27 July 2011 – The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) organized its fourth, Spatial Challenge. This year, 37 teams of students from 18 institutions took part in this annual Geographic Information System (GIS) competition.

2. The teams showcased their efforts at The Plaza, National Library Building on 27 July, marking the culmination of six months of hard work by the students. Guest-Of-Honour, Minister for Foreign Affairs & Minister for Law, Mr. K Shanmugam presented the prizes to the winners at the closing ceremony.

3. This year, SLA introduced a new category for tertiary students – GIS Applications – to encourage students to incorporate spatial concepts with programming expertise to create new and innovative applications. The SLA Spatial Challenge 2011 consists of three group categories – (1) GIS Analysis: Pre-University (Junior Colleges, Millennia Institute, Integrated Programme schools and NUS High School of Mathematics and Science), (2) GIS Analysis: Tertiary (Polytechnic and Universities) and (3) GIS Application: Tertiary (Polytechnic and Universities).

4. The winner in the Pre-University GIS Analysis category is DAT team (Catholic JC). The first and second runners-up are Salmon Concerto (Raffles Institution) and Green Schist (Temasek JC) respectively. The winner in the Tertiary GIS Analysis category is Gold River Rush (National Institute of Education), while the first and second runners-up are The Republicans (Republic Polytechnic) and Handsome Seniors (SMU). The winner in the Tertiary GIS Application category is Viva Studio (Singapore Polytechnic), while the first and second runners-up are 117570 (NUS) and Movement Data Detectives (SMU).

5. Mr. Shanmugam said: “The Spatial Challenge, now in its fourth year, provides the opportunity for students to have a taste of geospatial information science and technology. Students can bring classroom ideas into the field and use geospatial information and technology to devise solutions to practical issues.”

6. Participant, Liu Jun Hua, team member of Viva Studio from Singapore Polytechnic said: “The new category of GIS Applications has given me the opportunity to sharpen my skills in GIS. It has encouraged me to come up with more creative applications and allowed me to incorporate spatial concepts with programming expertise.”

7. The Spatial Challenge competition was first introduced in 2008 with the aim of increasing the awareness of GIS technology among students and encouraging the innovative use of GIS technology in schools. It is supported by the Ministry of Education. Each year, the competition starts in March, with training sessions for both teachers and students conducted by SLA and Esri Singapore, the main sponsor and theworld’s leading GIS software company.

8. The synopsis of the winning projects can be found in Annex A and the list of schools participating can be found at Annex B. Details of the competition can be found in Annex C.

-End-

Issued by:
The Singapore Land Authority
27 July 2011

Attachments:
Annex A: List of winners
Annex B: List of participating schools
Annex C: About SLA Spatial Challenge

About SLA

Singapore Land Authority (SLA) is a statutory board with the Ministry of Law. Its mission is to optimise land resources for the economic and social development of Singapore. SLA is responsible for the direct management of some 14,000 hectares of State land and about 5,000 buildings. It is also in charge of land sales, leases, acquisitions and allocation, developing and marketing land-related information, and maintaining the national land information database through digitised land information services. SLA is also the national land registration authority for property transactions, and the issuance and guarantee of land titles in Singapore. It also manages and maintains the national land survey system, including the defining of boundaries or legal limits of properties based on a coordinated cadastre survey system. For more details, visit www.sla.gov.sg.