Implementation of Open Source GIS to Palm Oil Tree Plantation Database: A Case Study in Bukit Kerayong and Bukit Rajah Estate

Abstract

The palm oil plantation industry is on the rise and it is the biggest plantation industry in Malaysia. Due to its importance and the rise in demand for palm oil plantations, thorough care needs to be given in order to produce high-quality products. Nevertheless, the increasing number in the plantation makes it difficult for the plants to be taken care of manually. It requires an appropriate Geographic Information System (GIS) to manage the plantation. A database management system through GIS can help solve the problem as the data developed by the system can help ease the work of monitoring and analysing the growth of the plants. Companies usually used expensive proprietary software due to its accountability. However, the development of Open Source Software nowadays should not be taken for granted as its ability is at the same par with the proprietary software and it could provide the same good services just as the proprietary software does. The aim of this study is to develop a GIS database using open source GIS software which is Quantum GIS (QGIS) by determining the information of oil palm; numbers of oil palm trees, an area covered by the estate and the vegetation index for oil palm using WorldView-2 images. This study shows that the respondents are positive and open about the usage of open-source software although they do have their concerns regarding the friendliness and performance of the software.