Open Access

ARTICLE

Contributions of Remote Sensing and GIS to the Inventory and Mapping of Colonial Geodetic Markers in the Katangese Copper Belt

by John Tshibangu Wa Ilunga^1,*, Donatien Kamutanda Kalombo¹, Olivier Ngoie Inabanza¹, Dikumbwa N’landu^1,2, Joseph Mukalay Muamba^1,3, Patrice Amisi Mwana¹, Urcel Kalenga Tshingomba¹, Junior Muyumba Munganga¹, Catherine Nsiami Mabiala¹

1 CarTeS Laboratory, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, 1825, Democratic Republic of the Congo
2 Faculty of Sciences, Agostino Neto University, Luanda, C.P. 467, Republic of Angola
3 Department of Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, 1825, Democratic Republic of the Congo

* Corresponding Author: John Tshibangu Wa Ilunga. Email:

Revue Internationale de Géomatique 2024, 33, 15-35. https://doi.org/10.32604/rig.2024.046629

Received 09 October 2023; Accepted 02 January 2024; Issue published 27 February 2024

Abstract

The mutation of spaces observed in the Katangese Copper Belt (KCB) causes significant topographical changes. Some colonial geodetic markers are easily noticeable on many of the hills making up the KCB. These hills are subject to mining which ruins the completeness of the network of triangulations: geometric and trigonometric Katangese. In order to keep control of the latter, the study shows on the one hand the possibility of using SRTM data (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) in the monitoring of the macro-change of the reliefs, from 442 positions, and on the other hand, an indirect (remote) inventory method of the existing geodetic markers, by restoring the mapping of the said triangulation. Statistical and spatial analyses of paired samples of the 442 individuals allowed the study to observe the negative and positive altimetric variations at the locations of 79 geodetic markers, in an area of approximately two square degrees. In both cases, the research considers that the altimetric variations would exclude the physical existence of certain geodetic markers at their positions, and that we do not find the slightest information relating to their official relocations.

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