Singapore to empower public agencies with national land motion data

As climate change accelerates, the low-lying island nation of Singapore faces increasing threats from the rise of sea levels and extreme weather events. 

To ensure better situational awareness, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) is looking to launch an online platform and dashboard for other public agencies to access nationwide land motion monitoring (LMM) information. 

The platform is aimed at empowering Singapore public agencies with actionable insights to make informed decisions around land use. 

In the context of climate change, LMM tracks vertical and horizontal land movements due to factors like rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and changing weather patterns. 

The platform is one of the several deliverables for this long-term nationwide project announced by SLA. 

SLA is Singapore's national geospatial and mapping agency, and the nationwide project aims to support whole-of-government climate change adaptation efforts. 

Talking to GovInsider, SLA’s Director, Survey & Geomatics, Dr Victor Khoo, and Geomatics Manager, Evert Mulder, said “[these efforts] will provide necessary data to public agencies to aid in the predictive and preventive models of tackling land protection, not only for coastal areas, but including critical underground infrastructure in Singapore”. 

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How this supports WOG climate adaptation 

Leveraging its technical knowledge and expertise in geodata, the agency could provide “a cost-effective single source of truth,” SLA said. 

While there is no date set yet for the launch of the platform, that agency has only just started to embark on compiling data on long-term nationwide land motion. 

Mulder said that SLA’s goal was to equip public agencies with a user-friendly dashboard and tools to analyse specific locations. 

Imagine being able to zoom into a particular area – or select individual points using circles – then one could analyse land motion data collected over various timeframes, be it two or 10 years, he said. 

“That's why we have been talking to the different agencies. We have done this proof-of-concept earlier.  

“We have identified things that we think should be in the dashboard - or should be made possible through the dashboard – such as being able to download the data they need to put it in their own system.  

“It should be in a specific format that is useful for them,” he added. 

Use cases for the other public agencies  

SLA is currently working with a few other public agencies to leverage the latter’s unique competencies and develop use cases from tapping on this platform. 

These agencies include the Public Utilities Board (PUB), Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Centre for Climate Research Singapore (CCRS). 

For example, MPA is particularly focused on the stability of tide gauges while PUB – Singapore's national water agency – is interested in the data for its coastal protection initiatives. 

For CCRS, the research arm of the Meteorological Service Singapore is focused on using the data for future projections of sea level changes. 

Mulder added that SLA will explore the possibility of co-locating infrastructure with existing tide gauges managed by MPA, as well as combining the LMM information with other existing data sets from the abovementioned agencies. 

Other potential use cases include monitoring the stability of island-wide land infrastructure over time, monitoring the potential impact of underground construction, monitoring the settlement of reclaimed land and more, he said. 

Pushing data boundaries with new products

Another new information product in the works by SLA is a nationwide Dynamic Digital Elevation Model (DDEM), a 3D map that would be built on the platform. 

Currently, the platform is a 2D map that only provides land motion data at each point of time, and challenges exist in heavily vegetated or rapidly changing areas like containers stacking up at a harbour setting, Mulder noted. 

Working with geodetic experts, SLA is working to develop a 3D model to facilitate long-term land motion predictions. 

For applications like flood modelling, the 3D model would be able to visualise changes in elevation over time with millimeter accuracy, he said. 

Additionally, the model is integrated with time series data, SLA’s 3D mapping data, among other data sets; and referencing the Singapore height datum. 

The Singapore height datum is the national measurement used to standardise height measurements across construction and surveying industries in Singapore. 

Building capacities through international collaborations  

The other deliverables of this nationwide project include developing the physical monitoring infrastructure and operational system, as well as local expertise to support and run both the physical infrastructure and the online platform. 

To strengthen its capacity in this space, SLA recently signed a multilateral agreement with the United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence (UN-GGCE), which involves 39 other initial participants which are member states and organisations. 

“We are a small-island state, and our experiences can be shared with other small-island states.  

“At the same time, we also learn through this platform from countries like Netherlands and others who are more advanced in managing land subsidence and sea level rise,” said Dr Khoo. 

Both Dr Khoo and Mulder hold official appointments with UN-GGCE, respectively in the International Advisory Board and as the Technical Advisor.