American firm partners FG on geospatial data, surveying technology

United States-based advanced surveying and mapping solutions company, Trimble has revealed that it is holding discussion with the Surveyor General of the Federation (SGoF) to build a geodetic control network, which will capture, manage, and analyse high-precision geospatial data.

The company also indicated interest in helping the country to improve land administration system; survey, agriculture and construction, as well as assisting operators overcome their technological problem as their new products come with artificial intelligence.

Report links growth in the land survey equipment market to the rise in trade of survey equipment, developments in the renewable energy sector, and transportation sector, as well as the construction industry, which is attributed to rapid urbanisation in emerging economies of Africa.

The land survey equipment market is estimated to be $7.7 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $9.9 billion by 2026, at a compound yearly growth rate of 5.3 per cent from 2021 to 2026.

The Vice President, Emerging Markets, Trimble, Albert Momo, who spoke during a two-day workshop in Lagos, said Nigeria, like many other countries, needs land reform. “In order to do land reform, you need a technology that would make the work of surveyors and land administration easier. We offer solutions such as land information systems. So far, Nigeria is not covered by a geodetic network,” he said.

He disclosed that the purpose of the new technologies is not to cut down on human labour, but to ensure efficiency and make working easier by transforming the way the world works. “The idea is not to have less people working, but to ensure effectiveness,” he said.

There were worries that the firm is opening Nigeria’s frontiers to portfolio agents from other countries, who may deprive the country of its taxes, Momo said the company doesn’t have exclusivity when it comes to representatives.

He said: “Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa, but not our largest market. People are not aware of the technology, that’s why we are trying to bring the technologies to the people’s doorsteps and representatives together so that in the future we would do better.

“We have more than 700 products; everything you see is a fraction of it. They’re both hardware and software. A market like Nigeria should be more mature to be able to adopt subscription base solutions. One of our plans is to be more active and aggressive in the market, as well as support all our partners to be successful.”

Momo said the global inflationary trend has affected the survey market due to the supply chain crisis, but the company tries not to increase its prices drastically.

Other Trimble officials – MunnawarNaik and Dennis Belgrado, said land survey equipment have significant use in construction, agricultural, mining, oil & gas industries, as well as in forestry, telecommunications, electricity and water utilities.

According to them, surveyors are turning to mobile phones as instruments to conduct surveys, as mobile land survey information services empower surveyors with quick access to information they need, while they are in the survey area.

They explained that mobile technology helps in providing spatial context to understand the collected data, which can be later processed with the survey software, while the real-time information flow has multiple uses, allowing surveyors greater efficiency and effectiveness.

The Managing Director, Lordsfield Limited, a distributor of Trimble in Nigeria, Mr. Oluropo Olajugba, urged the company to support the indigenous firms to provide jobs, pay taxes and import duties through training and deliberate decision to invest in the local economy.