Opportunities and threats that the fight against COVID-19 presents for geomatics in Uruguay

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Published: Dec 16, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35424/regeo.161.2020.816
Keywords:
Geomatic tools, dashboards, geolocation, precision of geodata, quality of geographic information

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Maria del Rosario Casanova
Universidad de la República de Uruguay
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1873-207X
Miguel Gavirondo
Land Surveying Institute, University of Engineering
Eduardo Vasquez
Land Surveying Institute, University of Engineering
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4623-0739

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed geomatic tools to be appreciated by the public and by government, both as means of communication and as a relevant instrument to support decision-making.


This is a great opportunity for geomatics, due to its visibility, highlighting the value of its methods, technologies, and tools. On the other hand, this situation exposes certain weaknesses or limitations of geospatial information regarding the potentiality of its use. Some of these are related to the level of disaggregation of the data or to the privacy of citizens, as what happens with the tools of proximity monitoring and with studies about the mobility of people infected.


In this article, using the Uruguayan case, a brief qualitative analysis of these phenomena is made, the advantages and limitations are listed and some opportunities for improvement are outlined.

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How to Cite
Casanova, M. del R., Gavirondo, M., & Vasquez, E. (2020). Opportunities and threats that the fight against COVID-19 presents for geomatics in Uruguay. Revista Geográfica, (161), 29–41. https://doi.org/10.35424/regeo.161.2020.816
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No. 161 (2020): Revista Geográfica
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Author Biographies

Maria del Rosario Casanova, Universidad de la República de Uruguay

Rosario Casanova (Uruguay) is a Land Surveyor Engineer expert in geomatics, geo-technologies and urban planning. She get her degree as Engineer at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of the Republic of Uruguay. He is also a Master in Territorial Planning and Urban Development from the same Faculty of Architecture, and has completed several courses within the framework of the Master in Geomatics at the National University of La Plata, Argentina. He has also taken courses at a Latin American level related to geomatics, land use planning and land policies. He has completed his doctorate in Surveying at the National University of Catamarca, Argentina. She has been Director of the Institute of Surveying of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of the Republic, Uruguay (from 2014 to March 2020) where she has been a professor of Geomatics for more than 25 years. She also works as a online professor for the Program for Latin America and the Caribbeanin of the Lincoln Institute. She has also carried out various research projects related to the land market on slums. She is the chair of the Academic Network for United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for the Americas (UN-GGIM) and has been a consultant to the United Nations Development Program and the Inter-American Development Bank, on issues related to land surveying, land policies and geomatics. He has made several presentations and publications at national and international level.

Miguel Gavirondo, Land Surveying Institute, University of Engineering

Miguel Alejandro Gavirondo Cardozo is a Land Surveying Engineer - UdelaR Uruguay (2003) and Magister in Geomatics candidate -Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
He is Professor 3rd Degre of the Department of Geomatics, Surveying Institute, Faculty of Engineering, UdelaR, Uruguay
He is a Consultant in private sector: GIS (SaaS, tailored and pre-designed applicactions, web, mobile, commercial and open source), Geomatics, Surveying, Cadastre, Laser Scanning
His fields of interest are: Geomatics, Geographic Information Quality Management, GIS, Applications of Geomatics tools to Surveying and Cadastre, Geomatics and GIS Project Management

Eduardo Vasquez, Land Surveying Institute, University of Engineering

Geographer graduated from the Universidad de los Andes (Venezuela) in 2005 and a Master in Geosciences from the Basic Sciences Development Program (PEDECIBA - UDELAR, Uruguay) in 2020. He also has a certification in ArcGIS Desktop from the company esri.

Professional with extensive knowledge and training in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). 3 years of experience in the Agricultural / Government area, at the National Land Institute of Venezuela, where he was the creator of the Situation and Geographical Room of the Regional Land Office of the state of Merida. He also has 7 years of experience in the oil industry PDVSA (Venezuela), where he participated in large-scale projects such as the Orinoco Magna Reserve Project (Quantification and Certification of the largest Crude Oil Reserves in the world) and in Petromacareo, advising and implementing tools high-level technology in the area of ​​GIS, Remote Sensors and Cadastre. Creator of the Geographic Information System of Petromacareo and the Boyacá Block of the Orinoco Oil Belt.

He currently performs functions as a Grade 2 teacher in the Department of Geomatics, attached to the Institute of Surveying at the Faculty of Engineering of UDELAR (Uruguay). Researcher and assistant professor of the course Data Capture by Remote Perception, as well as a specialist in GIS and Remote Sensing at the company ICA, where he provides his services as a consultant for different public and private organizations.

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