THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority yesterday said its newest information technology project will further boost its incident reporting capability and provide accurate information on traffic and flooding situation in the metropolis.
MMDA spokesperson Melissa Carunungan said the Geopatial Portal for Data Collection and Upgrading and Sharing using ArcGIS software will be used to plot and locate incident reports and assets to provide information and improve the agency’s situational awareness.
ArcGIS is a software that creates maps, performs spatial analysis, and manages data and geographic information to allow decision-makers to come up with intelligent and informed decisions.
“One of the deliverables of the project is the creation of an incident reporting and monitoring dashboard, initially for internal MMDA operations usage using the data that Metrobase receives, so mainly main thoroughfares,” Carunungan said.
“It will also help the spread of accurate and current information on the traffic and flooding situation throughout Metro Manila,” she added.
The Metrobase is the MMDA’s 24/7 traffic monitoring center.
Carunungan said the MMDA is not the only beneficiary of the data and information collected but also the 17 local government units in Metro Manila.
“Hopefully, this project will provide all LGUs with information and documentation, such as maps on boundaries of properties. It will enable the LGUs to easily submit data to the MMDA, and they can access the system for information also,” Carunungan said.
She said the project started last December 29, with the MMDA partnering with private firm Geodata, a company that provides geospatial data conversion and migration services, imagery processing services, field data collection, data integration and fusion and analysis services.
In the past, MMDA has invested in a GIS and accumulated data but mostly for limited coverage such as the Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study in 2004, Enhancing the Risk Analysis for Flood, Tropical Cyclone Severe Wind, and Earthquake Hazards for Greater Metro Manila in 2012 and the Enhancing Greater Metro Manila’s Institutional Capacities for Effective Disaster/Climate Risk Management Towards Sustainable Development in 2011.
