿nfO{ k|i6 ¿kn] b]vfO{ lbg' eO{ tt\ ;DjGwL k|df0fx¿ ;d]t k]z ug'{ x'g of]
;"rgf k|sflzt ul/Psf] 5 .
dLgejg, sf7df8f}+
lsQfgfkL dxfzfvf kmf]g g+= $^@@%#%, $^@@*#^
km\ofS; M $^@@^)!

20
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

An Approach to Improve Instructional

Method of Training
Rabin K. Sharma
President
Nepal Remote Sensing and Photogrammetric Society
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract

Instructional method of training is one of the very popular techniques of training. In this method instructor
transfers knowledge to the students through lecturing and evaluates their performance by the tests. One
should always try to improve the teaching technique to produce highly skilled human resources. In order
to achieve these, basic needs in training and the basic elements of the training must consider properly.
Human factors also play vital role for producing better products so this paper will enunciate all these
components for improving instructional method of training.

Key Words: Training, Instructor, Class, Basic needs, Basic elements, Human factors.

Introduction So in order to being designing a successful teaching

practice, some basic needs and basis along with
Training is to teach on a particular field to a group the concept on human factors related to teaching
of people who have no knowledge before and to should be considered. However, the instructors
get them to learn on it. The art of giving instructions must contribute for further improving the
to such group is known as teaching by instructional method using her/his experiences and
"Instructional Method". Lecturing in training is skills for producing highly trained and skilled human
a means of communication to transfer knowledge resources.
from an instructor to the students and receiving
response from the students on the subject matter Objective of Training
taught by an instructor. So teaching is a two way
communication system. The instructor delivers The objective of training is to improve behavioral
lectures on a subject and evaluates the level of the change to be effected in knowledge, skills,
attitudes, techniques and experiences. In other
students through the tests. The instructor receives
words, training is to impart new knowledge, develop
response through the test results and the scores
practical skills, influences old attitudes, practice
of the class reflect the quality of teaching as well
new techniques and over all to increase experiences.
as the standard of the class. The current teaching
Obviously experiences can not be taught in
system seems to be exceptionally exam oriented classroom. It is the result of practicing the use of
which enforces established ideas but does not knowledge, skills and techniques over a period of
promote to creation of new ones. This system is time and may be in a number of different situations.
gradually replacing by introducing explorative and These key words are interrelated and should not
problem solving types of exercise to prepare the isolate; otherwise the training will be incomplete.
class for the challenges they will encounter in their
real world. Needs in Training

Training should be conducted in a better teaching- There are two basic needs in training: the instructor
learning environment so that the class should feel and the class. The instructor must have sufficient
an hour long delivery lecture terminates like half knowledge of the subject and proper skills to teach.
an hour. In order to create such environment, Secondly, the class (trainees) must have desire to
instructors should be motivated to teach the class learn. If an instructor does not have adequate
in a balanced way so that theoretical lessons no knowledge on the subject to teach, the instruction
longer dominate practical knowledge but will be useless and it will have negative impact in
complement the skills to overcome the challenges future. On the other hand, the situation will be
the students will face. On the other hand, the worsening if the class has no intention to learn.
students should be self-encouraged to learn and However, in the later case, an experienced instructor
develop skills enabling individual to deal effectively may improve the condition with her/his skills to
with the demands and challenges of everyday life. motivate students for learning.

21
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Basic Elements of Training Management

In order to accomplish a training programme Proper management also plays important role to
successfully, the following basic elements of training motivate instructors as well as students so the
must consider properly. management should arrange the following to
facilitate the instructors and the students:
Aim
w Transportation
The aim of teaching has three stages namely
immediate aim, ultimate aim and final aim.
w Accommodation and provision for refreshment
w Facilities for the production of teaching aids
and documents
w The immediate aim is to deliver lecture of
w Recreational facilities
the lesson in hand and the lesson must be
clear, concise and understood by all the students w Extra Curricular activities
of the class. w Salary or allowances payment
w The ultimate aim is to cover all the topics of
w Collection and distribution of individual mail
a particular subject so that the trainee could
understand the subject and could use the w Internet facilities
knowledge at her/his work place. This can be
achieved by capturing a series of immediate aims. Preparation
w The final aim is to complete the course covering
all the subjects given in the curriculum of the The effectiveness of the lecture(s) depends upon
training programme. This will develop the mind the quality of preparation by the instructor.
and skill of an individual trainee in a methodical Educational philosophy dictates that the teacher
and patient manner over a period of time. must be well prepared before entering the class
even if the lesson is very simple and common. So
Planning although the instructor is a "Master" in the subject,
she/he should not deliver lecture without preparation
Proper planning is a key to success of the training. as this may sometimes adversely affect her/his
The planning consists of the management of the professional reputation. Preparation includes the
following: following:

Facilities: w Finding: Find the content of the lecture as per

The facilities include syllabus, library, study room, the syllabus and collect the reference materials.
training aids and store. A copy of syllabus must be w Knowing: Know the subject matter by studying
issued to the instructor so that she/he knows about the reference materials.
the subject, content and the number of hours she/he w Sifting: Sift the subject matter in such a way
has to teach in the class. She/he needs a library to that the essentials are closely examine
collect all the information relevant to the subject. w Organizing: Organize the subject matter
So a library which should be equipped with reference systematically and logically so that it can be
books and a quiet study room must be provided to deliver in the class effectively. This includes
the instructor. Furthermore, arrangements must the preparation of lesson plan, hands out,
be made to have access on the internet and to presentation slides/ power point, etc.
provide facilities for the production of teaching aids
such as charts, posters, models, power points, etc. Motivation

Class Room: As stated earlier, the students must have a desire

The class room must be in a quiet place and it must or interest to learn. So, if such interests do not
not be disturb by any activity occurring outside the shown by the class the instruction will not be
class room. The design and the layout of the class effective. However, by following some basic rules
must ensure the comfort based on the following so of motivation carefully, it could create interest to
that the trainees could stayed without any strain the class. They are as follows:
or difficulty for watching the activities in the class:
Advertisement: A well laid out programme including
who is taking which subject is displayed in the
w Adequate space for seats and benches
notice board and at places where the students are
w Proper lighting and ventilation hanged out frequently, such advertisement will bind
w Space for writing board, extra boards for charts, to attract attention to them. Furthermore the notices
models, etc. can be made more attractive by adding some catchy
w Provision for over head projector or multi- slogans such as "what is special on this week" or
media projector some pictorial poster, etc.

22
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Realism: The academic approach of conducting w Consider standard of the class

class must be avoided. The lecture should be made Avoid ambiguity
as realistic as possible and the subject matter must
w
w Put question and give time the class to think
be related to things and happening in real life, so
about the answer
wherever possible, use the real thing to demonstrate
w Ask answer from any individual
or give real examples.
w Avoid asking always from a particular student
Competition: If an instructor could create an w Frame the question for the subject matter not
atmosphere for competing each other among for the language ability.
individuals or groups, this will lead to enthusiasm
for learning and consequently there will be better But at the end of the subject it is necessary to take
performance of the students. However, the a final test. Students must be informed well ahead
competition must be friendly, healthy and free from of the dates of the test and try to convince the
biasness. class to prevent 'test fear'. The instructor should
complete examining the answer sheets within a
Variety: Seeking change is a human nature. This reasonable time period and should discuss on the
applies in the teaching field also. So, change of test result soon after the result is published. The
subject matter or a variation in the lecture result of the final test will indicate the quality of
presentation will help the class to avoid being bored, the teaching as well as the standard of the class.
to promote the interest of the class and to accelerate While setting the question paper for conducting the
the learning. So sometime telling a humor, short test, the following criteria should reflect in the
story, current weather condition, etc. will motivate questions:
the class to concentrate on the subject matter. But
they must be natural, effortless and relevant. But, w Easy to understand and no ambiguity
the quality of humor should never be cheap, satirical Comprehensive and cover all aspects of taught
and it should not be introduced frequently.
w
as far as possible
w Easy to mark and assess.
Surprise: One of the most important factors for
w Realistic so that assessment be made to cheek
delivering instructions is to keep the brain of the
the knowledge that can be applied in practice
class active. To do this the instructor should surprise
the class from time to time by allowing them for
Activity
performing some relevant activities such as quiz,
project or experiments without giving prior notice.
The instructions even from a good instructor could
be effective only when if she/he succeeds to keep
Curiosity: It is a natural phenomenon that the the class reasonably engaged by assigning some
person involve in an activity will have curiosity to activities. The activity could be either physical or
know how she/he is progressing. Similarly, the mental depend on the nature of the subject. If the
individual in the class will always trying to know students are allowed to handle physically the
how she/he is doing and will also try to compare equipment related to the subject being taught, the
her/his performance with their other colleagues. students will easily learn the lesson. If the lesson
Therefore, the instructor must tell the progress of is purely theoretical, the instructor could keep the
the class in general and individuals in particular, it class mentally active either by conducting workshop
not only gives a sense of achievement and pride to present findings of their assignment in the class
to the good ones but also serves as a stimulant for or by questioning technique in which the instructor
the weak ones to emulate. permits the class to put questions.
The instructor must regulate the class based on
Evaluation: After delivering certain portion of the following criteria for question and answer:
instructions, it is necessary to assess to which
extent the students have assimilated the knowledge w Adopt a friendly and encouraging attitude and
help to frame the question, if necessary to
and also to provide the students a sense of reframe it.
achievement. So, the instructor should evaluate
the class from time to time to judge the level of
w Repeat the question so that the class can
understand it clearly.
the class so that the instructor enables to evaluate
whether the class requires further training and
w Give chance to answer from the class instead
of answering it by herself/himself.
revision or to proceed further. Method of evaluation
could be different nature such as homework
w Modify the answer if necessary or give correct
answer if the class could not give proper answer
assignments, class tests, oral tests etc. While asking or do not know the answer
questions, the instructor must remember the
following:
w Give a brief general answer if the question is
irrelevant but sincere

23
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

w Be firm and discourage if the question is instructor must convince the class for the possession
irrelevant and not sincere of better identity through her/his behavior. However,
w Never to bluff, if the instructor does not know the instructor should possess the following identity:
the answer but to accept ignorance and give
right answer later. w Stand smiling, make inspiring gestures and
make the ambience of the class most agreeable.
Use of Senses w Be knowledgeable in the subject
w Be simple, straight forward and open to the
The instruction will be effective or will be grasped students.
easily by the class if sense appeal mediums such Pour out ideas with utmost confidence
as the teaching aids and the senses are used. The w
more the mediums are used, the longer the subject w Satisfy every question and dispel every doubt
matter remains in the students mind. It is worthwhile w Avoid creating fear in the class
to mention a Chinese proverb to justify the Avoid habit to distract the class.
importance of using teaching aids and is as follows: w
w Give reference to illustrate an issue
"Tell me and I will forget w Excavate the issue even with an allusion
Show me and I will remember Establish eye contacts with the trainees.
Involve me and I will understand w
Step back and I will act"
Enthusiasm: Enthusiasm is contagious so if the
The mediums could be the following: instructor has great enthusiasm to deliver lecture
it will definitely have a positive impact on the class
w Auditory: Such as tape recorder, radio, etc for listening. At times, the class may demand such
and these aids are appeal through the sense
of hearing instructor for the other subject also, even if the
instructor does not express interest on that subject.
w Visual: Such as charts, model, films, slides,
video, etc. and these aids are appeal through
sight. Voice: Voice is a natural gift so it is difficult to
improve it. However, the instructor should speak
w Muscular: Such as instrument, part of in such a way that it should be heard by the trainee
equipment, etc. which has to be physically
handled by students and appeal through sense sitting in the last bench with the voice loud and
of touch. clear. But it should not be so loud that it causes
auditory discomfort to the students sitting in front
w Organized aids: Such as group work
assignment, demonstration, etc. in which the desk.
students has to involve themselves.
Delivery: Speaking is an art and lecture delivery
Human Factors is a major asset of the teaching. So attention to be
made so that the correct and required information
Human factors in the context of training are the delivered to the student. The instructor must practice
characteristics and attitude of the instructor. So the to use simple language to speak and in a reasonable
training will be more effective, if the instructor has speed so that the student can catch it and emphasis
high moral characteristics and positive attitude must be made for the important words and
towards the teaching and consequently the statements. She/he should try to avoid or minimize
organization could produce better products. The to express meaningless expression such as "You
elements of the characteristics and attitude are See", "I mean", "Right then". If such words are
given below. used, the students will concentrate more on the
words than the lecture.
Characteristics
A good instructor should possess the following Patience: In general, a class consists of students
characteristics: with varying mental caliber and temperaments. So
while dealing with such a heterogeneous group of
Identity: Students start assessing the instructor persons, she/he should never loose temper, show
from the moment before she/he comes in the class signs of disgust and exasperation instead she/he
or before she/he speaks the first word. A good should be considerate, sympathetic and helpful.
presence is a natural asset however even without Otherwise, the class will loose the confidence over
it one can be equally impressive if the instructor is the instructor and the situation will go out of control
well turned out, display good natured, agile and so she/he should deal the class very seriously and
cheerful and be pleasant in the class. So, the patiently,

24
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Firmness: Firm control over the class is essential to the class that she/he is with them to help, teach
to put the class in discipline. This does not mean and guide. Even when checking and correcting the
the strictness or unfriendly, rather it will motivate assignment, the student should feel that they are
the students to maintain discipline or not showing being advised and helped to improve her/his
any tendency to get away from the class. So, weakness and not being criticized for their
firmness will gain respect and even may receive performance.
admiration from the students.
Sarcasm: Sarcasm or cynicism kill warmth and
Mannerism: Mannerism is very much related to friendliness and pollute the atmosphere of the class.
the behavior and habit of a person. So, the instructor A student once belittled will never forgive the
must concentrates on the class and subject she/he instructor and this will result in a loss of confidence
is dealing. She/he should avoid any unpleasant in both ways. So the student will hardly believes
activities (such as playing with a bunch of keys, that the instructor will ever treat better and the
tapping the leg, walking up and down, unknowingly instructor, in most of the cases, will be bias to the
displaying discomfort etc.) which distract the class student in a negative sense.
from what she/he are saying .
Favoritism: Favoritism in a class is a very unhealthy
Attitude of Instructor
attitude for the class. It hurts the student and
creates jealousy. So personal likes and dislikes
The attitude of the instructor determines the level
should be eschewed or at least keep as far behind
of the class. If the class has enthusiasm to learn,
the screen as possible. In the beginning, only the
but the attitude of the instructor is negative then
unfavorable ones do not regard for the instructor,
the students could not receive the instructions as
but in the long run favored one will also loose
expected. Consequently, the class will demand a
respect.
new instructor. A positive attitude of an instructor
is reflected by the several factors and they are as
follows: Familiarity: There is an old proverb that
"Familiarity breeds contempt". So the instructor
Knowledge of the class: The instructor should should maintain the dignity attaching to the position
keep the knowledge of the class such as name of of 'Teacher' and should never let it down from the
each student, their strong and weak points, likes class. This does not mean that the instructor is
and dislikes, etc. Each student has her/his own snobbish, standoffish or self-centered.
individuality and likes to recognize by the teacher.
So if the teacher calls a student by her/his name, Conclusion
it will elicit much better response. Training plays a vital role especially when new
things have to be taught to a group of persons at
Faithful: The instructor must be faithful not only a time. Instructional method is one of the effective
to colleagues but also to the organization. If the methods to educate them in which the instructor
instructor gives speech in derogatory term of any delivers lectures on a topic and the trainees listen
other colleagues or organization it will be self to it. This paper tried to outline the guidelines to
defeating. So, team spirit attitude among instructors be followed by the instructors for achieving
must always be fostered. commendable results from the training. Furthermore,
the instructor must keep in mind that the class
Friendliness: The instructor should not display consists of persons with different background and
superiority, hostile, aggressive or bullying attitude different nature so she/he must deals class carefully
towards the class as a whole or towards an individual and must try to contribute to further improve the
student. The teacher must create an environment methods of teaching.

References

1. Klaus M.V. Keussler; Types of Teaching and Training Methods;

1985
2. Rabin K. Sharma; Human Resource Development Policy in
Space Technology Sector in Nepal, 2004
3. S.K. Parthasarathi: Instructional Method in Training, 1980

25
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Dissecting Web Coverage Service (WCS)

and its Clients
Shashish Maharjan
Kathmandu University
Department of Civil and Geomatics Engineering
Introduction

The phenomenon on the earth is monitored by two portrayed". "Unlike WFS which returns discrete
major scientific communities. They are GIScience geospatial features, the WCS returns coverage
community and Earth Science (ES) community. representing space-varying phenomena that relate
These communities have their own data models a spatio-temporal domain to a (possibly
for representing the same geographic phenomenon. multidimensional) range of properties"(OGC,
GIScience community collects datasets as static 2008).There are three basic operations of WCS that
features with accurate earth location. Information are: GetCapabilities, DescribeCoverage and
related to location as well as time is stored as GetCoverage. GetCapabilities returns XML document
attributes. In ES community, geo-phenomenon are that describes services provided by WCS server
stored as set of parameters that vary as continuous and brief description of coverage. DescribeCoverage
function in 3- dimensional space and time (Domenico allows clients to request detail information of about
et al., 2007). The datasets are stored as available coverages. Server responds with XML
multidimensional array structure and time is stored document that describes services available for
as dimension of the structure. selected coverages. GetCoverage operation is
performed after GetCapabilties and DescribeCoverage
Both communities provide data to the wide range operations. This operation allow spatial, temporal
of users using web services. Two communities have and band subsetting, scaling, reprojection, and final
their own family of protocols. GISciecne community result packaging, including data format encoding.
has OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) for data One GetCoverage operation returns single coverage
access and Catalogue Service for Web (CSW) for at a time that is encoded in a well-known coverage
searching metadata. Likewise ES community has format like HDF-EOS, NITF, and GeoTIFF.
developed set of protocols like OPeNDAP for data
access and Thematic Realtime Environmental Detailed Functional Description
Distributed Data Services (THREDDS) catalogue for
finding datasets. In this article WCS will be discussed The mandatory and optional parameters for each
with its different clients available. operation are discussed below.

Web Coverage Service (WCS) GetCapabilities: GetCapabilities returns an XML

document that describes service and data collections
WCS, one of the standards by OGC, supports from which clients may request coverages.
networked interchange of geospatial data as
"coverage" based on subsetting, scaling and
reprojection. The term coverage is defined by ISO
and OGC as "space varying phenomenon" i.e.
geographic object with some extent whose values
depend on location and time. Clients can choose
portions of information available on server based
on spatial and other constraints similar to Web Map
Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS).
However there are some characteristics of WCS
that make it different from WMS and WFS. "Unlike
the WMS, which portrays spatial data to return
static maps (rendered as pictures by the server),
the WCS provides available data together with their
detailed descriptions; defines a rich syntax for
requests against these data; and returns data with
its original semantics (instead of pictures) which
may be interpreted, extrapolated, etc.-and not just Figure : Basic operations of WCS

26
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

DescribeCoverage: w FORMAT: the format to be used for returning

DescribeCoverage operation returns an XML the coverage.
document that describes one or more coverages
served by WCS. It provides the information for a GetCoverage Response:
client to assess the usability of data and to formulate The response to a valid GetCoverage request is a
Get Coverage requests. coverage extracted from the coverage requested,
with the specified spatial reference system, bounding
DescribeCoverage Response: box, size, value sets, and format.
In response to a Describe Coverage request, WCS
returns XML document whose top-level element is
WCS versions
a Coverage Description containing Coverage Offering
The recent version of WCS is 2.0 announced in
elements for all coverage requested. Coverage
Offering extends Coverage Offering Brief, to provide November 2010. WCS version 2.0 is modified to
additional details on the domain and range of a support GML coverage model. WCS 2.0 supports
coverage offering. Some of mandatory and optional all GML and ISO coverage types. The earlier versions
Coverage Offering elements are: name (Coverage 1.1.0 had functional changes like use of GridCRS
Offering Brief), label (Coverage Offering Brief), in coverage description and requests, hierarchical
supported CRSs, supported Formats etc. The service coverage description. The WCS versions are modified
must support at least one of the following formats: during addition of extensions like processing
w GeoTIFF extensions, transaction operation extension. The
early versions of WCS were 0.5and 0.7 that specifies
w HDF-EOS
operations of WCS.
w DTED
w NITF WCS Clients
w GML WCS Clients are software packages or modules that
are capable of performing basic WCS operations.
GetCoverage: An ideal WCS client is capable of communicating
GetCoverage returns values or properties of regularly with OGC-compliant coverage servers for accessing
spaced locations, bundled in a requested format. multidimensional geospatial data and handling
GetCoverage Request Mandatory: different coverage-encoding formats. Besides
performing basic client-server communication, WCS
w SERVICE: "WCS". clients are capable of accessing, visualizing coverage,
and interacting with the user. The client also provides
w REQUEST: "GetCoverage".
georectification, reprojection, and reformatting
w VERSION: the requested version.
functions. The execution of those functions is
w COVERAGE: the name of the coverage performed according to the requirements of users
requested. The current version supports a
and capabilities of the servers. "The interaction
single coverage request only.
between WCS client and OGC compliant web
w CRS: name of the coordinate reference system
coverage servers provides interoperable,
in which requested domain constraints are
expressed (BBOX). personalized, on-demand data access and services
of remote sensing data"(Di et al., 2002).
w BBOX: minx, miny, maxx, maxy, minz, maxz
Some of the available WCS clients are explained
(minz and maxz are optional).
below.
w TIME: time1, time2, or min/max/res. This is
used to request a subset corresponding to the
specified time instants or intervals. The gvSIG
parameter "res" is optional. gvSIG is desktop GIS application that can handle
w WIDTH, HEIGHT, DEPTH: all integers are used most of the raster and vector data formats. Moreover
for requesting a coverage to be returned with it is capable of capturing, storing, handling, analyzing
a specific grid size, i.e. number of grid points and deploying any kind of referenced geographic
or cells. information. It can access to remote servers using
w RESX, RESY, RESZ: the parameters RESX and OGC complaints specifications WMS, WFS and WCS
RESY define the grid-cell size along the first (gvSIG, 2010).
and second axes of the coordinate reference
system given in RESPONSE_CRS. RESZ is gvSIG supports WCS version 1.0.0 and contains
optional for 3D grids. Either these or WIDTH, WCS client that allows user to access raster data
HEIGHT, and DEPTH are required, but if
and add to geographical view that can be overlapped
interpolation is not supported for the requested
with other information from local or remote data
coverage, both sets of parameters will be
servers. The data can be discovered using embedded
ignored. In that case, BBOX alone will be used
for sub-setting. catalogue service. So user can select data services

27
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

from the catalogue or can provide the URL of the The output coverage file is then written to disk and
service provider. After connecting to the server viewed using suitable software. OWSLib can also
gvSIG receives metadata information. The detail supports Catalogue Service for Web (CSW) and can
information about coverage is given in the next be used to discover metadata information of data
stage. In that stage it provides the list of available providers. Python has libraries to read scientific
coverage data, file format, CRS and interpolation data formats, such as HDF(pyhdf) and netCDF
methods. In addition, temporal subsetting and band (pynetcdf) and it can be combined with OWSLib.
selection is also possible. Users have to select So OWSLib module can be incorporated easily into
appropriate choices from the dialogue boxes before standard-alone desktop or web-based client as
gvSIG executes "GetCoverage" in order to display middleware between software components.
coverage data. It is developed in platform
independent environment using Java and designed GDAL
to be easily extendable. There is provision of GDAL is a translator library for raster geospatial
advanced functionalities like scripting support. This data. It presents a single abstract data model to
allows operations to be performed using external the calling application for all supported formats. It
scripts. also comes with a variety of useful command line
utilities for data translation and processing. It
OWSLib supports over 50 raster formats range of raster
OWSLib is an open source python OGC library that data formats including HDF4, NetCDF and also can
can access remote data sources using WMS, WFS access WMS and WCS servers using GDAL WCS
and WCS specifications. It offers common API for driver. The current driver supports WCS 1.0.0 and
accessing service metadata and wrappers for basic WCS 1.1.0 servers. In addition it provides utilities
WCS operations: GetCapabilities, DescribeCoverage for data translation, image warping, subsetting,
and GetCoverage (Domenico & Lowe, 2009). It and various other common tasks (GDAL, 2010).
supports 1.0.0 and 1.1.0 versions of WCS. The first WCS server is accessed by creating a local service
step is to instantiate a WebCoverageService object description XML file. The file contains the coverage
for a particular WCS service. This will call the server URL, and the name of coverage. There should
"GetCapabilities" method of the server and populate be no spaces or other content before
appropriate python metadata attributes. The several the<WCS_GDAL>element. The example XML file
available coverages are provided. Users can explore is shown below.
more information about a particular coverage (for <WCS_GDAL>
example spatio-temporal extent, available output <ServiceURL>http://laits.gmu.edu /cgi-
formats). bin/NWGISS/NWGISS?
>>> airtemp.timelimits #get the temporal extents \</ServiceURL><CoverageName>AUTUMN.hdf<
[ ’ 2 0 2 4 - 0 1 - 1 5 T 0 0 : 0 0 : 0 0 . 0 ’, ’ 2 0 5 4 - 1 2 - /CoverageName>
15T00:00:00.0’] </WCS_GDAL>
#find out which output formats are supported GDAL can be accessed from various programming
>>> airtemp.supportedFormats platforms like python, c++, perl. It is used by
[’cf-netcdf’, ’GeoTiff’] different open source GIS applications like GRASS,
MapServer, QGIS, and OpenEV as primary data
This calls the DescribeCoverage method on the access engine.
server to retrieve coverage specific metadata.
DescribeCoverage requests can be expensive i.e., Multi-Protocol Geoinformation Client (MPGC):
it can retrieve long list of coverage of different time. Multi-Protocol Geoinformation Client (MPGC) is the
In order to maintain performance the detailed OGC compliant multi-purpose client that can access
metadata is only retrieved from the server if it is geospatial data using WCS, WFS, WMS and Web
specifically requested by the client. By using the Registry specifications. MPGC supports WCS 0.5
information gained during "DescribeCoverage", a and 0.7 versions. MPGC can handle range of datasets
GetCoverage request is formulated and sent to the like HDF, GeoTiff, GML, JPG, PNG, and GIF. Besides
server. accessing subset of multi-dimensional data in
different formats, it has functionalities like
output=wcs.getCoverage(identifier=’AirTemperat reprojection, resampling, reformatting, subsetting
ure’, and visualization as well as analysis of multi-
time=[’2024-01-15T00:00:00.0’], bbox=(- dimensional data (MPGC, 2005). MPGC is equipped
80,30,50,60), format=’cf-netcdf’) with Catalog Service for Web (CSW) specification
>>> f=open(’test.nc’, ’wb’) so that services can be discovered and registered.
>>> f.write(output.read()) The server URL can also be taken as input from
>>> f.close() users. The list of coverage data is derived from

28
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

"GetCapabilities" and other attributes for each data w Interpolation

like bbox, range set, resolution, and spatial reference w Spatial subset
system, are derived from the "DescribeCoverage" w Temporal subset
response. On the basis of these information user w WCS version support
can select particular coverage data. After choosing w Format of GetCoverages
data, users can subset coverage data in spatial, w Extensibility
temporal, resolution/size and range dimensions. w Integration into client server architecture.
Then "GetCoverage" request is sent on according
w Metadata/ Catalogue support
to setting made by user and coverage is retrieved.
w OPENDAP/THREDDS support
The MPGC is a standard alone thick client based on
Java platform. It uses the HDF Java Native Conclusion
Interfaces, which calls the HDF library.
Most of the WCS clients support the mandatory
Gaia functions of the WCS and also provides support for
Gaia is an open-geospatial viewer that can access most of the raster formats like NetCDF and GeoTIFF.
multiple geospatial sources such as OGC WMS, The possibility of integration into system as
WCS and WFS, commercial services such as middleware to access WCS server was also
Microsoft Bing Maps, OpenStreetMap and Yahoo! examined. The advanced functionality of using
Maps. This client supports various file formats scripting language can enable the client program
including ESRI Shapefiles, Google EarthKML/KMZ, to act as middleware. gvSIG has scripting
DXF, MIF, Geography Markup Language (GML) and functionality with jython. Similarly OWSLib and
GML for Simple Features (GMLsf)(Gaia, 2010). GDAL can be used with programming languages.
Gaia supports accessing WCS server versions 1.0.0,
1.1.0 and 1.1.1. The list of WCS servers is provided Large volume of earth observation data are provided
that can be added and updated. Once a server is in the internet using OPeNDAP standard but only
chosen, different available coverage are extracted. few data servers have adopted WCS standards. So
it would be better if WCS client can also access
The required coverage can be selected and added
data servers implemented using OPeNDAP standards.
as layer after inspecting provided preview and short
The WCS clients are unableto connect OPeNDAP
information. There is provision of spatial subsetting
servers. Nevertheless python module named Pydap
using parameters but time subsetting is not possible
can be used to access OPeNDAP. OWSLib module
in the current version. It supports GeoTIFF and supports the latest version of WCS, can connect
NetCDF file formats. with CSWservers, and has possibility to use as
middleware. It can be used along with other python
The comparison between different WCS clients is modules that can connect with OPeNDAP server.
shown in following table. The criteria for choosing So OWSLib is most appropriate WCS client.
best WCS clients are:

Table : Comparison between different WCS client applications.

OWSLib gvSLG GDAL Gaia MPGC
Interpolation Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Spatial Subset Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Temporal Subset Yes Yes Yes No Yes
WCS version support 1.0.0,1.1.0 1.0.0 1.0.0,1.1.0 1.0.0,1.1.0, 0.5,0.7
.1.1.1
Format of Get GeoTIFF, HDF, Geo TIFF Most of the GeoTIFF Net Geo TIFF,
coverages Net CDF raster CDF HDF,
formats NetCDF
Extensibility Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Integration into client Yes Yes Yes No -
server architecture
Metadata/Catalogue Yes Yes No No Yes
support
OPeNDAP/THREDDS No No No No No

29
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

References
Di, L., Yang, W., Deng, M., Deng, D., & McDonald, K. (2002). Interoperable access of
remote sensing data through NWGISS. In Geoscience and remote sensing symposium,
2002. IGARSS’02. 2002 IEEE international (Vol. 1, pp. 255–257).
Domenico, B., Caron, J., Davis, E., Nativi, S., & Bigagli, L. (2007). GALEON: standards-
based web services for interoperability among Earth sciences data systems. In Geoscience
and remote sensing symposium, 2006. igarss 2006. ieee international conference on
(pp. 313–316).
Gaia. (2010). Gaia Geospatial Platform. http://www.thecarbonproject.com/gaia.php/.
(Accessed date: 2010.10.12)
GDAL. (2010). Geospatial Data Abstraction Library. http://www.gdal.org/. (Accessed
date: 2010.10.27)
gvSIG. (2010). gvsig. http://www.gvsig.org/. (Accessed date: 2010.10.25)
MPGC. (2005). Multi-Protocol Geoinformation Client. http://geobrain.laits.gmu.edu/mpgc/.
(Accessed date: 2010.09.12)
OGC. (2008). Web Coverage Service(WCS) implementation standard, version 1.1.2,
OGC (No.07-067r5).

SHINE ENGINEERING CONSULTANICES (SEC) Pvt. Ltd.

New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, Nepal

We Provide:
• Survey and designing of Infrastructure
related to road, buildings, hydropower,
water supply, irrigation, topography
• Geological survey, Layout and
mapping
• Survey and preparation of Land use
zoning map, Land Capability survey
map
• Geodatabase preparation
• Design of BTS and other
PENTAX communication tower
SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS • And all engineering works

TENCATE Contact No:

Geosynthetics Tel/Fax: 016227904
materials that make a difference 9751010028
9841547822
Email: [email protected]
BAGMATI ENTERPRISES
EXPORTER, IMPORTER & COMMISSION AGENT Mr. Bikash Wagle Mr. Prabin Thapa
Raut Niwas Managing Director Director
P.O. Box : 26350 Tel : 4260889, 4255762, 4261912
336/16 Tripurapath fax : 977-1-420633 Civil/Geomatics Engineer Civil Engineer
Tripureswor, Kathmandu Nepal Email : [email protected]

30
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Land Cover Change and Urban Settlement

Extraction in Kathmandu Valley using Remote
Sensing: A Proposition
Shital Dhakal
Geomatics Engineering-2008, Kathmandu University, Nepal
Erasmus Mundus Exchange Scholar, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France
[email protected]

Introduction ran from 1972 to 1993 and had four spectral channel
covering the green, red, and (2) near infrared
People migrating to urban area in search of channels. The spatial resolution was 57 or 60
opportunities and facilities is not a new phenomenon. meters. The Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) mission
Throughout history, the increasing in urban began in the mid-80’s and Landsat 5 is still in
settlement has been occurring as a default process. operation. This sensor features seven spectral
But with the enhancement in transportation and channels at 30 meters spatial resolution. The Landsat
communication facilities in the modern age, and 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) mission began
with the improvement in people’s lifestyle filled with in 1999 and is still operational. It features the same
aspirations of progress and better quality of life, spectral channels as the TM sensor, with the addition
the rapid swelling in urban areas has been historic. of a second thermal channel and a 15 meter
Urban spatial areas have expanded in an accelerated panchromatic channel. On May 31, 2003 the ETM
speed during the last five decades, and rates of scan line corrector failed and ETM images since
urban population growth are higher than the overall that time are missing large portions each scene.
growth in most countries because urban areas are On USGS sites these images are designated as SLC-
the locus of economic activity and transportation Off and use of these images is generally not
nodes (Masek et al., 2000). recommended.

A modern nation must have all means and resources There are many sites that can be used to locate
to regulate, analyze and monitor the booming and obtain Landsat satellite imagery. Three
urbanization settlement in its cities. A planned recommended sites are GLOVIS and Earth Explorer
record and know-how of inhabited area not only by the USGS and the Global Land Cover Facility
helps in planned settlement but also in emergency (GLCF) at the University of Maryland. The most
planning, hazard mapping and disaster management. complete collection of Landsat data can be found
Remote Sensing with all of its means and resources at two USGS sites; GLOVIS and EarthExplorer. A
has become a valuable tool for this kind of broad collection of Landsat data spanning the entire
assessments. The following text deals with the ways time of the program, beginning in the early 1970’s
of extracting urban settlement area from Landsat can be found. The user interface and download
images and then moves to classification of the land processes are a bit different for each site. There
cover changes. This proposition can be adopted are several international sources of Landsat images
with minor rectifications for the above assessment. which typically charge $1,000 or more per scene.
The primary area of interest here is Kathmandu More information about each is listed below:
Valley, the capital city of Nepal. Use of the output
and applicability can be widespread, discussion of w GLOVIS - http://glovis.usgs.gov/
which is beyond the scope of this paper. w Earth Explorer- http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
w GLCF-http: http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/
Obtaining Satellite Imagery
A. Land Cover Change:
Landsat is a mid-resolution satellite affording imagery The classification of the downloaded image
with synoptic view yet detailed enough to can be done through following ways:
characterize the human scale processes, e.g.: urban
growth. There are three sensors used in the Landsat w Supervised Classification
program. The Multi Spectral Scanner (MSS) mission w Unsupervised Classification

31
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Unsupervised Classification classes) of interest. These samples are referred to

as training areas. The selection of appropriate
Unsupervised Classification is a technique for training areas is based on the analyst's familiarity
classifying land cover features in a digital image. with the geographical area and their knowledge of
In the unsupervised approach, the dominant spectral the actual surface cover types present in the image.
response patterns that occur within an image Thus, the analyst is "supervising" the categorization
are extracted and the desired information classes of a set of specific classes.
are identified through collection of ground data
i.e. by visits to the site in the image. The training sites for the Kathmandu Valley can be
developed based on following classes:
In popular remote sensing software like ENVI,
Unsupervised Classification is provided by way of w Green Vegetation
two modules named IsoDATA and k-means. w Urban built up
w Roads
IsoDATA w Water body
w Free Space
The Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique
(IsoDATA) is a widely used clustering algorithm The classified image can then be imported to GIS
which makes a large number of passes through the software for mapping purpose.
remote sensing dataset. It uses the minimum
spectral distance formula to form clusters. ISODATA B. Extraction of Urban Feature:
begins with either arbitrary cluster means or means
of an existing signature set, and each time the An urban area is a complex ecosystem composed
clustering repeats, the means of these clusters are of heterogeneous materials. Nevertheless, there
shifted. The new cluster means are used for the are still some generalizing components among these
next iteration. The ISODATA utility repeats the materials. Ridd (1995) divided the urban ecosystem
clustering of the image until either a maximum into three components, i.e., impervious surface
number of iterations have been performed, or a material, green vegetation, and exposed soil while
maximum percentage of unchanged pixels have ignoring water surfaces. However, the open water
been reached between two iterations. For our is an important component of the urban surface
purpose IsoDATA can be used with 20 iteration to and has to be taken into consideration Xu (2007).
obtain the result. Hence while extracting features from Kathmandu
Valley, the urban land-use can be grouped into the
K-Means three generalized categories, i.e. built-up land,
vegetation, and open water. Based on these three
K- means is one amongst the numerous clustering elements, three indices, NDBI, SAVI, and MNDWI,
algorithm, that accepts from the analyst the can be selected in this study to represent above
number of clusters to be located in the data. The three major land-use classes, respectively.
algorithm then arbitrarily “seeds” or locates,
that number of clusters centers in the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI):
multidimensional measurement space. Each pixel Though Normalized Differential Vegetation Index
in the image is then assigned to the cluster whose (NDVI) is widely being adopted in the remote
arbitrary mean vector is closest. After all pixels sensing of vegetation, some study suggest to employ
have been classified in this manner, revised mean SAVI to highlight vegetation features due to its
vectors for each of the clusters are computed. The advantage over NDVI when applied in an area with
revised means are then used as the basis to reclassify low plant cover such as the urban areas. SAVI can
the image data. The procedure continues until there work in the area with plant cover as low as 15
is no significant change in the location of class mean percent, while NDVI can only work effectively in
vectors between successive iterations of the the area with plant cover above 30 percent (Ray,
algorithm. Once this point is reached, the analyst 1994).
determines the land cover identity of each spectral
class. The SAVI is calculated using the following equation
(Huete, 1988):
Supervised Classification
(NIR - Red) (1 + l)
In a supervised classification, the analyst identifies
SAVI =
in the imagery homogeneous representative samples
of the different surface cover types (information
NIR + Red + l
32
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

where l is a correction factor ranging from 0 for The images obtained from the three indices can be
very high densities to 1 for very low densities. A treated as three bands in new image data set which
value of 0.5 can be adopted for our purpose. can undergo supervised classification using
maximum likelihood algorithm for extraction of built
Modified Normalized Difference Water Index up land features.
(MNDWI)
Accuracy Assessment
McFeeters (1996) proposed the Normalized
Difference Water Index (NDWI) to delineate open Packages like ENVI can calculate a confusion matrix
water features, which is expressed as follows: (contingency matrix) using either a ground truth
image or using ground truth regions of interest
GREEN - NIR (ROIs). In each case, an overall accuracy, producer
NDWI = and user accuracies, kappa coefficient, confusion
GREEN + NIR matrix, and errors of commission and omission are
reported.
where GREEN is a green band such as TM2, and
NIR is a near infrared band such as TM4. Here, we can use the test site ROIs that we collect
Xu (2005) modified the NDWI by using a middle in the above step to assess the classification
infrared (MIR) band such as TM5 to substitute the accuracy.
NIR band in the NDWI. The modified NDWI (MNDWI)
is expressed as follows: Conclusion

GREEN - MIR Knowledge of land use, land cover and extraction

MNDWI = of built-up features is important for many planning
GREEN + MIR and management activities. With rapid urbanization,
it has become difficult to keep a track of changing
Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI): land use and constructed features. However, the
The built-up land image can be produced using the use of Remote Sensing can ease the process to a
NDBI of Zha et al. (2003) with the following great extent and produce a highly accurate output.
equation: The methodology mentioned above can be adopted,
MIR - MIR keeping some spaces for correction, in and around
NDBI = Kathmandu Valley for various planning, and disaster
MIR + MIR management activities.

References:
Masek, J.G., F.E. Lindsay, and S.N. Goward, 2000. Dynamics of urban growth in the Washington DC
metropolitan area, 1973–1996, from Landsat observations, International Journal of Remote Sensing,
21(18):3473–3486
Ridd, M.K., 1995. Exploring a VIS (vegetation-impervious surface-soil) model for urban ecosystem
analysis through remote sensing: Comparative anatomy for cities, International Journal of Remote
Sensing, 16(12):2165–2185.
Xu, H.,2007. Extraction of Urban Built-up Land Features from Landsat Imagery Using a Thematic-
oriented Index Combination Technique. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing,73 (12):1381-
1391
Xu, H., 2005. A study on information extraction of water body with the Modified Normalized Difference
Water Index (MNDWI), Journal of Remote Sensing, 9(5):511–517.
Zha, Y., J. Gao, and S. Ni, 2003. Use of normalized difference built-up index in automatically mapping
urban areas from TM imagery,International Journal of Remote Sensing, 24(3):583–594.
McFeeters, S.K., 1996. The use of normalized difference water index (NDWI) in the delineation of
open water features, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 17(7):1425–1432.
Huete, A.R., 1988. A soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), Remote Sensing of Environment,
25(3):295–309

33
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Methodology for Assessing the Role of Land

Tenure in Hydropower Development
Subash Ghimire
Faculty, Kathmandu University, School of Engineering, Department of Civil and Geomatics Engineering.
[email protected]

ABSTRACT
An assessment framework is required to assess how issues related to land tenure and property rights are
impacting the success of hydropower development. It is difficult to find the methodologies to assess the
role of land tenure in hydropower development. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to develop
an assessment framework for assessing the role of land tenure in hydropower development. The desk
study is followed by the literature review and is started with critical reviewing of scientific literature in
the land tenure in hydropower development. Based on the scope of an assessment, various aspects;
elements are identified for an assessment. Scope in an assessment is the evaluation areas that provide
reference for the assessment framework. The aspects are the breakdown of these evaluation areas. The
elements are the smaller units of aspects for an assessment. Based on these elements strategies are
developed by strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) analyses. The strategies are the way
to achieve the objective and indicators are measurable variables such as types, number of stages,
percentage of respondents etc. and are developed based on the strategies. It is found that good practices
criteria are optimal performance of indicator. Finally, the reveals that an assessment framework is important
because it provides guidelines and determines the aspects that should be focused in an assessment. Good
practices and indicators are the methods for assessing the role of land tenure in hydropower development.

Introduction Methods and Materials

An assessment is the systematic collection, review The desk study is selected for the study. The desk
and use of information for depth understanding study is followed by the literature review. The study
from different sources [1]. Based on this definition is started with critical reviewing of scientific literature
of an assessment, an assessment framework is in the land tenure in hydropower development. The
defined as the conceptual structure for the collection, scientific literature such as journal articles,
review and use of information to guide the study conference papers, books and documents including
for developing an assessment fraework. It is difficult research/project reports are used for the purpose
to find the methodologies to assess the role of land of this research and are mentioned in reference
tenure in hydropower development. Therefore, it section.
is necessary to develop an assessment framework
from scratch for assessing the role of land tenure
Findings
in hydropower development. An assessment
framework is very important to assess how issues
Some cases of an assessment approaches are found
related to land tenure and property rights are
impacting the success of hydropower development. with their specific objective which are discussed as
An assessment framework provides guidelines and follows.
identify the aspects that should be considered in
an assessment [2]. An assessment framework finds Comparative evaluation approach
the aspects that are to be expected and to be
considered during an assessment process [3]. It At first goals are defined and the ways to get that
shows that formulating assessment framework is goal in this approach. One or more qualitative and
essential to include, review and use core aspects. quantitative indicators for each goal are formulated
Land tenure assessment is required for determining and benchmark is developed for each indicator.
the real cause of conflicts and also for the Optimal benchmarks are developed as best practice
implementation of a plan and program to support [5]. The overview of framework for this approach
local communities [4]. The main objective of the study is given in the Table1.
is to prepare the assessment framework for assessing
the role of land tenure in hydropower development.

34
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Goals Indicators Bench mark ( % , yes, no, value ) Source

Indicator 1 for Goal 1 Benchmark 1 Benchmark 2 Best practice 1 Best
Goal 1 Indicator 2 for Goal 1 practice 2
Benchmark 3 Benchmark 4
Goal 2 Indicator 1 for Goal 2 Best practice 3 Best
Indicator 2 for Goal 2 ………. practice 4
………… ……… ……….
Logical framework matrix approach
In this approach, key elements of project are structured in a way to give target input, planned activities,
and expected output and are interconnected logically [6]. It gives the basis for formulation of action plan
and a framework for evaluation. The overview of the logical framework matrix approach is given in the
Table 2.
Table.LFA approach for evaluation by [6]
Intervention logic OVI Mov Assumption
Purpose Purpose OVI Purpose Mov Assumption
Output Output OVI Output MoV Assumption
Activities Input Budget Assumption
Precondition
Good practice criteria approach
This approach of evaluation consider the evaluation area, aspects, indicators and good practice criteria
for the evaluation[7,8]. The overview is shown in the Table 3. For each indicator, good practice criteria
are developed for the evaluation.
Table.Good practice criteria approach by [7,8]
Evaluation Area Aspects Indicators Good Practices
Policy level Relevant Aspects Relevant indicators Good practice for each indicators
Management level Relevant aspects Relevant indicators Good practice for each indicators
………………. …………….. ………………. ……………

Comparison of Evaluation Approaches

An approach followed by [7] involves mainly policy influenced by the idea of [7] and [5]. The Figure
level, management level and operation level as an 1 gives an overview for an assessment of role of
evaluation area. The central elements defined for land tenure for this research. Based on the scope
the evaluation is the integrated form of objective, of an assessment, various aspects; elements are
strategy, outcomes and indicators and result identified for an assessment. Scope in an assessment
evaluation. These elements are correlated with the is the evaluation areas that provide reference for
various evaluation areas whereas LFA approach is the assessment framework. The aspects are the
widely applicable in evaluation of LAS project of breakdown of these evaluation areas. The elements
international donor. Many donors such as World are the smaller units of aspects for an assessment.
Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) request Policies, Governance, Tenure and rights on land,
the application of it in project proposal and reports. Threats and power degree, land acquisition are the
An approach used by [5] for evaluation of national major aspects for assessing the role of land tenure
LAS followed the goal concepts (Table 1). By as reviewed from [4]. External factor and impact
comparing the characteristics of each approach it are also the key aspects for the assessment in Land
is found that no any approach can be perfectly used Administration System [8] . These aspects are
for the assessment of role of land tenure in chosen for the assessment in this research because
hydropower development which considers the these aspects have correlation with the scope of
evaluation areas as the political decision making, hydropower development. The stakeholders’ capacity
planning and feasibility, design, implementation and expectation are the external factors whereas
and operation stage. social and environmental effects and stakeholders’
satisfaction are the impacts. Based on these elements
An assessment framework for the Hydropower strategies are developed by strength, weakness,
development opportunity and threat (SWOT) analyses. The
An assessment framework for this study is more strategies are the way to achieve the objective and

35
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

indicators are measurable variables such as types, and are developed from the literature review.
number of stages, percentage of respondents etc. Indicators and good practice criteria are the methods
and are developed based on the strategies. Good to assess the role of land tenure within the scope.
practices criteria are optimal performance of indicator

Figure.An Assessment Framework

Following scope, aspects and elements are identified for assessment of role of land tenure in hydropower
development [9].
Table .Scope, Aspects and Elements for an assessment

Stages/Scope Aspects Elements

Political decision Policies: Land, hydropower and Policy formulation approach, access to land, equity
making environmental policies in access to land & sustainability
Governance Public participation, access to information &
transparency
Planning and Tenure and rights on land Forms of rights, ownership & Land use
feasibility study
Governance Public participation, access to information &
transparency
External Factors Stakeholders expectation
Design Governance Public participation, access to information &
transparency
External Factor Stakeholders expectation
Implementation Land acquisition Resettlement and compensation
External Factors Stakeholders capacity & stakeholder satisfaction
Governance Public participation, access to information &
transparency
Threats and power degree Land conflicts
Operation Impact Improvement of socioeconomic status and biological
environment & stakeholder satisfaction
Governance Public participation, access to information &
transparency

36
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Strategies, Indicators and Good practice for an threat [6]. The strategies in this study are developed
Assessment by SWOT matrix method because it is easy, flexible
and basic tool in the strategic planning process
SWOT analysis is commonly known for the situation comparing to other methods such as balanced score
analysis within the strategic planning process. The card and strategic grids. The SWOT matrix is
situation analysis is the way of identifying strategic represented in the Table 3.5 and matches external
fit within internal strengths and external opportunities and internal factors.
while working on internal weakness and external
Table.SWOT matrix
Internal Factors Strength Weakness

- Improvement of land tenure security - Manage all types of land required for
by land registration hydropower development.
- Upgrading of Land tenure. - Relocation/Resettlement of the affected
- Improvement livelihood of people people
- Provision for access to information to
affected people.
- Implementation of good practice

External Factors Opportunity Threats

- Public awareness can be increased - Stakeholder's satisfaction

- Right to access land can be increased - Cooperation and coordination with funding
- Equity in access to land agencies
- Identifying various land conflicts
- Sustainable hydropower projects
- Better policy formulation.
- Maintain properly the land records.
Indicators and good practice criteria

The indicators are formulated to develop the household and interview questionnaire for the collection of
data based on the strategies formulated in the Table . Optimal performance of the indicators is defined
as good practice criteria. An assessment of the land tenure in hydropower development on defined indicator
is used to compare to related good practice criteria. The overview of aspects, strategies, indicators and
good practices criteria are shown in the Table 3.7. Indicators and good practice criteria are the basis for
the assessment.
Table 6. Strategies, Indicators and good practice

Strategies/goals Indicators Good Practices

Improve equity in Status of equity of land in project area. Equitable to all.
access to land
Provide access to land. Number and ways of access to land All should have access to land and
Policy

ways are based on the existing

ground condition.
Support sustainability Kinds of social, environmental and Socially, environmentally and
economic impact by the project. economically feasible.
Follow better policy Types of land policy formulation Policy formulation is based on
formulation approach approach bottom up approach to incorporate
interest of affected families
Manage all ownership Types of ownership and use rights in Ownership /use of land is based
and use rights. the project area. on the existing ground condition.
Support tenure Status of land registration certificate All rights are registered
upgrading. issued.

37
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Strategies/goals Indicators Good Practices

Improve land tenure Status of legally recognized land rights.
Tenure & right

security.
Support land Transactions status before and after Transaction status is improved.
registration and land implementation of the project.
market system.
Increase Public Stakeholder involved in awareness All stakeholders are participated
awareness program. in awareness program
Improve public - Benefits of participation - Participation and benefits is
participation level - Number of participation stage and ensured
respondents. - The stakeholders’ interest is
well addressed in each stage of
participation
Governance

Provide information for - Access to information for affected - Access to information is easier
affected people people. for these people
- Source of dissemination of information. - More source is used for
dissemination
Involve local Types of people getting information All stakeholders are timely and
stakeholders and easily. sufficiently informed about the
communities project.
Define role and Ways of involving stakeholders regularly Roles are well defined
responsibility of in the project
stakeholders
Adopt suitable - Types of acquisition and compensation - Method of land acquisition is
Acquisition

acquisition and procedure. commonly accepted in the context.

compensation - Number of affected people - Less people is affected
procedure - valuation procedures - Scientific valuation procedure is
applied
Threats

Identify the various land - Types of land disputes/conflicts in the - Ensure minimum conflict
conflicts project - Mechanism for resolving
- Ways of resolving land conflicts conflicts is available.
External factor

Identify stakeholders - Various types of benefits that can be - Strategies for post construction
expectation Build expected from the projects benefits are available.
stakeholders capacity - Types of employee in the projec - Use of local resources as far as
- Types of training for the affected possible.
families - stakeholders capacity is
- Stakeholder and their role increased

Improve social and - Types of training carried out - Local resource is given a first
Impact

environmental - Number of employed family members. priority. -Affected families

conditions. Measure - Effect on education by the project income level has been improved.
stakeholders satisfaction - Status of access to basic facilities due - Socioeconomic status of the
level to hydropower project in the area. affected families has been
- Types of family structure. improved.
- Satisfaction level in getting - Affected families are satisfied
compensation and implementation of with the procedure.
the project. - Mitigation measures is applied
- Types of mitigation measures

Discussions development. Various approaches such as

Comparative evaluation approach, Logical framework
It is difficult to find the appropriate methodologies matrix approach and Good practice criteria approach
to assess the role of land tenure in hydropower are identified during the study. But no approaches

38
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

are perfectly can be applied for the assessment of that should be focused in an assessment.
role of land tenure in hydropower development. Determining the scope of an assessment is essential
Therefore, this assessment framework to identify the extent up to which it should be
is developed from beginning by reviewing various carried out. Land policies, Land tenure and rights,
literature for assessing the role of land tenure in Governance, threats and power degree, land
hydropower development. This assessment acquisition, external factors and impacts are the
framework is more influenced by combination of key aspects for an assessment. The strategies are
these three approaches. It is no doubt that an developed by SWOT matrix and are used as goals
assessment framework is very important to assess for an assessment which helped to formulate the
how issues related to land tenure and property indicators. Indicators are the key variables which
rights (LTPR) are impacting the success of supports in formulating the questionnaire. A good
hydropower development. An assessment framework practice criterion is an optimal performance of
provides guidelines and identify the scope, aspects, indicators and is the methodology to assess the
elements that should be considered in an role of land tenure in hydropower development.
assessment. Indicators and good practice criteria This assessment framework is developed to assess
are the methods to assess the role of land tenure the role of land tenure based on some literature as
within the scope of the development. Various mentioned in reference section. Further study can
indicators are developed based on the strategies be carried out to validate the strength of this
which can be used to formulate the questionnaire assessment framework.
for the data collection. It is important to be
considered all the aspects and elements (as Acknowledgements
mentioned in Table 4 ) in assessing the role of land
tenure. The author is greatly thankful to Kathmandu
University (KU) and University of Twente, Faculty
Conclusion and Recommendation of Geo Information Science and Earth Observation,
ITC, The Netherlands for their support to carry out
An assessment framework is important because it the study.
provides guidelines and determines the aspects

REFERENCES
1. Palomba, C. A., & Banta, T. W, Assessment Essentials: Planning, Implementing, and
Improving Assessment in Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999. 4.
2. Reijersa, H. A., & Mansarb, S. L. Best practices in business process redesign:an overview
and qualitative evaluation of successful redesign heuristics. The International Journal
of management Science (2004).
3. Crisp, B. R., Anderson, M. R., Orme, J., & Lister, P. G.,Learning and teaching in social
work education: Textbooks and frameworks on assessment (2005).
4. Galudra, G., Sirait, M., Pasya, G., & Fay, C,A Rapid Land Tenure Assessment Manual for
Identifying the Nature of Land Tenure Conflicts (2009).
5. Bandeira, P., Sumpsi, J. M., & Falconi, C, Evaluating land administration systems: a
comparative method with an application to Peru and Honduras (2009).
6. Groenendjik, E. M. C., & Dopheide, E. J. M.,Planning and management Tools (2003)
Enschede, International Institute for geoinformation science and Earth Observation,
ITC.
7. Steudler, D., A Framework for the Evaluation of Land Administration Systems (2004).
The University of Melbourne, Melbourne.
8. Steudler, D., & Williamson, I. P.,Evaluation of National Land Administration System in
Switzerland Case Study Based on a management model(2005).
9. Ghimire,S.Assessing the role of land tenure in hydropower development fpr social and
environmental effects.MSc Thesis.(2011), University of Twente. Faculty of Geoinfomation
Science and Earth Observation,ITC, the Netherlands

39
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

Prefeasibility Study of Mini-Hydropower at

Eastern Part of Sagarmatha Region
Abhishek Manadhar1#, Prashant Ghimire2*, Nishchal Aryal3#, Prof. Dr. Ramesh Kumar Maskey4*#, Anthony Carvalho5+
* Department of Civil and Geomatics Engineering, Kathmandu University
# Center for Excellence in Production and Transportation of Electrical Energy
+ ADAPT Asia Pacific
1 [email protected]
2 [email protected]
3 [email protected]
4 [email protected]

Abstract

Villages of eastern part of Khumjung VDC, Sagarmatha region are deprived of source of electricity except
solar power which seldom fulfils the lowest electricity demand of the region. This study hence is directed
toward the prefeasibility study of hydropower at Imja River situated at Dingboche Village.
The study depicts the possibility of a mini-hydropower of 585 kW from the River at Dingboche Village
with its intake at Bibre Goth, 2 km upstream the River from Dingboche.

Keywords: Mini-Hydropower, Topographic Survey, Imja River

Introduction

Four villages, Dingboche, Chhukkung, Pheriche and Study Area

Lobuche of the Khumjung VDC, Sagarmatha Region The study area is the region of Imja River at
lack any source of renewable energy except solar Dingboche extending up to Bibre Goth, 2 Kilometres
power, which is unable to meet the general demand east to the Dingboche. Dingboche village lies at
eastern part of Khumjung VDC, Sagarmatha Region.
of electricity. The energy demand of the region is
The nearest villages to Dingboche are Pheriche,
mainly for the room heating system and cooking.
Chhukung and Lobuche. There are 6 lodges and
According to Vaidya (2011) the sources of energy
14 residential houses at Chhukung, 21 lodges and
supplies at this regions are kerosene brought from 11 residential houses at Dingboche, 13 lodges and
Kathmandu, fodder collected from a few hours walk 10 residential houses at Pheriche.Most of the people
downhill and cattle dunk which contributes 50%,
30% and 20% respectively. Even with all those
sources, the demand of energy on the peak tourist
season is seldom met. Hence, a sustainable source
of electricity in this region is inevitable in long run.

The Imja River is one of the tributaries of Dudh

Koshi River, flowing through Dingboche village.
There have been previous studies on possibility of
generation of hydro-power from Imja River (Vaidy,
2011) (Allard et al, 2011). People at Dingboche
have even established a company named as
Dingboche Bidhyut Co. and its desk study has called
for a hydropower capacity of 200kW in 2009 (Allard
et al, 2011). Nevertheless, the detailed study
regarding the possibility of hydropower at this area
is inevitable. Hence, this study is directed towards
pre-feasibility study of mini-hydropower plant at
Imja River at Dingboche. FIGURE Study Area

40
 GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

living in this region are associated with tourism and Result and Discussion
hospitality business as this region is regarded as Detailed topographic maps of intake, forebay and
one of the major trekking destination of world.
powerhouse region with control interval of 1m was
Potato and barley are the major agricultural products
prepared. As the control points were derived from
produced here. Very few population practice
cultivation of lettuces, radish and carrots but they national control points of third order, the projection
are limited to household use only. Agricultural system used was Modified UTM projection system
products, produced here seldom last for some with Everest-Bangladesh datum. The forebay
months. (Figure II) and powerhouse (Figure III) lies at
Dingboche Village, just after the end of village at
Field Survey and Analysis East. The Coordinates of the proposed forebay are
A reconnaissance survey of the region resulted on 484056.6544 Easting, 3086537.3073 Northing and
best possible sites for prospective intake, forebay 4470 Elevation above mean sea level and the
and powerhouse. In order to cover the area including proposed powerhouse are 484153.525 Easting,
all the entities of powerhouse, a set of traverse 3086331.416 Northing, and 4336 Elevation above
survey was carried out at Dingboche region. The
mean sea level. The proposed intake region (Figure
traverse loop consisted 11 control points as shown
in Table 1. The traverse loop was referenced to IV) lies at the point near Bibre Goth, 2 km upstream
two national control points of third order established from Dingboche. The coordinates of intake point
by Department of Survey, Nepal. Survey works are 485772.273 Easting, 3086615.104 Northing
were carried out with total station (PENTAX R425v). and 4471 Elevation above mean sea level.

The instrumental error is ± (2 + 2 ppm x D) mm.

The contributions of the weather and personal error
increase the error though. Despite extreme weather
condition, the total error of the traverse loop at
Dingboche retion whose total distance was 4270m
was 8 cm, 35 cm and 25 cm on Easting, Northing
and Elevation respectively, which were adjusted in
respect to the traverse length.

Based on these established control points, detailed

surveys of prospective intake, forebay, and
powerhouse were carried out. The survey included
the recording of the topographic features and points
to depict the general topography. Nevertheless, for
penstock, cross-sections were recorded at chainage
interval of 25 m starting from powerhouse.
Discharges were measured at intake region and tail
race region using salt-dilution method and tracer
method using sulphorodamine G. A power-demand
survey was carried out with the help of Khumbu
Alpine Conservation Council (KACC).

Unfavourable weather condition hampered the work

to some extent which resulted on incomplete survey
of prospective canal.

TABLE Adjusted Traverse Coordinates

SN Easting Northing Elevation
CP1 483959.3810 3086026.0180 4311.097 The discharge of the Imja River at intake region
CP2 483846.4095 3086237.8766 4323.011 and tailrace are 2.72 and 2.85 m3/s respectively.
CP3 484150.5430 3086323.6699 4336.509 Observing the monthly average discharge, medium
CP4 484356.8034 3086386.5077 4340.334 irrigation project methodology (MIP Method)
CP5 484569.2525 3086443.2551 4357.078 suggests the discharge available be used for the
CP6 484858.0591 3086466.0293 4382.920
plant should be 0.6317 m3/s throughout the year.
CP7 485185.1415 3086446.4367 4413.708
CP8 485485.0402 3086594.3599 4459.024 Gross head available for the plant is 135 meters.
CP9 485799.2563 3086657.1855 4482.071 If efficiency of the plant taken 70%, the total power
CP10 485120.1673 3086373.5130 4401.198 generated would be 585 kW.
CP11 484368.0581 3086345.7722 4340.899

41
GeoSpace , Journal of Geomatics Engineering Society, Kathmandu University. 2012 : Vol-1.

A research by Vaidhya (2011) suggested the

maximum power of 400 kW generated from an
intake site around 500 m upstream of Dingboche
and a powerhouse around 1.5 km downstream with energy from the Imja River at Dingboche village
head difference 80m. However, this studies show which could be shared with nearest three villages
with the same distance of canal, more power can namely, Pheriche, Chhukung and Lobuche. The
be generated as more head can be gained. access to clean energy will address the need of
reducing green house gas emission as well raising
As per the demand survey, the average energy adaptability to climate change risk. This study does
demand on the peak hour per household at not take the current geological data into account.
Dingboche, Pheriche, Chhukung and Lobuche counts Hence detail survey with geological analysis is
to 5KW. The total household at those villages suggested for future studies.
excluding Lobuche is 75. If we assume the total Acknowledgement
household to be 100 including Lobuche, the total We would like to thank ADAPT Asia Pacific, ICIMOD,
energy demand on the peak season counts up to Kathmandu University, Prof. Dr. Bhadra Man
500 kW. Driven by the economic activities of this Tuladhar, Prof. Dr. Bhola Thapa, Prof. Dr. Sanjay
region, the households are increasing. Incorporating Nath Khanal, Dr. Rijan Bhakta Kayastha for their
this fact, the energy demand of the region is generous support. We would like to express our
anticipated to increase in future. Hence, in order gratitude to Er. Shankar Lal Baidya, Sagarmatha
to hold the peak demands of energy, a mini-hydro National Park, Khumbu Alpine Conservation Council,
power plant of full capacity (585 kW) is required. Mr. Kapindra Rai and Sagarmatha Pollution Control
Committee, Mr. Chime Kalden Sherpa and Khumbu
Conclusions and recommendation Bijuli Company for providing invaluable supports
The study reveals the potential of 585 kW of electrical and information.

References
1. Allard J., McKinney C. D. (2011) Hydropower Site Study at Imja Lake and
Dingboche Village. http://www.crwr.utexas.edu/online.shtml
2. Vaidhya S. L. (2011), Dingboche Mini-Hydro Recognisance Visit Report.

42
 Advertorial

Scholarship & Tuition are Available

Geomatics Engineering, Batch 2008

ISSN 2091-198X

9 7 7 20 9 1 1 9 8 00 3