NAMRIA says Philippines has over 500 new islands

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has over 500 new islands, making the total number of islands in the archipelago to over 7,600 from the “outdated” 7,107, the national mapping agency said.

In a Facebook post from the Philippine Geomatics Symposium (PhilGEOS), the National Mapping and Resource Information (NAMRIA) has confirmed that there are 500 new islands in the Philippines.

“Did you know that the Philippines having 7,107 islands is an outdated fact? With the advancement in mapping technology, the NAMRIA was able to confirm that there are over 500 new islands in the country,” read the post on Wednesday.

Did you know that the Philippines having 7,107 islands is an outdated fact?With the advancement in mapping technology,…

Posted by Philippine Geomatics Symposium on Wednesday, October 16, 2019

PhilGEOS said the mapping agency used an Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar to “improve detection of land masses and changing land forms.”

To know more information about this fact, PhilGEOS invites the public to attend PHILGEOS X GeoAdvances 2019, which has two events that “recognizes the crucial role of handling growing collection of big data including geospatial data.”

According to its official website, PHILGEOS X GeoAdvances 2019 will have as speakers Dr. Sytze de Bruin of Wageningen University and Research; Dr. Alias Abdul Rahman of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; Dr. Ismail Rakip Karas of Karabuk University, Turkey; Wataru Ohira, Ph.D. of The University of Tokyo; Dr. Michael Armand P. Canilao of the University of the Philippines, Diliman; Dr. Maricor Soriano of University of the Philippines, Diliman and Prof. Dr. Hassan Rhinane of the University of Hassan II of Casablanca.

The two-day conference will be held in Manila on November 14 to 15.  /muf