29 July - The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) recognises the need to develop people with the relevant geospatial competencies and skills in our drive to support Singapore’s Smart Nation vision. It is partnering various academic institutions to drive the development of geospatial competencies.

SGC2015
2.         As part of SLA’s continuous effort to build geospatial awareness and education from young, SLA collaborated with the Ministry of Education, National Parks Board, Singapore University of Technology and Design, and the private sector such as ESRI Singapore and the OneMaker Group to develop this year’s Singapore Geospatial Challenge (SGC). The SGC, held during the period of June to July, saw strong participation by 270 students from 28 schools, including secondary schools, junior colleges, ITEs, polytechnics and universities, who formed a total of 74 teams. Participants assembled sensors to crowdsource environment data from Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park and Pasir Ris Park for geospatial visualisation and analytics. SGC 2015 provides opportunities for students to explore how sensors and Geospatial Information Science and Technology (GIST) can be used innovatively, to support national efforts in Singapore’s drive towards a Smart Nation.

Singapore Geospatial Scholarship
3.         The Award Ceremony for the Singapore Geospatial Challenge was held at Braddell Heights Community Club on 29 July. Guest-of-Honour, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan presented the award of the Singapore Geospatial Scholarship (SGS) to 18-year old Ms Ng Junju, the first overseas undergraduate for this scholarship. She will be pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Geology at the Imperial College of London. The SGS will allow the recipients to develop a geospatial career with exposure in various public agencies.

NUS Master of Science in Applied Geographic Information Systems
4.         Minister also announced that in August 2016, the National University of Singapore (NUS) will be starting the nation’s first Master of Science in Applied Geographic Information Systems (MSc in Applied GIS), to be hosted in the Department of Geography, NUS.

5.         The programme of MSc in Applied GIS is designed to reflect the cutting-edge technologies and latest developments in GIS and its applications, founded on the reputation of NUS Geography as one of the top 10 geography departments around the world. This innovative programme provides an exciting opportunity for the prospective students to study at NUS, the top university in Asia, as a pathway to a PhD or further practical career in applied GIS or related disciplines. Professionals in both private and public sectors seeking to develop their geospatial expertise will find the programme useful. Professionals in related fields, including but not limited to nature resources management, environment/disaster monitoring and assessment, demographic analysis, public health, utility and facility management, criminal investigation, and business marketing will also benefit from the programme.

NYP Professional Development Course

6.         In September, the School of IT in Nanyang Polytechnic will be running a professional development course that is designed for developers and enthusiasts who would like to develop apps with geospatial capabilities on the Android platform, with plans for the iOS platform in the future. Participants will be introduced to geospatial fundamentals and equipped with skills to perform geospatial analysis and visualization.

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Issued by:
The Singapore Land Authority
29 July 2015

About SLA

Singapore Land Authority (SLA) is a statutory board with the Ministry of Law. Its mission is to optimise land resources for the social and economic development of Singapore. SLA manages some 13,500 hectares of State land and about 5,000 State buildings, which have largely been tenanted out for a variety of uses. It also manages land sales, leases, acquisitions and allocation, developing and marketing land-related information, and maintaining the national land information database through digitised land information services. Being the national land registration authority for property transactions, SLA issues and guarantees land titles in Singapore. It also manages and maintains the national land survey system, where boundaries or legal limits of properties are defined, based on a coordinated cadastre survey system. The use of geospatial information is also spearheaded by SLA through a national collaborative environment where geospatial data, policies and technologies are established and defined, thereby fostering innovation, knowledge and value creation for the Government, enterprises and community.

For more details, visit www.sla.gov.sg or find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SingaporeLandAuthority