The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) will conduct the 2019 Geotagging of Building Structures starting March 18, 2019. This covers all the remaining Enumeration Areas (EAs) or barangays that were not yet covered during the 2017 and 2018 geotagging field operations.  

The main purpose of conducting the geotagging activity is to identify and mark building structures as points in the digitized maps and to attribute these buildings with pertinent geographical information for use in various statistical undertaking of the PSA.

The results of the geotagging will be used to develop digital building footprints for the application of spatial analytics and intelligent visualization of information using dynamic digitized maps. For the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (CPH), updated digital maps are embedded in the census workflow for the enumerator’s (EN’s) use during the census operation. Maps and geotagged building points are critical in the 2020 CPH operations as this will serve as references for data collection and interview. Thus, the geotagging activities, updating of maps and boundaries, and EA delineation need to be completed from June to October 2019.

In Region I, about 2,336 EAs will be covered for this activity. There are ten Map Data Screeners (MDSs) and about 109 Map Data Collectors (MDCs) hired for the whole region. The geotagging of building structures is expected to be completed on June 21, 2019.

Recognizing the important roles of the personnel to be involved in this activity, series of trainings will be conducted for the familiarization of the concepts, procedures, and instructions.  This is to ensure that all personnel to be involved are properly equipped with the technical skills to carry out their duties and responsibilities.

The data collected under the geotagging of building structures shall be covered by the confidentiality of information clause under Section 26 of RA 10625, which stipulates that individual data furnished by a respondent to statistical inquiries, surveys and censuses of the

PSA shall be considered privileged information and such shall be inadmissible as evidence in any proceeding.

The PSA enjoins the cooperation of the residents and officials of the sample EAs or barangays for the successful conduct of the 2019 Geotagging of Building Structures.