Accelerating the Mandate of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Department of SIL IPB University Establishes Collaboration with BIG Updates Topographical Map of Indonesia

In the context of implementing the Freedom of Learning – Independence Campus (MBKM) program, the Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology (Fateta) IPB University signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Head of the Data Center for Topographic Mapping and Toponym Geospatial Information Agency (PPRT), Geospatial Information Agency (BIG), Dr Ade Komara Mulyana.

In this collaboration, students and lecturers of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (SIL), Fateta IPB University contributed to updating the elements of the medium-scale Topographical Map of Indonesia (RBI), which is a national program. In 2023 this activity will focus on the Eastern Indonesia region, including Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua.

Also attending from the SIL Department were Dr Chusnul Arif (Secretary of the Department) and also Dr Yanuar Jarwadi Purwanto (Head of the Geomatics Engineering Division).

On this occasion, the Dean of Fateta IPB University, Prof Slamet Budijanto said that the SIL Department is the youngest department in Fateta, but has developed quite rapidly. "Even in several ways, the SIL Department of IPB University has outperformed other departments in Fateta," he said.

The existence of this collaborative activity with BIG is one proof of the progress of the IPB University SIL Department, which the community and other institutions have recognized.

The Dean also emphasised the importance of this kind of collaboration as the implementation of the MBKM program, which is currently also an indicator of higher education performance. He also advised SIL IPB University students who took part in this program to be guided appropriately while at BIG so that they would gain valuable knowledge and experience that they could not get from college.

Meanwhile, the Head of PPRT BIG, Dr Ade Komara said that in accordance with Presidential Regulation Number 23 of 2021, BIG received a mandate to carry out the acceleration of the one map policy, including through updating medium-scale RBI map elements.

"This activity is the president's task in the framework of the one map policy acceleration program, which will begin in 2021," said Dr Ade.

He further explained, BIG sees an opportunity to involve universities in this activity through the MBKM mechanism. Last year, cooperation with universities was successfully implemented to update the western RBI map.

"In 2023, we want to continue collaborating with universities by collaborating with the IPB University SIL Department to update the eastern RBI map which includes Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua. Hopefully, through collaboration with SIL, we will be able to complete the RBI map updating program well," he said. (STY-CHA/Rz) (IAAS/MFR)