The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and SingHealth Community Hospitals will be co-developing a living asset map tailored for social prescribing to help Singaporeans be healthier.
Social prescribing connects people with a range of non-medical services in the community to improve their health and well-being. These assets include community groups that forge social connections, activity-based groups that promote health-social integration, and silver volunteerism groups to engender the purposeful engagement of seniors.
The living asset map will aggregate geospatial and community-based data to show the mapped assets to support healthcare providers and community partners in connecting their patients with suitable opportunities, as part of social prescribing. It will be first piloted with the Sengkang precinct.
“As a controlled, crowd-sourcing platform, the living asset map will enable community partners and healthcare providers to contribute real-time information on community assets that patients can be connected with for seamless continuation of their social prescriptions after discharge from hospitals. With a view of community assets near their place of residence, patients will also be empowered to exercise their decision, take action, and achieve better outcomes in health and wellbeing,” says Associate Professor Gan Wee Hoe, chief executive officer of SingHealth Community Hospitals.
SLA will also work with the Ministry of Health Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT) to expand the Digital Local Connect (DLC) initiative to benefit more neighbourhoods.
DLC is a one-stop e-directory with consolidated information on health and social service providers in the precinct. Grassroots leaders, volunteers, community partners and general practitioners can leverage DLC to guide residents to relevant support services and resources in their neighbourhood.
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“Following the launch of DLC in Yio Chu Kang in December last year, MOHT is pleased to continue our partnership with SLA to harness geospatial and location technology to support social and healthcare services, to improve the coordination and support to residents, and help them better access and navigate care,” says Dr Tan Weng Mooi, Director (Integrated Health Promotion), MOHT.
These initiatives aim to extend the benefits of geospatial to a wider community. They are part of the Singapore Geospatial Master Plan 2024-2033, spearheaded by SLA and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).
Deepening capabilities
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Besides mainstreaming geospatial, the ten-year Master Plan also looks at deepening Singapore’s geospatial capabilities.
For instance, MPA is building capabilities across various domains to establish comprehensive situational awareness of its operating environment to support operations planning and incident management.
In the subsea domain, MPA is collaborating with BeeX — a Singapore-based deep-tech engineering company — to map and provide a comprehensive view of the subsea environment. With the increasing use of underwater drones, the ability to better visualise the subsea environment will enable safe navigation and active management of underwater drone operations, such as seabed infrastructure and underwater inspections.
In the sea domain, MPA’s Active Anchorage Management System will utilise artificial intelligence and data from GeoSpace-Sea (MPA’s marine and coastal database) to allocate and optimise the use of limited anchorage space for vessel anchoring. This will help ensure safety as the volume of vessels arriving at the Port of Singapore grows.
As for SLA, it is working with key partners to provide more upskilling and reskilling opportunities for mid-career professionals. This includes its partnership with the National University of Singapore (NUS) to develop a Geospatial Professional Certificate this year. It will provide introductory training in geospatial applications and geospatial data management and analytics.
Singapore will also continue to contribute to geospatial development on the global stage as part of the new Master Plan.
“Singapore has and will continue to exercise thought leadership and participate actively in various international forums and initiatives. Representatives of Singapore have been appointed as Co-chair of the UN Expert Group on Land Administration & Management, Vice-President for the Regional Committee of UN Global Geospatial Information Management or UN-GGIM for Asia Pacific, and Co-chair of the UN-GGIM Working Group on Marine Geospatial Information,” says Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and Second Minister for Law. He was speaking at the launch of the Master Plan at Geo Connect Asia 2024 earlier today.
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Singapore Geospatial Master Plan 2024-2033 is a living blueprint that will evolve in response to Singapore’s emerging needs, challenges, and opportunities. It will serve as a launch pad to build the suite of geospatial initiatives, working in collaboration with various users and research partners.
“This second Singapore Geospatial Master Plan reflects our commitment to integrate and drive geospatial innovation in both the maritime and terrestrial domains. In land-scarce Singapore, we continue to overcome our urban challenges through the innovative use of geospatial technology and data, focusing our efforts on the mainstreaming and deepening of our geospatial capabilities to benefit end users, and enable a smarter, safer, and more sustainable Singapore. SLA is pleased to further our collaboration with MPA to propel Singapore to be a leading global geospatial hub,” says Colin Low, chief executive of SLA.
Teo Eng Dih, chief executive of MPA, adds, “Having a more comprehensive geospatial awareness across the land and sea domains offers potential to optimise the use of our limited land and sea space, and helps develop new models to support maritime services, such as the bunkering of new marine fuels, as well as long-term coastal planning efforts. MPA looks forward to working with SLA to grow our geospatial capabilities as we upskill maritime professionals and hydrographers to co-develop new products and services with industry.”
