Abstract
Environmental mapping programs were carried out in three countries of intensive petroleum activity, located in the Gulf of Guinea: Gabon, Nigeria and Congo. The aim was to produce maps of environmental sensitive variables (thematic maps), which are used by the petroleum operating companies for improving the management of the environment. The maps are particularly useful for oil spill response organization or environmental assistance in the development of infrastructures. Whilst carrying out these applications, a mapping methodology adapted to the petroleum industry was developed and tested.
In the first section, this methodology is described and illustrated by the above mentioned applications. The specific locations are selected according to their ecological, socio-economic or petroleum special interest. Remote sensing data are used as an initial source of information. Two types of thematic maps are produced: the first one dedicated to the ecological components, and the second one to the infrastructures and the environmental sensitivity, assessed from the ecological and socio-economical components. These maps can be integrated into atlases with accompanying text, and in order to make them more operational, all the mapping data collected are integrated into a Geographical Information System (GIS).
In the second section, we present the innovative aspects of these R&D works, which concern mainly the adaptation of remote sensing for the environmental expertise and the use of GIS for full data integration and easy updating.
