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

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.