Exploring the Use of RS and GIS Technologies for the Future Development of Heritage Information System in Banaue Rice Terraces

Abstract

The beauty of the Banaue Rice Terraces continues to be threatened. Challenges to protect and conserve the Rice Terraces continue to persist in Banaue being a living cultural landscape. Lack of baseline information like maps in particular make it difficult for site managers to understand the amount of work to be done to ensure the sustainability of the conservation program on the terraces. The use of earth science tools like Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) are becoming popular in the management of cultural heritage sites. However, the technologies of Remote Sensing and GIS are quite expensive. In addition, some geospatial data are not readily available. Financial constraints/lack of knowledge are some of the reasons why the LGU cannot invest on these technologies. This paper used the available geospatial data like the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture RADAR (IFSAR) and the Land Use Map of Prof. Harold Conklin that was generated in the 1970s and assessed its usefulness to the Heritage Information System (HIS). Different geospatial datasets were generated from IFSAR Digital Elevation Model like the high-resolution contours, Slope, TIN, and Hillshade. All processing were done using Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) software, a free and open-source GIS software that is gaining popularity nowadays among GIS users. The availability of different free and open-source GIS softwares could help poor municipalities like Banaue manage the information and data to protect and conserve the famous Banaue Rice Terraces (BRT). These data will help site managers understand the spatial relationship of different land use activities on the area and how it would affect the BRT.