IGN FI will be attending the Shield Africa International Security and Defense Exhibition in Abidjan from 21 to 24 January 2019. The conference to be held on 21 January is on the theme “Secured and controlled Land, Sea and Air Borders: conditions for the development of Africa”. Christophe DEKEYNE, General Manager of IGN FI, will speak at the conference about how geographical information is used to control territories and more specifically about issues relating to borders.
In order to respond to issues of national sovereignty and to maintain stability in cross-border areas, it is essential for States to have the means of knowing the precise demarcation of their borders, especially in disputed areas, and to have up-to-date mapping of their land, sea, river or lake borders.
The African Union believes that only 35% of African borders are demarcated correctly. The absence of border delineation between States can lead to serious diplomatic tensions and can also have a direct impact on populations living in cross-border areas: tensions between communities, weakening economic activity or even an increased risk of terrorism. Correct demarcation thus responds to developmental challenges as well as security ones.
As a leader in the field of implementing international geomatics projects, IGN FI advises, designs, carries out or supports its clients through all the technical stages of “border” projects. More generally, it supports foreign governments in mastering new information technologies for national defense and intelligence purposes.
In this context, geographical information is an essential decision-making tool at the heart of security and defense issues. It enables States to assemble information that is reliable, consistent, accurate and as recent as possible concerning the status of operations for which they are responsible, in order to make decisions appropriate to the risks and realities on the ground.
Foreign governments often need to modernize their geographic infrastructures, notably by setting up more effective geomatics units (IT and technical equipment) and training their personnel in the production and exploitation of geographic reference data (geodesy, photogrammetry, photo-interpretation, GIS, cartography etc).
As IGN’s technical agency for the export sector and a company in the GEOFIT group, IGN FI provides expertise in the field of geographical information to major overseas policy makers (governments, ministries). In France, IGN is expanding its activities for French National Defense in terms of standardization work, maintenance of the armed forces’ cartographic assets and project management support for major programs producing geographical information for military purposes.
GEOFIT has been taking part since 2003 in various projects for outsourcing the production of geographic data for defense purposes, which call on external know-how in designing tools, acquiring and processing information. Its ability to collect, qualify, exploit and make use of source data from different origins (images, sensors, web, maps…) has helped establish GEOFIT as one of the leading French producers of geographic databases for military purposes.
To arrange to meet us at the exhibition, or talk to us about a project, please contact us!
To know more: our expertise in the field of Defense / Civil security.