Saldus city council sees utilization of current data as a long-term strategic investment, which will allow performing changes in planning more precisely and in better quality, thereby acting both in the interests of the city, and its inhabitants and investors.Saldus city orthophoto map creation will be the first official task of the new specialised ‘’METRUM’’ airplane in connection with performance of territorial planning changes. ‘’METRUM’’ airplane will carry out aerophotographing of the territory, simultaneously scanning the surface with point coordinates. Utilization of orthophoto is considered by ‘’METRUM’’ specialists as a very progressive choice by Saldus local government, because it requires a smaller investment of local government resources than development of a topographical plan, as such a plan is not objectively necessary in all cases.‘’The situation in the city is constantly changing, so during the development process of the current territorial planning, some imperfections are regularly found,’’ tells Aivita Milta, Saldus city architect-planner. ‘’After introduction of these changes in territorial planning, it will be more convenient to work with for everyone, because there will be more precise definitions of future development of infrastructure, protective zones and other information relevant to city development.’’‘’In carrying out territorial planning modifications, it is very important to update all cartographic information. Nowadays, local governments very often are using old data, which significantly hampers planning and reduces the quality of the developed plans,’’ agrees Aldis Rausis, ‘’METRUM’’ Digital information processing department manager. ‘’By using old data in territorial planning, there is a significant risk of errors, for instance, the possibility of assigning an unjustified status to a territory, which can cause problems for inhabitants or investors.’’Since territorial planning is an ongoing process, regular information updating is necessary to precisely understand the actual situation; for example, when dealing with flooded territories. Current data are the basis of making good and thought-out decisions not only in short-, but also long-term. ‘’In recent years, more and more local governments are realising the importance of territorial planning for attraction of investments – the plans and their updating are indicative both of the role of local government in directing these processes, and of the desire to attract investors with thought-out investment projects, and, of course, to create a high-quality environment for life, work and recreation for the inhabitants,’’ believes ‘’METRUM’’ Planning department manager Ilze Kjahjare.
About the airplane: ‘’METRUM’’ has purchased an airplane PC-6 (made in Switzerland factory ‘’Pilatus’’), which is complete with equipment of world leader in positioning and geomatics technology manufacturing ‘’Leica Geosystems’’ – a large format digital aerophotography camera and laser-scanner, which allow offering a range of services previously unavailable in Latvia.