CI P A 2003 XIX th International Symposium, 30 September - 04 October, 2003, Antalya, Turkey
One conclusion of the project is the recommendation for a
hybrid recording using common procedures of building survey
and photogrammetric usable pictures to get an accurate and
photo realistic result.
3. NAVALIS - THE NAVALA VILLAGE
INFORMATION SYSTEM
One outcome of the excursion to Samoa and Fiji is this project.
In discussion with lecturers at the University of the South
Pacific the idea for NAVALIS started.
In the moment co-operation talks are in progress and the rising
for funds has been started.
3.1 Navala
The village of Navala situated in the Nausori Highlands, Viti
Levu, Fiji is unique for the region of the South Pacific. It is the
only village, which remains its traditional way of building and
living as a result of the decision by the village committee, to
build all houses only in the traditional way. This decision
affects the everyday life of the village and also its future
development. The traditional lifestyle of Fijians lived in an
indigenous surrounding is of interest for Tourism on one hand
but also for importance for the whole South Pacific Region. As
Tourism can be the most important income factor in the future,
which enables the village to set up their settlement, and its
surroundings in a way to make it most convenient for its
inhabitants and best adapted to its environment. The special
situation of the village can be used as an example to
demonstrate the possibility to keep tradition visible for everyone
in architecture and also inside the society.
Fig. 10: Navala
To invent new ideas and projects there is a need for
comprehensive planning tools that build the base for every
reasonable development. The project NAVALIS will provide
the first parts of a comprehensive interdisciplinary collection of
materials, information and data about the region of Navala.
3.2 Objectives
The aim of NAVALIS is to build up a comprehensive collection
of material available of the settlement and its surrounding areas
and to put it into a geo-referenced context. This information
system can be used for future projects for the development of
the village.
Base of the system will be a digital terrain model in connection
with data concerning
• Inhabitants
Base for every development project is the knowledge about
the people. To know about the needs, the ideas, the visions
of the inhabitants are the most important factor for any
development.
That fore NAVALIS will collect the demographic status of
the village, will put together the output of interviews with
the villagers about their present life and their future
objectives and will show up the population development.
• Architecture
Architecture serves not only the purpose of housing, it is
also an expression of the lifestyle, it is the vivid symbol for
the history of its owners, users and a part of the cultural
heritage of the whole village.
NAVALIS will collect the information about the houses of
Navala. Architects will survey the structure of each house.
In combination with the information about the used
material, the way of construction and maintenance these
data will provide a vivid description of the buildings. This
will provide the possibility to construct new houses in the
traditional way and will keep the knowledge of this
important part of the cultural heritage of the Fiji Islands.
• Biodiversity
The knowledge about the biodiversity is the initial point for
further research work concerning new ways of agriculture.
It Is important to know which flora and fauna is present in
an area to decide which new developments in planting and
farming may be invented without disturbing the natural
environment. NAVALIS will combine the results of
research works of scientists working in the field of botanic
and zoology and make their statistics available in the
information system.
• Geology and Geomorphology
A well-founded cognition about the geology and the
geomorphology of a region offers the numerous
possibilities for projects concerning urban and regional
planning, water supply and disposal and any development,
which is influenced by and influences the environment.
NAVALIS will show the geological and géomorphologie
structures of the mountainous surrounding area of Navala
within the digital terrain model of the geographic
information system.
• Climate
Statistics about the micro-climate in a region may be of use
for agricultural or water supply related researches as well as
developments concerning the production of energy e.g. with
photovoltaic.
NAVALIS will summarize available data and implement it
into the context of other environmental data, so it can be of
use for future developments for the power supply for the
village of Navala.
3.3 Method and Organisation
Basic idea of NAVALIS is build up a comprehensive archive of
available data about the village of Navala and it’s closer
environment. The data will be collected in a database and geo-
referenced within a GIS. This system will be used for modelling
future scenarios for different infrastructure measures. Finally
these models have to be transformed in a way that is
understandable and useful for the inhabitants of Navala.
The project NAVALIS will be a joint project of the Department
of Geography of the University of the South Pacific, SOPAC,
South Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission, the Mineral
Resources Department, the Forestry Department (Mafif- Colo-i
Suva), the MET (Meteorological Station) Nadi with support of
the National Trust for Fiji and the Fiji Land Information System
(FLIS) in Fiji and the Institute for History and Theory of
Architecture and Historic Buildings Survey of the University of
Technology Vienna and the Institute for Social and Cultural
Anthropology of the University Vienna, the Institute for Forest
