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PUBLICATIONS TEAMManaging Editor Prof. Arup DasguptaEditor - Europe Prof. Ian DowmanEditor - North America Chuck KillpackEditor - Latin America (Honorary) Tania Maria SausenSr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Dr. Hrishikesh SamantDirector Publications NirajAssociate Editor Bhanu RekhaAssistant Editor Deepali Roy, Aditi BhanSub-Editor Anand Kashyap

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07 Editorial 8 News 53 Events 54 Picture This

Focus: Construction

The Five Dimensional WorldBryn Forsburgh, Trimble

Case Study: Karnataka SDI

'State'-of-the-art data sharingAmy Zeller, ERDAS

INTERVIEWS

A World of Images

Brian Bullock, Chairman, Intermap Technologies

Project Mexican Development

Ing. Carlos Salman GonzalezDirector General Sistemas De Información Geografica, S.A. DE C.V.

CONFERENCE REPORTS

Geospatial World Forum 2011

Technology for people and earth

NSDI-10

Empowering citizens

30

44

36

44

52

46

Cover Story

Africa

Calling

Bhanu RekhaGIS Development

5

Advisory Board

Abbas Rajabifard President,GSDI Association

Jack DangermondPresident, Esri

Shailesh Nayak SecretaryMinistry of Earth SciencesGovernment of India

Mark ReichardtPresident and CEOOpen Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

Aida Opoku Mensah Director - ICT DivisionUN Economic Commission for Africa

Josef Strobl Director, Centre for Geoinformatics,University of Salzburg, Austria

Vanessa Lawrence CBDirector General and CEO,Ordnance Survey, UK

Matthew M O'ConnellPresident and CEO GeoEye

Bryn FosburghVice PresidentExecutive Committee Member, Trimble

Juergen DoldCEO, Leica Geosystems

Preetha PulusaniChairman and CEO DeepTarget Inc.

Derek Clarke Chief Director-Survey and Mapping and National Geospatial InformationDepartment of Land Affairs, South Africa

Kamal K SinghChairman and CEORolta Group

20

el Ed ad si tM 20p 1a 1M

ur cover story on the geospatial milieu in Africabrings out the promises and pitfalls associatedwith the induction of new technologies in any

developing country. There is no question about thebenefits accruing from the induction of geospatialtechnologies in governance, land management andinfrastructure management, to name a few areas, incountries trying to accelerate development. Why thendo we not see a smooth adoption of the technology insuch situations? We do see pockets of promising andsuccessful applications but we also see slow uptake inother areas. Geospatial technologies do not get insti-tutionalised but remain as 'case studies.' The devil, asthey say, is in the detail.

To be able to get the best out of any technology, acountry needs to establish basic infrastructure whichcan support the technology. This becomes a chicken-and-egg situation. While international institutions likethe World Bank mandate the use of geospatial tech-nologies for funding developmental projects, suchexternal stimuli have not succeeded in making thegovernments make this technology an integral part ofthe development process. For this to happen, thestimulus needs to come from within and needs to besupported at all levels of government - from federalto local. This will ensure that the technology is not aforeign implant but an organic part of the develop-ment infrastructure. Such support will foster indus-tries as well as create trained professionals who willin turn internalise the use of geospatial technologiesin different applications.

African countries have two advantages. They do notcarry the baggage of legacy systems and they have thesecond mover advantage who can learn from the ear-ly adopters. However, these advantages often may getnullified by other circumstances. As the story shows,there are internal factors like an immature industry,lack of established geospatial companies and flight ofalready scarce trained personnel to greener pastures.Then there are external factors like regional imbal-ances, political instability and the bane of developingeconomies - corruption, which hamper progress.

What is heartening, however, is the fact that manycountries are geospatially enabling various develop-mental efforts at the government level. This move, atone stroke, institutionalises the technology and willhopefully encourage the retention of professionalsand the growth of indigenous industry.

We usually talk of geospatial technologies 'and' ICT. Ibelieve that geospatial technologies should be consid-ered an integral part of ICT because experience showsthat geospatial applications are heavily dependent onICT infrastructure for successful implementation. ICT-enabled development should therefore automaticallyinclude geospatial enablement as well. Since ICTenablement of development is recognised as the wayto go in developing countries, this may be a betterroute to the institutionalisation of geospatial technolo-gies and applications.

EditorSpeak

7Geospatial World I February 2011

Institutionalise g-technology

O

Prof. Arup Dasgupta

Managing [email protected]

SOUTH AFRICA

National space

agency unveiled

The country has unveiled nationalspace agency (SANSA), with an aimto be leader in earth observation inAfrica in the next 10 years. NalediPandor, Minister of Science andTechnology, said, "We believe thelaunch of SANSA will stimulateinvestment and the local scientificresearch sector." The agencyalready has two micro-satellitesand now will produce timely data

imagery to help detect natural dis-asters and monitor water resourcesaround South Africa and the continent, Pandor added.

The new agency aims to bringtogether previously un-alliedexperts and will revive severalspace facilities that have mothballed in the 1990s duringApartheid rule. It will be fully operational in April 2012. TheAgency's interim chief executiveSandile Malinga estimated that itwould cost South Africa approxi-mately USD 86.7 million a year torun the agency.

RWANDA

GIS in school

curriculum

Secondary school teachers arebeing imparted GIS teaching training by Esri, Rwanda in association with the Ministry ofEducation. Dr Marie-ChristineGasingirwa, Director General forScience, Technology and Researchin the Ministry of Education, said,"We want to introduce GIS in school curriculum and there is no wayteachers would teach it withoutbeing trained." According to Dr. Gasingirwa, GISallows people to view, understand,question, interpret and visualisedata in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns and trendsin the form of maps, globes, reports and charts.

Most sought-after

datasets

Administrative boundaries data,topographic maps and orthophotosare the three most sought-afterfundamental datasets, according to a spatial data sharing survey conducted by the Centre for GIS and Remote Sensing of the National University of Rwanda.Their demand percentages are 25, 15 and 14 percent respectively. The survey aims to assess the preparedness of organisations to share spatial data in Rwanda. The major barrier identified in spatial data sharing is the lack of a national spatial data policy, especially the need for a spatial data sharing policy in organisations.


NEWS

CAMEROON

Geodetic network in six years

With an objective to endow the country with an internationally recognisedand approved reference geodetic network, Jean-Baptist Beleoken, Ministerof State Property and Land Tenure laid foundation pillar for a national

geodetic network in Yaounde. The network also aims to solve land boundarydisputes in the country. The pillar is like a reference of a land survey projectthat the government intends to carry out in the next six years. The projectworth FCFA 12 billion (FCFA: Cameroon currency) will be implemented inthe 10 regions of the country.

Africa

ETHIOPIA

Atlas addresses water

issues

Only 26 out of 53 African countries are currently on track to meet thedemand of clean drinking water by2015, observes Africa Water Atlas.The Atlas is based on a survey by theUnited Nations EnvironmentProgramme. It contains detailed mapping of how rainwater conserva-tion is improving food security indrought-prone regions. Images in theAtlas reveal how irrigation projects inKenya, Senegal and Sudan are help-ing to improve food security. It alsoincludes details of eroded soil andagricultural run-off in Uganda, pollu-tion from oil spills in Nigeria, and athree-kilometre segment of the NileDelta that has been lost to erosion.

NAMIBIA

GIS to address

unemployment

To address unemployment across thenation, Ministry of Labour and SocialWelfare, in collaboration with SocialSecurity Commission, is building GIS-based Integrated Employment Infor-mation System.

The Commission has funded NAD10 million for the system. It is expect-ed that during the implementation ofthis system, over 200 young peoplewill be employed for the duration of12 to 18 months. According to Kenan-dei Tjivikua, CEO of the Commission,the system will help identify self-employment opportunities andincome-generating community-basedprogrammes.

Geospatial World I February 2011 9

AsiaLEBANON

More strength to

consumer protection

With an aim to strengthen consumerprotection, Brand Protection Grouplaunched a web-based GIS for theConsumer Protection Department(CPD) of the Ministry of Economy andTrade. Funded by a USD 50,000 grantfrom the US Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID), this projectwill provide tools to CPD inspectorsto streamline their procedures,improving the detection of trademarkviolations. The grant is part ofUSAID’s USD 9.3 million Transparen-cy and Accountability Grants pro-gramme, implemented by AMIDEAST- a US-based non-profit organisation.

BANGLADESH

Savings with digital

maps

After studying the benefits of digitaltopographic maps, Survey ofBangladesh (SoB), concluded that itcan save at least BDT 3.74 billion(BDT: Bangladesh Currency) in ayear. SoB estimated that transporta-tion sector can save the highestamount, BDT 980 million in a yearfollowed by electricity sector (BDT550 million), health and population(BDT 410 million), rural development(BDT 390 million), physical planning,water distribution and housing (BDT365 million) and agriculture (BDT301.60 million). The study also esti-mated that the total financial benefitwould be BDT 18.90 billion a year, ifindirect economic affects were accumulated with the direct benefit of the upcoming new digital map.

BRUNEI

Brunei now in 3D

Ministry of Development, in association with Brunei SurveyDepartment, has prepared 3D digital terrain model (DEM) ofthe country using LiDAR tech-nology. The model is part ofNational Development Plan(2007-2012). According tobrudirect.com; this endeavourhas placed Brunei among the

best mapped countries in the world. The LiDAR instruments used close range-infrared from the electromag-netic (1064nm) spectrum of light to collect data. Data measured on theground was at every one-metre distance apart with 15-cm accuracy(horizontal and vertical).

INDIA

Land title

certification soon

To ensure an effective, transparentand modern system in every statein India, Ministry of Urban Develop-ment has set up a working group todevelop a model for land and prop-erty title certification. Jaipal Reddy,Minister of Urban Development,said that Government of India (GoI)has identified land title reforms tobe critical for country’s progressand one of the crucial componentsof the Jawaharlal Nehru NationalUrban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).The minister added that the effectof lack of clarity of records andrights is seen most acutely in urban

planning, urban management andurban governance. It also led tosome of the land scams in therecent past.

HORIZON Kronos

launched

HORIZON - manufacturer of surveyinstruments and accessorieslaunched Kronos GNSS products atIntergeo 2010. Subsequently, HORI-ZON's Hyderabad-based distribu-tor, Ansari Precision Instrumentshas brought them in India. Thecompany claims that its productshave been rigorously tested forabout a year prior to its release.The products incorporate TrimbleMaxwell 6 system’s technology.

Navigation system

for neighbours

With an aim to provide position nav-igation and timing (PNT) service to neighbouring countries. Government of India (GOI) approvedIndian Regional Navigation SatelliteSystem (IRNSS) project.

According to Dr. S.V. Kibe fromISRO Headquarters; the systemwould initially have seven satellitesand then 11.

About GPS-Aided Geo AugmentedNavigation (GAGAN) project, hesaid, “For landing, you need accuracy of less than six metres.Despite being useful in position,GPS did not offer the guarantee ofservice and this shortcoming wouldbe addressed by GAGAN.”

10 Geospatial World I February 2011

CHINA

Geospatial park coming up

With an aim to set up the first national-level geographic information industrial park, spread over66.7 hectares, the country has invested CNY 15 billion(approx USD 2.25 billion).

The park has received investment from the StateBureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) and the Beijing municipal government. It is scheduled to beoperational by 2013. More than 100 companies in thegeographic information industry will enter the park bythen. "Beijing will develop it (the park) into a 'SiliconValley' for the industry," said, Guo Jinlong, Mayor ofBeijing.

Rapidly growing industry

Geographic information industry in the country grewmore than 300 percent during the 11th Five-yearPlan, according to Xu Deming, Vice Minister ofthe Ministry of Land and Resources and

Director of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping(SBSM). Deming added that the industry’s annual output value is expected to reach CNY 200 billion by the end of the 12th Five-year Plan period. The annual increase of the industry's industrial scaleexceeded 25 percent and the total output value stoodat nearly CNY 100 billion in 2010. Currently, more than400,000 people are working in the industry and newgeographic information enterprises are being established almost every day.

During the 11th Five-year Plan period, 120 cities across the country initiatedthe process of developing of digi-tal cities, and so far, 40 ofthem have completedit.

‘Reform tech education’The Indian Society of Geomatics (Ajmer Chapter), in associationwith Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University and RegionalRemote Sensing Service Centre (Jodhpur) of NRSC organisedits annual conference in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. The confer-ence with the theme, Impact of Climate Change with specialemphasis on Desertification, included a session, TechnologicalTrends in Geomatics.

Delivering the chief guest's address, Prof M M Salunkhe, ViceChancellor of the Central University of Rajasthan lamented thatfor too long the Indian education system has cocooned differentdisciplines in watertight compartments. He opined that thisrigid structure needs to be broken to realise an education

system that combined science, society and technology in an organic ecosystem. The presidential address wasdelivered by Dr RR Navalgund, Director, Space Applications Centre and President ISG. Apart from the maintheme of desertification, there are five other sessions covering water resources, technology, agriculture andforestry, environment and urban planning and infrastructure. The Geomatics Awards for 2010 were awarded ina simple ceremony to Dr S M Ramaswamy, Vice Chancellor, Gandhigram Rural University. The award for technology was awarded to D R M Samudraiah, Deputy Director, Sensor Development, Space ApplicationsCentre for his contribution to the development of high resolution imagers for earth observation and planetarymissions. The best chapter award was given to the Dehradun Chapter of ISG.

MALAYSIA

Now modelling

solutions in 5D

Convergence of geospatial, engineer-ing design, 3D GIS, CAD and BIM tecnology has allowed Autodesk tooffer modelling solutions in 5D. Itenhances sustainability as well asemergency response planning,according to Geoff Zeiss, DirectorTechnology, Autodesk. Zeiss said,"The 5D approach allows tight controlof 3D design as well as project management in a time sequence[fourth dimension] as well as detailed monetary implications to any

real-time changes. The ability toimmediately see monetary implica-tions of any design or project varia-tions constitutes the fifth dimension."

VIETNAM

Coastal wetland map

ready

In a bid to provide comprehensiveinformation of various types ofcoastal wetland. In the country’s 29coastal provinces and cities, nationalremote sensing centre has completeda set of maps of coastal wetlandzones on a scale of 1:1,000,000.

According to the centre, this is thefirst time Vietnam has prepared suchmaps. The maps will serve as thebasis for designing plans to preservethe wetland zones and prevent themfrom natural disasters as well as to make sustainable use of theirecosystems.

JAPAN

One more GNSS

possible

In a bid to reduce its reliance onGPS network, the country is con-

sidering launching new satellites toestablish its own global navigationsatellite system (GNSS). The coun-try aims to make it 10 times moreaccurate than GPS, The Daily Yomiuri reports. The project isbeing drafted by the Strategic

Headquarters for SpaceDevelopment headed byNaoto Kan, Prime Minister, Japan.

The government islikely to finalise the planin August, 2011. It isexpected to cost JPY 200billion and it will bepublic-private venture.The satellites would beof the same type as theso called quasi-zenith satellite,Michibiki, or of a geo-stationary type. Mean-while, Nikkei BusinessDaily reported that thecountry may offer

Michibiki navigation satellite signalfree of cost to Australia and SouthKorea.

Strategy for satellite

markets

With an aim to tap the emergingsatellite market, the country isdeveloping low-cost surveillancesatellites which will aid in disastermanagement. The country's tradeministry is collaborating with NECCorp. and other companies todevelop such satellites by 2012.NEC will contribute the technologyit developed for the Hayabusaasteroid probe programme. Eventhough the US dominates satellitemarket in terms of sales value, thecountry's main competitor inemerging markets is Europeanconsortium EADS Astrium whoseshareholders include French andSpanish governments as well asGermany's Daimler AG.


Europe

Open access to

satellite data

Russian federal space agency(Roscosmos) in association with NII(Scientific Research Institute) of pre-cision instruments have developed awebsite, worth approximately RUB 10million (approx USD 0.3 million). YuriUrlichich, head of the website saidthat it has been designed to provideopen access to satellite data.

It has been standardised on thestandard ISO 15000. According to RIA Novosti report, information onthe website will be updated on adaily basis. Later on, informationfrom Russian navigation satellitesystem (Glonass) will also be made available here.

GERMANY

‘Beware of location-

based apps’

Facebook’s location-based applica-tions, Places I check in to and PeopleHere Now, may pose security risks,warned an e-mail notification fromthe 86th Communication Squadron atRamstein Air Base. The features useIP addresses and smartphone GPScapabilities to locate a user whenlogging onto Facebook. The app thenpublishes that information on theuser's profile page and the informa-tion could become public dependingon the user's profile security settings.The feature is automatically active

and must be turned off by the user.The feature also publishes a mapwith a virtual push pin showing theusers' exact location, which compro-mises operational security andremoves much of the effort of electronic stalking, according to the e-mail.

UK

Index identifies water

stress vulnerability

Utilising GIS to pinpoint global waterstress down to 50sqkm worldwide,Maplecroft - global risks advisoryfirm, has developed Water StressIndex accompanied by a sub-nationalmap. According to the index, majorindustrial economies of Australia,India, China and USA have been ratedas ‘high risk’ in a new study evaluating the vulnerability of 159 countries to water stress, whilst theregions of the Middle East and NorthAfrica are at highest risk. It has beencalculated by evaluating the ratio of acountry’s total water use fromdomestic, industrial and agriculturaluse, to the renewable supply of water from precipitation, streams,rivers and groundwater.

Key skills for

employability

Graduates with advanced technologyand business skills are in demand,according to a study commissionedby Esri UK. The study concluded thatinfluential business leaders acrossthe UK are calling them to help usehigh-tech systems more effectivelyacross their organisations.


RUSSIA

Ukraine to get

access to Glonass

Russia is ready to allow Ukraine toaccess high-precision targeting sig-nals provided by the Glonass satellitenavigation system, Russian DeputyPrime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.Russia earlier proposed setting up ajoint venture with Ukraine for thedevelopment and implementation ofGlonass. Ivanov added Russia hasbeen successfully cooperating withIndia on the use of the Glonass sys-tem for defence purposes afterMoscow and New Delhi signed a rele-vant agreement.

The study observed that threequarters of HR leaders think the idealfuture manager will have an equalunderstanding of both business andtechnology. Richard Waite, ManagingDirector, Esri UK, said, “Businessleaders are telling us that they needemployees who can help them max-imise key technologies such as GISbut who also understand their busi-ness needs in these tough economictimes.

Studying geography and learninghow to utilise geographic informationgives new employees many of the keyskills that businesses are crying out for.”

Software Vs hardware

in navigation

ABI Research’s latest report, LocationSystems and Platforms Forecasts,predicts that by 2014, more than 60percent of the installed base will consist of software-based navigationsolutions, and the off-deck location-based services (LBS) market will beprimarily funded by advertising ratherthan direct fees. It also predicts thatby 2016, revenues will to all intentsand purposes be a 50:50 split. PatrickConnolly, Senior Analyst, ABIResearch, said that the penetrationrates in some regions approaching 50percent shows a clear transition awayfrom pure hardware sales to softwarebased-solutions and revenues.

SPAIN

Innovative maritime

surveillance

Researchers at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have

designed an application for maritimesurveillance. It integrates and unifiesthe information from different typesof sensors and data in contextthrough artificial intelligence anddata fusion techniques.

The objective of the system is toguarantee security by monitoring

different ships that are in a givenmaritime route which, at the sametime is the entrance and exit of acommercial port. The system canmonitor 2,000 identifiable objectivesbetween large and small vessels,with a capacity to process the data ofup to 10 sensors. The first prototypewill be used in Cape Verde (Africa).

FRANCE

ESA’s satellites in

tandem

With an aim to generate 3D models ofglaciers and low-lying coastal areas,European Space Agency’s (ESA) ERS-2 and Envisat satellites have beenpaired up again – for the last time.The last pairing was during July toOctober 2010.

The pairing ended on October 22,2010, the day on which Envisat wasplaced into a new orbit (from about800 km to about 783 km) to minimisefuel usage and extend its life by threeyears. As a consequence, Envisat andERS-2 can no longer acquire SAR

data in tandem. ESA will make thedatasets from this final joint flightavailable to everyone as soon as theyare processed and validated.

Simulating

everything on

Earth

Living Earth Simulator (LES) -one of the most large-scalecomputer projects undertaken,aims to simulate everythingthat happens on Earth. Morethan 70 online data sources

have already been identified byan international team who ishandling the project. Wikipedia,Google Maps and the UK gov-ernment's data repository,Data.gov.uk, are just some ofthem. The next step is creatinga framework to turn thatmorass of data into models thataccurately replicate what is tak-en place on Earth today.


Australia and

Oceania

NEW ZEALAND

Tech boost for

defence

New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF)will get improved intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissancecapabilities including satelliteimagery, provided the NZDF can"reprioritise" existing funding,according to a white paper releasedby Prime Minister John Key. Thepaper set parameters for the forcefor the next 25 years. The paperalso promised a new type of ship forthe Navy, new multirole aircraft forthe Air Force and the creation of acombined arms task force of 800soldiers.

AUSTRALIA

Irrigation info on

fingertips

Dr John Hornbuckle and his col-leagues at Commonwealth Scientif-

ic and Industrial Research Organi-sation (CSIRO) Land and Waterdeveloped a system, IrriSATSMSthat combines remote sensingtechnology and information deliverythrough SMS. The system has beentrialled for three seasons in theMurrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA)in New South Wales, Australia. Theremote sensing is done via NASA’sLandsat satellite. Images areanalysed using a normalised differ-ence vegetation index – based onhow green crops are, and theiramount of biomass – to track cropgrowth in real time.

The satellite data provides a picture of crop performance thatcan be gathered down to a scale of 30 × 30 m and combined with datafrom on-ground weather stationnetworks to determine crop water use. The combined informa-tion is then delivered to irrigatorsvia SMS.

New guidelines for

LBS

With an aim to promote safety andprivacy of people using location-based services (LBS) offered onmobile devices, Australian MobileTelecommunications Association(AMTA) has released new consumertips and industry guidelines.

The guidelines focus on ‘passive’LBS because AMTA believes thatthe potential for misuse is greatestfor this type of service.

Passive LBS are services which,after initial user consent and service activation, allow identifiedthird parties to view the location ofthat user’s device without explicitlynotifying the user each time theirdevice is being located. In thissense, the user is essentially a‘passive’ participant in the locationprocess after providing their initialconsent.


NEWS

Radar data tackling floods

For the first time, scientists used radardata to track flood situation in New

South Wales (NSW) and theycould provided the most accu-

rate flood predictions yetseen in NSW, Sydney Morn-ing Herald reports. The lat-est data allowed the StateEmergency Service to plan

ahead and evacuate areaslong before the waters begin

to rise. The operation was runby the University of NSW, which is

co-operating with German and Italianoperators, who programmed their satellite to

scan inland NSW and map the swelling rivers and lakes.

North AmericaBusiness______________

‘No layoffs in

Intergraph’

Commenting on the acquisition ofIntergraph, Ola Rollen, CEO, Hexagon, said that the companyacquired Intergraph because of itspeople and it plans to make nochanges. In an interview withal.com, he also stated that thereare no plans to drop the Intergraphbrand. "We'll continue to growIntergraph internationally and havea good footprint. The company'sprocess, power & marine divisionwill be particularly important in thefuture. Four billion people are join-ing the global economy, and therewill be an increased need for energy," he said. "Intergraph hasthe technologies to do that safely,"he added.

‘Empower users’

Letitia A. Long, Director, NationalGeospatial-Intelligence Agency(NGA), shared her new vision,Putting the Power of GEOINT in theHands of the Users, at the USGeospatial Intelligence FoundationGEOINT Symposium. She alsoestablished two goals. Her first goalis to fundamentally change the userexperience by providing online, on-demand access to NGA’s GEOINTknowledge. Second goal is to createnew value by broadening and deepening analytic expertise byproviding contextual analysis ofplaces informed not only by theEarth’s physical features andimagery intelligence, but also byhuman geography.


Application____________

Quest for life with RS

Researchers at Carnegie Institution have proposed Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) -a remote sensing (RS) technol-ogy, to determine details suchas tree-like multi-cellular lifeon extrasolar planets. Christopher Doughty andAdam Wolf 's paper appearedin the journal Astrobiology."BRDF arises from the chang-

ing visibility of the shadows cast by objects and the presence of tree-likestructures is clearly distinguishable from flat ground with the samereflectance spectrum," claimed researchers. They used a computer model to simulate vegetation reflectance at different planetary phaseangles and added both simulated and real cloud cover to calculate theplanetary albedo for a vegetated and non-vegetated planet with abundantliquid water.

Discovery of active seismic fault

Using remote sensingtechnology, scientists atIdaho State University hasdiscovered an active seismic fault in the RockyMountains in the US stateof Idaho. They thenanalysed sediment corestaken from Redfish Lake inIdaho, which helped themuncover data about the history of the fracture inthe Earth's crust. Theyclaim that the fault is capable of unleashing a 7.5 magnitude earthquakewithin the next few decades. Scientists believe two earthquakes have taken place along the fault in the past 10,000 years, with one occurring7,000 years ago and the other 4,000 years ago. This information has ledresearchers to believe significant seismic activity takes place in theregion every several thousand years.

Policy________________

‘Privacy lesson must

for policymakers’

Efforts to protect consumers' priva-cy on the Internet are likely toimpact companies that collect, useor distribute geolocation data. As aresult, businesses should step for-ward to educate Congress andagencies such as the Federal TradeCommission (FTC) about thebreadth and scope of location-based technologies, as well as theindustry's enormous potential, saidKevin D. Pomfret - a leading advisorof spatial law and technology. Henoted, “Geolocation industry musteducate lawmakers and regulatorsabout the many ways location datacan be collected and used in orderto create a fully informed discus-sion about the geolocation industry

and the technology." A number of privacy-related ini-

tiatives are currently underway inWashington. In order to fully under-stand how proposed regulations willaffect them, geolocation companiesshould begin to identify what spatialdata assets they have throughouttheir organisations and how thatinformation is aggregated, Pomfretadded.

Call to redefine

geolocation data

According to MAPPS, the nationalassociation of private geospatialfirms, a draft regulation proposedin a Federal Trade Commissionstaff report threatens data collec-tion, applications and growth in theprivate geospatial profession. Iturged to clearly define the term"precise geolocation data." Thedraft, "Privacy in an Era of RapidChange," is intended to protect con-sumers' privacy by requiring that‘companies must provide prominentdisclosures and obtain affirmativeexpress consent before using con-sumer data in a materially differentmanner than claimed when thedata was collected.’

CANADA

17th century map

discovered

A hand-drawn map of the country,dated 1699 and drawn by Englishcartographer John Thornton wasdiscovered in rural Scotland. Des-cribed by the British auction housethat found the map as “remarkablywell preserved,” the 311-year-oldrelic is made of vellum, a speciallyprepared sheet of animal skin - typically from sheep - that wasused by European map-makers inthe 1600s to produce durable illustrations of the new lands beingdiscovered across the AtlanticOcean. The map is described as“meticulously coloured” andincludes a trademark Thorntoncompass rose featuring blue, greenand red points of direction.


Miscellaneous________

Topographic map of Moon

Using Lunar ReconnaissanceOrbiter (LRO), researchers atNASA are creating a topo-graphic map of the Moon."LRO dataset is being used tomake digital elevation andterrain maps that will be afundamental reference forfuture scientific and humanexploration missions to themoon," said Dr. Gregory Neu-mann, researcher at NASA."We already have nearly 3

billion data points from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter on board theLRO spacecraft, with near-uniform longitudinal coverage. Near the poles,we expect to provide near-GPS-like navigational capability as coverage isdenser due to the spacecraft's polar orbit."


South America

ARGENTINA

Wheat farming

declining

Analysing images from the Landsat5 TM and Terra Modis and field surveys, Agricultural InformationSystem of the Grain Exchange inEntre Rios, concluded that wheatfarming has declined by 14.69 percent in the province.

The study observed that thedownward trend was fuelled by twofundamental reasons: the sheervolume produced last year couldnot be sold and the lack of realprice of grain in the future. Subse-

quently, the abundant rainfall(mainly in the eastern sector of theprovince) caused the postponementof work due to lack of floor extend-ing the deployment until the firstfortnight of August.

VENEZUELA

Mapping air

pollution sources

Environment Ministry is planning tocreate a registry of the country’sprimary sources of air pollution. Itwill be based-on GIS technology.

It will enable users to geographi-cally locate the stationary sourcesof contaminative gasses that existin the national territory in order to

clarify strategies for environmentalsupervision. In addition to recordingthe location and contaminativeimpact of facilities linked to the oilindustry, the Ministry seeks to mapout incinerators, cement factories,major manufacturers of sugar andmetals, crematoriums and garbagedump sites.

PANAMA

Atlas on climate

change

The regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean of theUN Environment Program (UNEP) presented an atlas of the environ-ment in transformation for Latin America.

The map details 65 specific casesshowing changes in agriculturalareas as well as ecological declinein some of the coastal areas. Pho-tographs in the atlas reflect thetransformation of water systems.The Atlas also shows melting ofglaciers in some regions of LatinAmerica caused by global warming,which was illustrated throughsatellite images.

MEXICO

EO to track climate variables

During climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, European Space Agency(ESA) held an event focusing on its Climate Change Initiative (CCI),which is making full use of Europe’s Earth observation space assets toexploit robust long-term global records of essential climate variables.CCI makes use of archive data going back three decades from ESA and member-state satellites. These datasets, combined with data from new missions, are used to produce new informa-tion on a wide range of climate variables,such as greenhouse-gas concentrations,sea-ice extent andthickness, and sea-surface temperatureand salinity.


COVER STORY I Bhanu Rekha

Africa has truly come of age. The second largestcontinent is witnessing renewed internationalattention, this time for all the right reasons.

Increased economic growth, reduced conflict, expandedpolitical liberalisation and substantial improvements ingovernance are just a few indicators of its emergence onthe world scene.

With development, demand for better transport, infra-structure, food, education and governance is increasingmanifold, compelling nations to re-prioritise nationaldevelopment strategies - auguring a radical change inmindset. Information technology is being recognised asan enabling tool, with geospatial data at the core of devel-opment. At the forefront of this new geospatial momen-tum are several regional and multilateral organisations,professional bodies and national mapping and remotesensing organisations. These include the United NationsEconomic Commission for Africa (ECA), Regional Centrefor Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD),Regional Centre for Training in Aerospace Surveys (REC-TAS) and African Regional Centre for Space Science and

AFRICA

calling!

AFRICA - THE OLDEST INHABITED TERRITORY ON

EARTH; THE SEAT OF RICH CIVILISATIONS; THE

VICTIM OF COLONISATION, NEGLECT AND STRIFE.

TURN TO NOW - NEW TRACKS ARE BEING LAID,

HIGHWAYS BUILT, PORTS DEEPENED AND

COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS SIGNED ALL ACROSS

AFRICA - ON AN UNPRECEDENTED SCALE!!

Technology Education in English (ARCSSTE-E). Moving further from where we left the African geospatial scenario in July 2009 edition of GIS Develop-ment (http://geospatialworld.net/index.php? option=com_magzine&view=magzine&mag_id=32&Itemid=48),this article identifies the reasons for Africa's new-foundcharm, major business drivers for geospatial industry,challenges and directions ahead.

WHAT'S DRIVING BUSINESS?

EconomyBeginning in late 1990s, African countries made consid-erable progress in addressing their fiscal problems andreducing fiscal deficits. This enabled many Africannations to sustain the recent economic downturn, despitethe fact that many countries suffered from lower rev-enues as a result of reduced demand for African exports.Also, African countries did not put up barriers and lookinwards. Instead, they continued to pursue policiesencouraging foreign investment and trade. These factorshelped Africa withstand the impact of the crisis in a muchbetter way.

However, the impact of global financial crisis on thecountries in the region was quite varied. The countriesmost severely affected were middle-income and oil-exporting countries, which were more closely integratedinto the global economy. The median growth rate in thesecountries decelerated from 4.5 percent in 2004-08 to 0.5per cent in 2009. On the other hand, the median growth inlow-income and fragile countries (29 in all, with two-thirds of the region's 750 million population) decelerated,but it did so less drastically: from 5.5 percent in 2004-08to 3.5 percent in 2009. Given the deepest global downturnsince the 1930s, it is reassuring that most of Africannations sustained reasonably high growth rates.

FDI and private sector investmentsAfrica's infrastructure gap is a key constraint to theregion's economic growth potential and efforts to reducepoverty. Africa's power sector alone would require anestimated $ 29 billion per year in capital expenditure overthe next ten years. So, mobilising private investment iscrucial if this level of investment is to be achieved. Under-standing this, beginning in the late 1990s and through thepast decade, African governments increasingly withdrewfrom the economic sphere and left that space for privatesector. This, together with efforts to reign in fiscal deficits

COVER STORY


and an attractive policy climate for foreign direct invest-ment, helped in the creation of a level playing field andlaunched African economies on growth path.

China's investment in Africa increased manifold inrecent years to the extent that some Africans fear a newform of colonialism. Taking cue, France, one of the conti-nent's old colonial masters, is working to imitate Chinaand stepping up its own investment. Other European pow-ers are following suit.

Chinese investments: In 2002, China initiated its"Going Global" policy to compete for global market shareand resources. It steadily increased its investment inAfrica and today Africa is the third largest recipient of Chi-na's Outward Foreign Direct Investment (ODI) in recentyears (Besada et al. 2008). According to the StatisticalBulletin of China's ODI, the share of China's ODI in Africain China's total ODI increased from 2.6% in 2003 to 9.8%in 2008. The substantial increase of China's ODI in Africastirs strong reactions from the rest of the world - espe-cially the US, one of China's competitors for Africa'sresources. Chinese capital is providing the much neededfunds for developing Africa and playing a positive role inimproving infrastructure, increasing productivity, boost-ing exports and raising the living standards of millions ofAfricans. China's ODI is often credited for diversifying theeconomic activity and creating jobs.

IMF and World Bank predictionsIn its recent regional forecast based on an online survey,IMF predicted that Sub-Saharan Africa's acceleratingeconomic growth is broad based in 2010 and will continue

to be so in 2011. Strong domestic demand and resurgentexports are projected to boost average growth rates in theregion to 5-5.5 percent.

Making similar predictions, the World Bank, in itsGlobal Economic Prospects released in January, raisedits forecast for economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa to5.3 percent in 2011 as the global economy recovers andthe outlook improves for oil producers such as Nigeriaand Angola. "Developments in domestic demand will con-tinue to play a dominant role," the report said. It predictedSouth Africa's growth to be 3.5 percent this year and 4.1percent in 2012. Angola, Sub-Saharan Africa's second-largest oil producer, will expand about 6.7 percent thisyear and 7.5 percent in 2012. Ghana, which began export-ing oil, will have the fastest growth in the continent at 13.4percent in 2011 and 10 percent in 2012, the World Banksaid. This is good news for geospatial industry.

Africa - next BRIC?After South Africa's successful hosting of the FIFA WorldCup, the world started looking at the opportunities inAfrica with an all-new outlook. Despite lagging behind theother members in terms of economic growth, SouthAfrica was formally invited to join the BRIC in 2010. Areport puts the continent's combined current grossdomestic product as reasonably similar to that of Braziland Russia, and slightly above that of India. Moreover, twoof the countries from the list of most emerging countriesof the world belong to Africa: Nigeria and Egypt.

Also, if one is to look at the potential of the 11 largestAfrican economies for the next 40 years (by studying theirlikely demographics, the resulting changes in their work-


Beginning in the late 1990s

and through the past decade,

African governments

increasingly withdrew from

the economic sphere and left

that space for private sector


ing population andtheir productivity), their combined GDP by 2050would reach more than $13,000 bn, making them biggerthan either Brazil or Russia, although not China or India.Interestingly, nearly half of this GDP would originate fromEgypt and Nigeria, so the progress of those two nations iscrucial to the continent's potential.

Verticals driving business

Land reforms and land managementJust about every government in Africa today is engaged insome form of land reforms and/or improving on its landmanagement. Rapid growth and increased demand forimproved land governance and global interest in Africa'sfarmland for food and bio-fuel are fuelling the land mar-ket. According to Dr Frank Byamugisha, Regional LandCoordinator for Africa, World Bank, "There is an emergingstrong demand for surveying and mapping in Africa. As aresult, cadastral surveying and registration is expected torise from less than 10% to 20% in 15 years." Countrieslike Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Kenyaincreased their surveying budgets. South Africa, Uganda,Lesotho, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Rwandaand a host of other countries are actively pursuing landreforms. "By incorporating measurable outcomes anddelivery agreements while pursuing land reforms, SouthAfrican government is capacitating rural communities toreduce pressure on urban areas," says Derek Clarke,Chief Director-Survey and Mapping & National GeospatialInformation, Department of Land Affairs, South Africa.

A great momentum is being created by the AfricanGeodetic Reference Frame (AFREF) which aims to build aunified geodetic reference frame for the entire continent.This also aims to serve as the basis for national andregional 3-dimensional reference networks. Emphasisingon the increased interest in African land market, BrynFosburgh, Vice-President, Executive Committee Member,

Trimble says, "There are a variety ofgeospatial activities centered aroundland reforms and land information inAfrica today. GIS coupled with GNSStechnologies are helping build land infor-mation and directly contributing to thegeospatial market. “

InfrastructureBuoyed by development, investments intoinfrastructure segment are skyrocketing andChina is emerging as a major financier of

infrastructure projects in Africa, according to a WorldBank report. While Africa has an infrastructure deficit,China has both the financial resources and the construc-tion industry capacity to help meet the demands. Today,African States too are preferring Chin’s railroads-for-oilswaps to Western aid. This represents a huge opportunityfor the geospatial sector.

"Every country I visited six months ago is not theAfrica I visited seven years ago," exclaims Yariv Kratka,Marketing and Sales Manager, Sivan Design. "The hugedevelopment happening in each and every country is a bigbusiness driver. For instance in Malawi, every litre of fuelis taxed and the money goes directly into building andmaintaining roads," he argues.

To further this growth, ECA is spearheading the devel-opment of geospatial databases for the Programme ofInfrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA). More than 43feature datasets were created and customised as aninteractive digital atlas. The databases cover all existingand planned infrastructure facilities in the continent,including all networks and development corridors fortransport infrastructure; as well as power plants. "Thisdatabase will soon be built into the ECA node of theAfrican Regional Geospatial Data Infrastructure," informsAndre Nonguierma, GIS officer in ECA. The African Insti-tute of South Africa (AISA) is also developing a geospatialdatabase at continent level on 28 themes, majorly dealing

Dr Frank Byamugisha

RegionalLand Coordinator for Africa, World Bank

There is an emerging strongdemand for surveying and mapping in Africa. As a result,cadastral survveying and registration is expected to rise fromless than 10% to 20% in 15 years


with socioeconomic parameters, informs ShinigiriraiMutanga, Research Specialist: S&T.

Mining and mineralsAfrica, especially south of Sahara, is a region with plentyof valuable mineral resources - metals, oil and diamonds.Foreign investments are leading the extraction and explo-ration in many of these places to supply the world mar-kets. This investment focus led to a geopolitical strugglebetween the US and China over access to oil reserves asWashington would like a third of the US's oil imports tocome from West Africa by 2015. However, the dragon'sstrategy seems to have more African takers than UncleSam's tricks.

Riding on this all-new enthusiasm for mineral explo-ration, geospatial industry is buoyant. "People are explor-ing, not only onshore but for offshore resources like oil. Ithink mining is the biggest verticals for Africa," says WillyGovender, CEO and Founder, Data World. Concurring withWilly, Norman Banks, New Business Director, SouthernMapping Company says, "There is a great deal of miningand exploration happening across Africa. We areenjoying our position as we are ableto take

advantage of it by providing services into that sector. Asmining sector is picking up, it is opening doors to infra-structure sector. That simply means more opportunitiesfor geospatial industry."

UtilitiesUnderstanding the development needs, many Africannations are simultaneously investing in power, telecom,water, sewerage etc. The liberalisation of telecom sectorin several countries, the extension of services by multina-tional conglomerates and the active competition currentlyin place in the sector have all contributed to telecom rev-olution. As a result, the telecom sector in the African sec-tor has opened up new vistas of business opportunities,including geospatial business. "Africa's telecom sectorwill have private investments of more $ 70 billion by 2012,surpassing the $ 55 billion promised by investors at anUN-backed meeting in 2007," Hamadoun Toure, SecretaryGeneral of the UN's International TelecommunicationsUnion (ITU) said in an interview to Reuters.

Given the current economic environment, many gov-ernments understand the importance today, more thanever, of bringing about reforms and make their powersectors more attractive to investment. Countries likeNigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe are pro-gressing in this direction, presenting an important oppor-tunity for geospatial sector. One estimate puts Africa'spower sector requirement at an estimated $ 29 billion peryear in capital expenditure over the next ten years.

AgricultureOnly an average, 3% of cultivatable land in Africa is

being used now, which is not sufficient to feedthe entire population of Africa. With anobjective to reduce hunger, combat ruralpoverty, promote broad-based economicgrowth and protect the environment,African nations are attracting invest-ments in agriculture and agroforestrylike never before. A World Bank studyreleased in September 2010 tallied farm-

land deals covering at least 77 million acresduring the first 11 months of 2009 alone in

Africa. Countries like Sudan, Mozambique andEthiopia among others are leading in transferring

millions of acres to foreign investors including Chinaand India.

Bryn Fosburgh

Vice-PresidentExecutive Committee Member, Trimble

There are a variety of geospatialactivities centered around landreforms and land information inAffrica today. GIS coupled withGNSS technologies are helpingbuild land information

24


OF CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS

Immature Geospatial Industry With no or rudimentary geospatial activity until a fewyears ago, countries are finding it difficult to get started.Lack of base data is a major concern. And even if avail-able, data is not current and not up to the accuracyrequired. More often than not, companies accept this as aboundary condition. "When we embark on a project, wecapture the data ourselves. Sometimes, we get data fromnational mapping organisations, but they are relativelysmall pockets of data," says Norman Banks. Anothermajor source of data is satellite imagery. Though numer-ous EO satellites are available globally, accessibility ofimagery when needed is still difficult owing to poor ICTfacilities. The spurt in geospatial activity seen in the lastfew years can at best be attributed to foreign direct invest-ments by several private companies and many UN-led ini-tiatives in the region. However at policy level, there aremany good practices. In smaller countries like Ghana andBotswana, committed governments are translating poli-cies into reality quite quickly.

No Large Local Geospatial CompaniesIt does not come as a surprise that Africa does not havehome-grown and large geospatial companies. Severalcompanies in southern and western Africa survived usinglocal capacities and opportunities and so are limited totheir regions. The business model for global geospatialcompanies so far was to work through distributors for acountry or group of countries. The market may be termedas fragmented as there is no single local or global playerdominating the industry in the continent. Bryn Fosburghacknowledges lack of local presence as a major challengefor all geospatial companies. The situation is witnessing achange though, owing to accelerated geospatial activityacross the continent.

Regional ImbalancesOwing to their respective colonial lega-

cies, countries in sub-

Saharan Africa are at various levels of economic growth,creating an air of regional imbalance. For example, whileSouth Africa experiences economic refugees to deal with,other countries in the region see a depletion of theirscarce trained human resources. The same holds true inthe adoption of geospatial technologies. Several inter-governmental organisations and United Nations bodiesare working towards regional integration and their aimsrange from limited cooperation among neighbouringcountries in specific areas to the creation of an Africancommon market. However, these efforts have so far yield-ed limited results.

Civil War Conditions In Certain CountriesPolitical strife, extreme fundamentalism and/or civil warconditions in either parts or whole of the countries likeSudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Somalia,Congo and several other countries are adversely affectingthe economic growth limiting geospatial activity. Warringtribals and ethnic groups fighting for scarce resourcesand opportunities is another common feature in Africa.Recent history points to failures of leadership, unequalcreation and distribution of wealth and mis-governance,making political situation in countries volatile and vulner-able to often long-drawn strife and turmoil. However, thesub-Saharan African countries are relatively stable thantheir northern counterparts.

Lack of Political Will And CorruptionPolitical leadership and decision makers in Africa aremore often than not unaware of the significance ofdeploying geospa-tial technolo-

Dr Hussein O Farah

Director General, RCMRD

There are no immediate benefitsfrom mapping which politicians,decision makers and economistsexpecct and so they fail to connectwith mapping

gies into planning processes. Barring a few exceptionslike Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, governmentcommitment to geospatial technologies is barely visible.This translates into improper mandate and lack of fundsto national mapping organisations and other geospatialdata providers. "Governments are not yet convinced aboutthe importance of modernising these institutions. They donot understand that mapping is the basis for all develop-ment. There are no immediate benefits from mappingwhich politicians, decision makers and economists expectand so they fail to connect with mapping," reasons out DrHussein O Farah, Director General, Regional Centre forMapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD).

"Multilateral and regional organisations meet at peri-odic intervals to assess the situation, make resolutions,give guidelines to member countries and even fund theprojects. But between meetings nothing much happens

often leading to frustration in professionals," lamentsDerek Clarke.

To improve the situation, Dr Joseph Akinyede, Execu-tive Director, ARCSSTEE, recommends professionals tofind their way into policy-making bodies while Derek feelsthe situation can improve only when institutional hierar-chical arrangements are reworked and protectivenessbetween institutions is minimised.

Africa tops world corruption rankings. According to arecent World Bank report, poverty is on the rise in Sub-Saharan Africa and various forms of corruption threatento undermine the impact of investments made to meetthe Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the conti-nent. The 2010 report of Transparency International listssix African nations among the 10 most corrupt countries.Acknowledging rampant corruption, Aida Opoku Mensah,Director-ICT & S&T, ECA, says, "Private companies bribeofficials to get their work done. Government officialsthemselves have several bureaucratic processes to crossbefore they can do something. For this reason, you see avast difference between what a private company can docompared to what a government organisation can accomplish." Also, the high degree of bureaucracy is yetanother challenge the geospatial industry wants to seesimplified.


he test and proof of credibility ofany technology lie with the users.User experience is a measure of the

acceptability and the mark of the maturityof technology. Given the varied awarenessand utility levels of geospatial technology inthe backdrop of diverse economic andsocial conditions across the vast continent,it is daunting to attempt to rank the maturi-ty level of geospatial projects. However,here is a peek into some of the exemplarycase-studies across the continent.

Asset Management: The South AfricanNational Road Agency Ltd (SANRAL) hasinducted an advanced asset managementsystem to assess road conditions on a reg-ular basis to enable their better manage-ment. The system has laser scannersmounted on vans moving at 100 KMPH

and surveying the roads to detect cracksas small as 1 mm, potholes, roughness etcto understand the structural strength, tex-ture and rut of the road, informs LouwKannemeyer, Head-GIS Projects. The sys-tem can log and analyse the data in realtime and feed into a centralised databasethat is used in life-cycle modelling of roads.Disclosing the future plans, Louw says thatSANRAL intends to integrate drive, assetmanagement and traffic management sys-tems together into an intelligent trans-portation system that can give all detailsonline to citizens in real time.

Water utility: Ghana Water Company Ltdhas developed a GIS based system formapping its assets nationwide, to under-take active leakage survey, meter andration water distribution, measure and mon-

itor level of service to consumers, informsRichard Appiah Otoo, GIS Manager. ThisWorld Bank funded project also incorpo-rates a hydraulic network model and facili-tates customer care services. It plans tointroduce GIS into finance, transport, HRDand water quality departments as well.

The National Water and Sewerage Corpo-ration (NWSC) of Uganda also set up anadvanced enterprise level GIS system inKampala City to manage its territory spa-tially. This automated system completelymanages the water supply to the city andalso has an online customer support sys-tem, according to Frank Kizito, DecisionSupport Systems Manager.

Power Utility: The biggest challenge CityPower Johannesburg faced in setting up anenterprise GIS solution was the absence of

Users tell the tale

Aida Opoku Mensah

Director-ICT & S&T, UNECA

Private companies bribe officials to get their work done. Governmentofficials themselves have seveeralbureaucratic processes to crossbefore they can do something

T

Inadequate CapacitiesAs with any nascent industry, geospatial industry in Africais beset with severe lack of professionals except in a fewcountries like South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Namibia andKenya. Countries invest in getting their employees trainedin European institutes like ITC, Netherlands and UK. Toensure maintenance of its projects, World Bank providestraining facilities to the personnel involved. UNECA, RCM-RD, ARCSSTEE, RECTAS are involved in training at variouslevels to improve geospatial capacities. However, thesetrained professionals are finding greener pastures, leav-ing their home countries and national projects in limbo.

WAY TO GO

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)The MDG Africa Steering Group identifies the practicalsteps needed to achieve the Millennium DevelopmentGoals and other internationally agreed development goalsin Africa. It primarily aims to strengthen internationalmechanisms for implementation in the five areas ofhealth, education, agriculture and food security, infra-structure and statistical systems; improve aid predictabil-ity; and enhance coordination at the country level. Accord-ing to African Economic Outlook, the rate of progress on

most of the goals is sluggish. However, MDGs lay down aclear framework, and direction for African countries toformulate their development strategies. They are workingin partnership with several multilateral organisations,IMF, World Bank, African Union Commission, EuropeanCommission and host of other institutions to achievethese goals in the set timeframe.

Regional Initiatives A host of regional and continental level initiatives are pro-viding a clear direction, support, consultancy and capacitybuilding to improve the geospatial capabilities across thecontinent. Prominent among these are the African Refer-ence Frame (AFREF) initiative to develop a unified geodet-ic reference frame for Africa; The African Regional SpatialData Infrastructure for Africa (ARSDI); FundamentalGeospatial Datasets Project to have high quality reposito-


data to populate its electric geodatabase. Itsimulated the missing data using electricalcalculations. "We completed the exercise bysimulating the data, created applicationtools and business processes, made it oper-ational and let the businesses take owner-ship and start maintaining the data," informsDerrick Oliver, GIS Manager. The system isnow operational for nine years. "We see asignificant reduction in the frequency andnumber of outages now. The system is pay-ing for itself and it is a benefit to the busi-ness," he adds.

Eskom, a state-owned electricity genera-tion, transmission and distribution enter-prise in South Africa has a long history ofgeospatial utilisation. With an objective toturn into a spatially enabled utility, Eskomhas introduced geospatial technologies forelectrification planning and design, infra-structure project planning, site selection,

route and corridor selection and also pro-vide information services. Looking beyond,Eskom is planning an enterprise GIS sys-tem to integrate all divisions of Eskom,informs Adri de la Rey.

Land and Property Management: The Inte-grated Spatial Information System beingdeveloped by the city of Cape Town aimsto integrate the current property systemsinto a single integrated cadastre that con-tains spatial (cadastral maps) and non-spa-tial data (deeds information). The systemalso provides property information to othersystems (including SAP) by integratingthem into its database or through automat-ed interfaces. The system clearly lays downthe rights, restrictions and responsibilitiesvis-à-vis each land parcel and integratesabout 75 business processes across theunits, informs Jasper Compion, ProjectManager-ISIS.

Derek Clarke

Chief Director-Survey and Mapping & National Geospatial Information, Department of Land Affairs, South Africa

The situation can improve only when institutional hierarchical arrangements arereworked and prottectivenessbetween institutions are minimised

ry of geospatial datasets; Mapping Africa for Africa initia-tive to bring all appropriate organisations closer andSERVIR Africa integrates satellite observations and pre-dictive models with other geographic information. Howev-er, the private geospatial industry is not a major partnerin any of these initiatives. "The power to innovate is withthe private sector. And governments need to embrace theprivate sector to see many of their initiatives translate intoreality," feels Willy Govender. Also, there is a problem ofplenty. Africa has too many initiatives. "Each ministry cre-ates its own data for their projects. This is leading toduplication while costing the countries and as a resultlimiting the ability of the politicians to see the significantimpact on the transformation capability of geospatialtechnologies," opines Aida. Many resolutions and plans-of-action made by these initiatives are often not bindingand hence run the risk of not translating into action.

Second Mover AdvantageBeing a late starter, Africa clearly has an edge over otherdeveloping nations in Asia and Latin America. To startwith, an enabling environment is being created with theseamless convergence of IT, geospatial and communica-tions technologies. This is evident in countries like Ghana,South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Kenya.According to Aida, this environment is proving conducivefor the growth of geo-enabled businesses that are

indigenous. Secondly,there is clear

evidence ofmain-

streaming of geospatial data and ICT into national andregional development planning. With these prerequisitesin place, governments are building advanced infrastruc-tures rather than going for outdated technologies. Forexample in telecom, the continent essentially grew fromnot having fixed lines to now having wireless networkswhich are far superior to many developed countries."Many other technology platforms can also go that way,"says Willy Govender. Corroborating with Willy, Normanadds, "Govts are responding more positively. We did lot ofprojects for government sector in the recent past and theyrequested for LiDAR surveys as opposed to conventionalaerial surveys. This is proof enough that governments arein fact recognising the benefits in moving to latest tech-nologies."

Collaboration and localisationAfrica is a land of vast diversity in terms of religion, cul-ture and ethnicity. Political systems, economic conditionsand objectives of growth too differ from country to coun-try. In this backdrop, it is prudent to partner and collabo-rate to be part of the vast infrastructure and constructionactivity happening across the continent. Collaboration asits major plank, ECA is driving several geospatial initia-tives across the continent like AFREF and Mapping Africafor Africa. The private sector too in aware that partnershipis the key to success in Africa. "Africa's diversity some-times causes difficulty in collaboration but it can lead tolaying a strong foundation to build a rich geospatial net-work for the continent. Africa as a continent is what wegeospatial professionals need to look at," exudes Bryn. Asgeospatial activity is picking up across the continent,many local companies are getting active and spreadingwings, both in terms of improving their capabilities andreaching out to more territories. Taking the cue, globalgeospatial companies are seeing a sound business sensein imbibing local culture, developing local capacities andtuning their solutions to the local needs.

CONCLUSION

With its sight firmly perched on development, Africa isclearly cognizant of the significance of geospatial technol-ogy and is visibly providing ample opportunities to theworld. It is now the turn of the stakeholders to expand theutility of geospatial technology and collectively raise theprofile of geospatial industry.

Bhanu RekhaAssociate Editor, [email protected]


Willy Govender

Founder & CEO, Data World

The power to innovate is with theprivate sector. Governments needto embrace the private sector to see many of their initiatives translate into reality

28

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APAC Sales:

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The basics haven'tchanged: construc-tion projects oper-

ate in five dimensions schedule, cost and three-dimensional positions.Scheduling and (increas-ing) costs have remainedconstant dimensions;however, in the comingyears, the positioningcomponents geograph-ic information systems(GIS) and geospatial

technology will expandfrom simple positioningto take a wider and deep-er role in the construc-tion and operation ofbuildings and facilities.

Accurate positioningand measurement havealways been primary con-cerns in building and con-struction. Preconstructionsurveys for engineeringand environmental studiesare common tasks;

improvements must beaccurately placed on theland and post-constructionrecords are acquired andmaintained for a variety ofpurposes. Over the pastdecade, conventional sur-veying technologies suchas optical total stationsand global positioning sys-tem or global navigationsatellite system(GPS/GNSS) have done thebulk of the work for

geospatial measurement.In addition to these pri-mary sensors, handhelddevices for measurementand data collection haveplayed a steadily increas-ing role.

While many peopleperceive geospatial tech-nology as georeferenced,high-density data (oftengathered using remotesensing, imagery or scan-ning techniques) combinedwith analytical software, abroader definition workswell for most purposes.For this article, we willdiscuss geospatial tech-nology as the variety ofways used to collect, man-age and utilise geographicinformation. This includeslegacy technologies forpositioning as well as newsystems that are only nowarriving in the market.

BUILDING

AND CONSTRUCTION

ARENA

There are several distinctsegments in the construc-tion industry. Heavy con-struction includes high-ways and transportationsystems, waterworks, util-ities and other infrastruc-ture projects. Buildingconstruction ranges fromlarge industrial, commer-cial and residential build-

CONSTRUCTION I Bryn Fosburgh


New tools to capture and visualise geospatial data are spawning

high-efficiency methods for construcction and operations. As GIS

technology moves indoors, it is creating a wave of new applications

foor contractors, facilities operators and emergency managers

The five-dimensional world

ings down to individualhomes and small businessstructures; these seg-ments include both exteri-or layout and interior fin-ishing. Regardless of size,most projects requiresome grading and sitepreparation. And whilenew construction plays adominant role, redevelop-ment, renovation andrestoration occupy a sig-nificant part of the con-struction industry.

Different types of proj-ects require different con-tractors and skills. Largeconstruction companiesoften deal with long-termprojects covering largegeographic areas andmultiple layers of regula-tory requirements. Smallercompanies focus more onlocal projects with shortertime frames and simplerproject plans.

Systems for measure-ment, management andanalysis of geospatialinformation will be at thecore of the work. But inmany cases, the locationof a given object is justone, sometimes minor,component of the body ofknowledge about thatobject. Parallel to geospa-tial positioning technolo-gies, new systems haveemerged that offer new

applications for buildingand construction. These"adjacent technologies"often do not provide tradi-tional positioning data.Instead, they add value byproviding additional infor-mation and efficiency tothe work of collecting andusing geospatial data.

As a result of thesechanges, many buildingand construction firmshave changed the ways inwhich they utilise position-ing; they no longer operatewith just positions andmeasurements. Instead,they have become multi-layered enterprisesinvolved across multipleaspects of a project.

GEOSPATIAL

TECHNOLOGY IN

CONSTRUCTION

Advances in site position-ing and data managementhave transformed con-struction sites. Aerialmaps and pre-construc-tion surveys are delivereddirectly to designers indigital format. Buildingplans and CAD files areloaded into field comput-ers for layout on site,where professional survey-ors conduct fieldworkusing state-of-the-artinstruments. One of thelargest changes is in

earthwork and grading,where 2D and 3D machinecontrol is providing signifi-cant gains in productivity.A 2006 study in Germanyby Caterpillar, our partnerin construction automa-tion, demonstrated thatautomated constructionsystems provide time sav-ings of more than 50 per-cent and a 43 percentreduction in fuel con-sumption. A separatestudy on machine automa-tion for excavation of apipeline trench was con-ducted in 2008 by theSchool of Science andEngineering at ReykjavíkUniversity. The testshowed that automatedsystems produced savingsof more than 20 percent inmachine time and fuelconsumption and virtually

eliminated costly overex-cavation. In spite of thebenefits, many construc-tion companies have notadopted the newapproaches. Today, the economic cli-mate is driving the changetowards new technology.Construction is a verycompetitive business andproductivity has become afact of life to maintainingmargins. Less productivefirms may fall victim tocompanies that haveinvested in new technolo-gies and processes. Largercompanies have led theway and off-boardautomation (such as site


New "adjacenttechnologies" addvalue by providingadditional informationand efficiency to theworrk of collecting andusing geospatial data

Real-time modelling and visualisation of grading and earthwork

surveys and layout) is thenorm on large sites. Smallto mid-size firms are nowengaging new technolo-gies as well.

The trend of increasedautomation of constructionmachines is closely tied toelectronic design. Conven-tional, paper-based siteplans or plan/profile dia-grams must be convertedto 3D design models of thesite.

The models are thenloaded into a machine'sonboard computer, whichcompares the actual posi-tion of the machineagainst the design dataand provides guidance tothe machine or its opera-tor. As automated process-

es take hold, hard copiesof a site design maybecome redundant. How-ever, this trend is tem-pered by the conservativenature of the constructionbusiness; paper plansremain at the core of manyprojects.

Geospatial systemsalso play an important rolein construction projectplanning. As an example,consider a renovation andupgrade of a commercialbuilding. Using a mobilemapping system, projectowners can create detailed3D models of the buildingand surrounding areas.Visualisation and simula-tion software uses themodels to create realisticimages of the project andits effects on nearby struc-tures. Contractors can usethe images to verify thatthere is adequate clear-ance for trucks, cranesand other large equipmentto travel to the site andoperate safely and effi-

ciently. For retrofit or ren-ovation work, 3D scannerscreate precise models ofexisting, often complex,structures. By using visu-alisation tools with thehighly-detailed 3D models,architects and engineerscan test designs in the vir-tual world before any con-struction takes place. Thisapproach reduces the riskof costly rework whensomething doesn't fit cor-rectly.

Interior commercialconstruction is makingrapid inroads into auto-mated processes usinggeospatial technologies.For example, interiortradesmen can use instruments and tech-niques similar to site surveyors. A worker canlay out and installhangers or floor penetra-tions for mechanical, electrical and plumbing(MEP) before the concretefloors are poured. Thiseliminates the need fordrilling into the freshlypoured floors.

Because the locationsare stored in the projectdatabase, installers canverify that all of the fixtures have been marked and installedbefore concrete is poured.There may be hundreds ofhangers and penetrationsin a single floor, so thetime savings from theautomated layout areenormous.

MATERIALS IN MOTION:

THE FIVE DIMENSIONS

OF CONSTRUCTION

Asset and material man-agement provide animportant opportunity forefficiency on constructionprojects. Consider a vehi-cle dispatch system thatuses GPS to track thelocation of a dump truckand plan efficient routesfor the truck's tasks. Thisis typically a 2-D approach

a simple spot on a map.Much more can be done insuch a situation. By usinga mobile asset manage-ment system, it is possibleto augment the truck'slocation and speed withinformation about its con-dition. Sensors on thetruck can report tempera-tures, fluid levels, hours ofoperation and otherparameters. This informa-tion can be cross-refer-enced against the truck'smaintenance record. Anyproblems can be caughtearly and unneeded orduplicative maintenanceavoided.

For materials manage-ment, a contractor'sobjective is to have thenecessary materials in theright place at the righttime. The geospatialapproach to trackingbuilding materials com-bines positioning withinventory management. Togather this data, we cancombine RFID tagging withsimple, compact GPS


Interior commercialconstruction is makingrapid inroads intoautomated processesusing geospatialtechnologies

3D visualisation

devices. For volumes ofexcavations and stockpiles,scanners and imaging sys-tems can produce accu-rate measurements in afraction of the timerequired for aerial photosor ground surveys.

A GEOSPATIAL

EXAMPLE: CONSTRUC-

TION FOR ENERGY

DEVELOPMENT

The capability of geospa-tial technologies is evidentin the development ofenergy resources such asoil and natural gas. Anenergy project can coverthousands of square kilo-

meters and requires accu-rate information both atlarge-scale and detailedlevels. Developing theresources calls for a vari-ety of construction anddevelopment disciplines.

Resource explorationand location is often doneusing mapping-grade GPSsystems. Aerial imagery,including satellite images,provides base maps forplanning access roads andpipelines. As well sites andpipeline routes are select-ed, technicians use map-ping-grade GPS to locateareas affected by environ-mental or cultural regula-

tions. Survey-grade meas-urements are needed todetermine cadastral infor-mation for leasing andrights-of-way and to cre-ate engineering maps forroad crossings and othercomplex areas.

The information gath-ered by the various sen-sors becomes part of a GISthat lies at the core of theproject. Data from differ-ent locations can be com-pared and cross-refer-enced to ensure accuracyand consistency across thedevelopment. The GIS filescan be shared among per-mitting and regulatoryagencies as well as thevarious construction andproduction companies on aproject. As constructionprogresses, GIS operatorscollect position and attrib-ute information for thenew installations. Thedetail is staggering: everypump, valve, pipeline jointand feature is located,often to survey accuracy.Many objects are taggedwith RFID, bar codes orsimple nameplates. Thetags contain serial num-bers and other non-posi-tional information thatbecomes part of theobject's operations andmaintenance record.

BUILDING INFORMATION

MODELS: GIS MOVES

INDOORS

The technology is emerg-ing to bring indoor infor-

mation systems to thesame level as conventionalGIS. From the geospatialpoint of view, buildings planned or existing arevery dense datasets. Evenfor a small building, thestructure, furnishings andequipment represent alarge number of objects.

Building informationmodels (BIM) containthree- and four-dimen-sional information aboutall aspects of a building.This includes the physicalstructure (i.e., the build-ing's construction plans)and the various mechani-cal and utility systems thatenable the building tooperate. By using BIM andvisualisation tools, opera-tors can develop 3D viewsof any location in a build-ing. BIM information isuseful for more than assetmanagement. In an emer-gency, BIM can give firstresponders informationabout a structure's layout,emergency equipment andshutoff points as well asroutes for ingress andegress. If a loop in a waterline has been shut downfor maintenance, fire fight-ers will know about it and


The capabilityof geospatialtechnologies isevident in the devel-opment of energyresources suchh as oiland natural gas.

Interior stakeout of building components

won't waste time trying toconnect to nonfunctionalhydrants.

Specialised geospatialtechnologies haveemerged to gather thedata that feed BIM. 3Dscanning is becomingcommon and technicianscan use the resultantmodels to identify specificobjects in a building andconvert them to CAD enti-ties. Temporal informationis vital to any constructionand management opera-tion. Instead of a one-timemeasurement to install orlocate an object, stake-holders have the ability toconduct ongoing mainte-nance of a project's data-base. A building managercould use BIM to create atime-based view of abuilding's fire control sys-tems; the view highlights

any fire extinguishers thathave not been inspected inthe past year.

In traditional construc-tion, building plans can godormant when construc-tion is completed. By con-trast, BIM remains activeas part of the buildingmanagement toolbox. Thebuilding operates in thesame way as a city orregion that has a well-maintained GIS: the BIMkeeps track of records,operations, maintenanceand renovations. Anychanges or additions tothe building take placefirst in the 3D model,where designers can walkthrough the virtual build-ing and look for problemsbefore spending money onconstruction. Buildingconstruction is a highlycollaborative environmentand BIM can serve as ahub for the collaboration.Because stakeholders lookat data in so many differ-ent ways, we must be ableto bring informationtogether to give visibilitythroughout the construc-tion enterprise.

THE FOUNDATION:

CONNECTIVITY

Throughout the variousstages of a project, man-agers make decisions thataffect the productivity andprofitability of the project.The key to making gooddecisions is to supplystakeholders with accurateenterprise and situationalawareness.

As we look at the vari-ety of applications forgeospatial technology inconstruction, the commonthread is the need forcommunications at multi-ple levels. Field data com-munications systems carryraw measurements to theoffice workstations. Officenetworks move informa-tion to technicians andstakeholders in local andremote locations. Results,reports and recommenda-tions are required in spe-cialised formats and mul-tiple languages. The flowof information must beconsistent, reliable andomnidirectional. Decisionsmade in distant officesaffect the daily activities ofworkers on the construc-tion site; any errors orambiguity in communica-tion can result in expen-sive delays or rework.

As wireless communi-cations become more per-vasive, it is possible to pro-vide real-time visibility intothe decision process tomore stakeholders. Manygeospatial systems

include capabilities fordirect communications,including cellularmodems, wireless net-works or hardwire Internetaccess. In developingnations, the rapid emer-gence of wireless net-works is an important fac-tor. These countries haveskipped the so-called"copper generation" ofhardwire communicationsand gone directly to themature technology of wire-less communications. As aresult, communicationssystems can grow fasterand at lower cost. Theonce-remote constructionsites can be easily reachedvia wireless communica-tions. Similarly, BIM tech-nology has been throughseveral cycles of refine-ment. As measurementsystems continue to com-bine with data manage-ment and integration,opportunities will expandfor geospatial technologyin the building and con-struction arenas. Thefuture belongs to a virtualworld in which our cus-tomers can visit any pointon their construction sites,buildings or facilities. Itwill be possible to "see" without the need to physi-cally travel to the site thecondition and status of thestructures, materials,tools and personnel.

Bryn FosburghSenior President - Engineering & Con-struction, Emerging Markets Trimble


Simulation of an emergency response

The key to makinggood decisions is tosupply stakeholderswith accurateenterprise andsituationaal awareness


INTERVIEW I Brian L. Bullock

What are the major products andservices offered by Intermap?

Intermap commercially exploits atechnology called InterferometricSynthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR) tocreate national and continent-widetopographic databases. Back in 1997,this technology was quite new and ittook about five years for the technolo-gy to mature.

Kindly shed light on the rationalebehind creating nation-wide orcontinent-wide products like 3Dmap you are preparing forNEXTMap, given that they areoff-the-shelf packages?

In 1998, we observed that ournation was not well mapped from thetopographic point of view. Advancednations had a conglomeration ofmaps which have been made overmany decades. Many of them are noweither out-of-date or made with obso-lete technologies. This made usrealise the need for relevant and uni-form/consistent GPS coverage of theentire nation. We felt that such adatabase will enable a number of newapplications and enhance geospatialawareness across the world.

How has been the response toNEXTMap USA?

Britain was completed in 2003 andthe rest of Europe in 2009. US was thelast country to be completed, just sixmonths back.

The advent of Internet-enabledgeospatial applications like GoogleEarth, Mapquest and Bing Maps has

made people much more location andnavigation aware. A decade ago, GISmaps were primarily used by profes-sionals. Now, there are over 100 mil-lion consumers using maps on web-sites, cellphones, in-car navigationsystems and so on. There has been asignificant explosion in the use ofgeospatial data over the last decadeand we believe that the next move-ment that will take place in the com-ing decade where people will demandmore and more geospatial accuracy.Right now, a lot of data does not havethe requisite accuracy.

How unique is IFSAR in comparisonwith LiDAR or other latest technolo-gies?

IFSAR is particularly well suitedfor measuring large areas rapidly andat a relatively low cost, almost 20times less than LiDAR. It is not themost accurate technology. LiDAR canget higher resolution but is difficult todeploy LiDAR on a continental scale.The swath width is too low and flyingaltitudes are too low. On the otherhand, with IFSAR one can map anentire nation like the US in four years.IFSAR enabled continent-wide map-ping at just below one metre verticalaccuracy. In the case of Europe andthe US, the accuracy has turned outto about 2/3rd of the metre.

Which particular applications hasIFSAR targeted?

The database consists of threecomponents. The digital surface mod-el includes building tops, trees, etc.

That is the first reflected surface forradar and there is measurement forevery five metres on the ground so itis a very dense grid for a nation-wideproduct. The second product isderived from the digital terrain modelwhere we remove trees and buildingsusing computer algorithms and anediting workforce. The third productis the orthorectified radar imagewhich has rectified image of theentire continent. Its horizontal accu-racy is approximately two metres. Thegeospatial framework is establishedin x, y and z dimensions with x and ydimensions being accurate to twometres across the entire continentand vertical accuracy being onemetre. Once our databases are com-plete, all kinds of derived productscan be obtained from there.

Our first customer was an insur-ance company with requirements inflood risk. With water being subject tothird dimension, an accurate eleva-tion is essential to protect flood-prone areas. Through an enhancedelevation model, customers can makea better flood model which will allowthem to understand and manage theirrisk portfolio. Thus, within five years,the original sponsor of NEXTMapBritain secured a fifteen-fold returnon investment. It was a huge successfor them and led to generation ofinterest from a lot of other insurancecompanies. This is one of the keymarkets that we are exploiting both inEurope and the US.

Another key early market wastelecom. The transition from ordinary

A world of images

phones to smartphones has led to ahuge demand for build-ing more data capacityinto the networks. Car-riers are looking at theexisting towers andadding more and moremicrowave linksbetween those towersto allow all these datato move around. A keyquestion is whether alink is possible betweentowers A and B or is itblocked by obstructionssuch as trees or build-ings. Since NEXTMaphas a surface model, ithas proved invaluable in addressingthis issue and is helping telecomcompanies determine beforehandwhether a link is possible betweendifferent towers.

What is coming up next in terms ofNEXTMap?

We launched a fun consumerapplication in 2009. We wanted to seeif consumers would enjoy having bet-ter maps on recreational devices. Wecreated value added maps for theoutdoor recreation market and calledthat product AccuTerra. This applica-tion makes outdoor recreation muchmore enjoyable because one cantrack their progress, geotag all thepictures which get automaticallysaved in albums. Users can replayadventures like hiking, bike-rides or ageo-caching activity. They can also

post it on social networking websitesor email it. A lot of activities are happening onsocial networking sites like Face-book, Foursquare which are centredaround data. How do you see thetechnology market after a decade?

To me, it is very amazing. I havebeen in this industry for most of mycareer. The ability to move data onInternet, high-speed links, huge stor-age capacity, terabytes on a PC - I donot think this would have been possi-ble fifteen years ago. Processorspeed, storage and connection speedhave made it possible to move enor-mous amount of image data andgeospatial data around.

We are not dependent on some ofthe compression technologies of thepast. In the last decade, everybodyworked on vector lines and polygons

because raster images were toodense for the computers of thosetimes to handle. Looking ahead in thedecade, processor speed and storagewill continue to get cheaper and wewill continue to find ways to removeboundaries and do more with less. Weare still creating vector lines andpolygons which are probably on theirway out.

We will have more maps that willbe image maps. One can see them onGoogle Earth for example. Thosemaps are really quite useful if onehas the right additional data alongwith it. I believe that fundamentallywe are going more into an imageworld. Remote sensing satellites willbenefit from advancements in com-puter processor storage. Also, moreand more data needs to be insertedinto an accurate geospatial frame-


Brian L. BullockChairmanIntermap Technologies

work like NEXTMap. This wouldenable whole continents or nations tobe linked together. I believe this willhappen over the next decade.

You have mentioned that a decadeago the geospatial market was justUSD 5 billion and today it is abboutUSD 40 billion, the majority compo-nent being data. Taking it little for-ward, 10 years down tthe line, howdo you see the business trend?

What surprises me about the lastdecade are the two disruptivechanges I mentioned. First is theavailability of geospatial data on theInternet to enable location-basedadvertising. It is amazing how quicklyit took off and emerged as an enor-mous market. Even through exactmarket size is not easy to come by, Ihave seen reports estimating aboutUSD 20 billion annually for location-based advertising. The second is thecreation of what is essentially a digi-tised road map or a road atlas thathas addresses, point of interests, turninstructions, which enabled electronicrouting and created the market for

handheld GPS devices as well as in-dash GPS navigation systems. Thesize of this industry has also grown toabout USD 20 billion per year.

These are consumer driven mar-kets, putting up with pretty roughdata in terms of geospatial accuracy. Ibelieve this is going to change. Moreand more applications for the datawill emerge. As the data becomesstronger and more robust, people inother industries will also be keen touse this data. I also perceive that gov-ernment-sponsored mapping pro-grammes will decline in this decade.There will be so much happening atconsumer and commercial levels thatit will not really make sense for gov-ernments to do that kind of work any-more. But growth in commercial pro-grammes will continue to accelerate.

The whole world, especially thegeospatial industry is looking atinvesting in Asian markets like Chi-na and India because these areemerging economies and areinvesting in building their infra-struucture. How are these countries

responding to map and geographicdata?

I am hopeful that at some point oftime, NEXTMap India could become areality. This can be possible only withgovernment support. Geospatial datain India is controlled by the govern-ment. It is the government that needsto welcome a business drivenapproach. Another requirement forthis business model is intellectualproperty security. Business modelsdon't work if people can just copy it.Secure IP rights are essential if abusiness is going to invest hundredsof millions of dollars and then plan tosell millions of products for a fewdollars each. I am very interested inChina and it is the world's secondlargest economy. I am visiting Beijingshortly to talk to a couple of mappingcompanies in China to explore thepossibility of NEXTMap China. Wehave started in South-East Asia. Wehave covered half of Indonesia and allof Malaysia. We have done about one-third of the Philippines. So, Asia ispart of our NEXTtMap program. It isnow a question of whether the hostgovernments in other countries wantto see this happen.

Is there any plan to localise yourcapability and create R&D facility inthese countries?

We did exactly this in South-EastAsia and created a production centreboth in Indonesia and Malaysia. Thedata there was created by local peo-ple. In fact many amongst those peo-ple worked in the US and with Euro-pean data as well. We also used someIndian companies to help with thedata in the US. We partner with localcompanies and seek permission ofthe government in order to createour databases.


AccuTerra

The Karnataka StateCouncil for Scienceand Technology

(KSCST) was establishedin 1975 with the goal toimprove the quality of lifefor the people of Kar-nataka, a state in thesouthern part of India.The Council seeks toencourage cooperationbetween various govern-

ment organisations andresearch institutions thatendeavour to relieverural unemployment andpoverty in the state.

The Council bringstogether governmentadministrators, districtlevel officers, scientistsand technologists whoshare the common goal ofdeveloping cost-effective,

sustainable technologiesand programmes support-ing economy, ecology andhuman populations in thestate of Karnataka. Thiswas the first council of itskind in the country andserves as a role model forestablishing state councilsacross India.

Over the last 35 years,the Council has completed

several projects in varioussectors including energy,environment, housing,agriculture, health, waterand information andresource management.Success stories includeunique projects such asenergy planning to supportcooking and lighting, ahouse numbering systemfor Bangalore city, rainwa-ter harvesting andimprovements to handpumps for drinking waterwells and more.

EMPOWERING LOCAL

LEVEL PLANNING

Over the years, the world-wide trend for planningand decision-making hasbegun to move from amacro level to micro (orlocal) level planning andthis is the case in Karnata-ka. The state of Karnatakais composed of 29 districts,with each district brokendown into sub-districts

CASE STUDY / KARNATAKA SDI


‘State’-of-the-art data sharing

Karnataka geoportal launch at NSDI-9

THE KARNATAKA STATE SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE (KSSDI) WAS PLANNED

AS A JOINT PROJECT BETWEEN NATURAL RESOURCES DATA MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM AND THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIAN STATE OF KARNATAKA, TO BE AN

INTERNET-BASED GEOSPATIAL DATA DIRECTORY FOR THE ENTIRE STATE. IT AIMS

TO IMPLEMENT A CENTRALISED HUB AND SINGLE-WINDOW ACCESS MECHANISM

TO ASSIST USERS DISCOVERING GEOSPATIAL DATASETS

(known as taluks), and vil-lages within the taluks.The Council recognisedthat inventory and avail-ability of both spatial andnon-spatial data would becrucial to local planningacross Karnataka, andthus defined the need for acomprehensive data man-agement system for easyaccess of data and infor-mation.

In 1992, the KarnatakaNatural Resources DataManagement System(NRDMS) was establishedto promote the use of spa-tial data management andanalysis in local area plan-ning. District NRDMS cen-tres were established ineach state district, taskedwith empowering localcommunities to makeinformed decisions inlocal-level planning initia-tives. NRDMS centres pro-vide custom applications,value-added information,training and support toplanners and administra-tors in local governments.

GEOPORTAL AND

CLEARINGHOUSE

District NRDMS centresinitially provided geospatialservices to users throughindependent systems. Thisstovepipe method meantthat data that could not

easily be shared betweenother systems within thestate. Recognising thepower of centralisation, theKarnataka State SpatialData Infrastructure (KSS-DI) was planned as a jointproject between NRDMSand the government ofKarnataka, to be an Inter-net-based geospatial datadirectory for the entirestate.

H. Hemanth Kumar,lead Project Investigator atNRDMS, says “The goal isto implement a centralisedhub and single-windowaccess mechanism toassist users discoveringgeospatial datasets. Thisultimately will beimmensely useful in localplanning initiatives acrossthe state.” This gatewaywill also allow for variousdata generating agenciesto share informationacross government organi-sations, scientific organi-sations and industry.

Specifically, the projectsought to create a web-based geoportal, imple-menting Open GeospatialConsortium (OGC) andInternational Organizationfor Standardization (ISO)standards; and a clearing-house for spatial data gen-erated by various agenciesof the government of Kar-

nataka.

KARNATAKA

GEOPORTAL

MAP VIEWER

This map viewdemonstratesan attributequery on theDistrict layer,highlightingdistricts withtotal popula-tion of morethan 25000.The AttributeQuery SubModule pro-vides the abil-ity to selectmultiple lay-ers with or without spatialjoin and operators withinput values to generateresults and view them tooon map.

The KSSDI projectrequired a solution to cat-alog vast stores of distrib-uted geospatial data, andmake this data availablevia OGC compliant Webservices. The portalenables organisation todescribe, catalogue,search, discover andsecurely disseminate mas-sive volumes of data. KSS-DI implements StandardOGC services includingcomprehensive Web Map-ping Service (WMS), Web

Coverage Service (WCS),Catalog Service for theWeb (CS-W), Web FeatureService (WFS), Web MapContext (WMC), Web Pro-cessing Service (WPS) andISO 19115/19139 metadata


Empowering local level planning

Imag

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asy:

L R

ay W

itlin

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ank

standards. The KSSDIproject, with OGC compli-ant ERDAS Apollo man-ages geospatial dataacross multiple depart-ments or offices. It servesas a core component ofthe spatial data infrastruc-ture at KSSDI, and isresponsible for securelycataloging all of the state’sgeospatial data and deliv-ering it over the web viaweb services, includingOGC-compliant WMS, WFSand WCS. Web servicesare made available to acustom front end, or mayalso be accessed via Uni-versal Resource Locator(URL) into major geospa-tial software applications.“The Geo Portal Map View-er application enables our KSSDI usersto consume OGC-compli-ant Portal services as wellas other data and web

services,” said HemanthKumar.

Existing business sys-tems, including one thatenables users to requestpublishing or download ofdata, were integrated with the portal. On theback-end, KSSDI has also implemented an Oracle-based RDBMS,along with a security module and a mail server.These systems have alsobeen closely integratedwith the portal to supportthe clearinghouse busi-ness processes. “ERDASApollo is a powerful cata-logue that enables thecentralisation of rich,geospatial metadata andcomplex searches ofassets,” said KaushikChakraborty, Vice Presi-dent, Asia Pacific, ERDAS.“A host of standard OGCweb services are imple-

mented as the primary usecase for accessing data,and the solution supportsdelivery into both customand well-known front endclients.”

PROJECT STATUS

The first phase of the KSSDI project is alreadyunderway, with useracceptance testing inprogress. Clearinghousedata published includesspatial data with attributesfor political and adminis-trative boundaries, stategeography, demography,agriculture, economy,resources and infrastruc-ture.

The plan is to publishboth raster and vectordata, but in the beginningthe majority of availabledata will be vectors storedand served from Oracle.For imagery provision, the

KSSDI will initially be sup-ported by integration ofGoogle Maps into the cus-tom Apollo front end.“TheKarnataka NRDMS pro-gramme is a role modelfor all other states,” addsKumar.

“For the first time inthe country, spatial datafor decision-making hasbeen institutionalised.Decision makers havebeen extensively usingNRDMS centres forgeospatial services.” In the future, the goal is toextend the site to supportonline data sales, whichwill ultimately contributeto state revenue genera-tion. For more informationon the NRDMS, one can visit http://kscst.org.in/nrdms.htmlAmy ZellerERDAS APOLLO Product [email protected]


KARNATAKA GEOPORTAL MAP VIEWER• Displays state division and district boundaries by default

• Layer tab displays list of layers that can be made visible at various map

scales

• User has ability to switch layers on and off

• Map displays include overview and Google map layer

This map view demonstrates an attribute query on the District layer, highlighting districts with total population > 25000. The Attribute QuerySub Module provides the ability to select multiple layers to generate resultsand view them on map


INTERVIEW I Ing. Carlos Salman Gonzalez

Can you tell us about the products and servicesprovided by Sistemas De Información Geografica, S.A??

Sistemas De Información Geografica, S.A (SIGSA) startedin 1980 as a mapping company. Initially, our servicesincluded photogrammetry mapping, map editing, publish-ing and also printing. We produced large scale maps forurban and rural cadastral applications. We also offeredservices for field completion in cadastral processes. Whenthe company was 8-9 years into its operations, we becameMexican distributors for ESRI ArcInfo.

While we have undertaken some activities in other

regions of Latin America, our key focus area is Mexico. InMexico, we have been very active with State governmentsand municipal governments. Our focus areas are theenergy sector including oil and electricity companies, util-ities including water and gas and also telecom.

SIGSA provides services on various platforms like Web,enterprise GIS etc. What is the level of acceeptability ofthis new kind of technology in Mexico?

Right now it is well accepted but in the beginning it wasnot so. To be successful in GIS, one needs to adopt a 10-point approach.

The primary requirement is design. Second comesdata, not only in terms of map but research into the own-ership of land parcels or data integration. Third is the dataworkflow - how the data is transforming into informationincluding the software that are needed. Then comesequipment. Fifth is trained manpower to operate GIS. Weare very clear that successful and efficient GIS needs peo-ple who are trained. One cannot leave everything to out-sourcing. Then comes inter-organisation coordination.Even if trained manpower is available, one needs propercoordination among different departments of a city likemunicipality, cadastral, urban development or tax collec-tion. The political and technical leadership comes at sev-enth position. Often there are political clashes betweendifferent agencies and there is requirement of clearunderstanding of who is the champion of the project.Quality control and performance measurement take thenext position. There should be a clarity on exactly why thesystem is required - tax collection for example - andwhether the system is delivering. Number 9 is actualusage of the system. Sometimes potential users in devel-oping countries buy the system but they do not use it. Lastbut not the least is updation.

This is also our approach at SIGSA. Though we are aprivate company, we are focussed on the development ofMexico. That is the reason for the existence of SIGSA.

Project Mexican

development

Ing. Carlos Salman GonzalezDirector General

Sistemas De Información Geografica, S.A. DE C.V., Mexico

45

What are the challenge areas?

Where data is concerned, data/map production is not achallenge but the challenge is in field completion. This isbecause of paucity of adequately trained technicians whocan be sent to the field and conduct research aboutparcels etc. Human resource is another challenge - theagencies designing GIS can spend huge amounts of mon-ey on hardware and software but they don't want to employpeople because there is a trend to downsize. GIS is use-less if one doesn't have employees that can take advan-tage of it. The other challenge is making different depart-ments work together as they don't cooperate with eachother. Finally, political leadership is a big challenge. Themayor / leader of the city should be aware that he has toorchestrate the work of different employees.

You have undertaken a national-scale project calledProjecto Mexico. Kindly elaborate on it.

In 1999, the Gulf of Mexico was heavily flooded. I wasdeeply shocked to see the loss of people and property andwanted to do something about it. SIGSA organised a GISfor emergency management campaign and brought to theforefront the issue of map availability. At that time, INEGI,the national mapping agency, was focussed on the cadas-tral projects rather than undertaking the mapping thatwas needed for this kind of emergency management. Also,they were not provided sufficient resources. In such a situ-ation, we decided to produce a cartographic structure ofMexico at 1:10,000/ 1:20,000 scale and sell it as a licensedproduct. At the onset, it did not seem a practical thing todo because we had no customers and no precedence. Butwe decided to do it nevertheless because we realised thatthe country will need these maps in crisis. We will be fin-ishing the project this year.

SIGSA is a private company, and the mandate to pre-pare maps is that of national mapping agencies. Wereyou allowed to prepare maps at 1: 20,000 scale?

We do not face such limitation in Mexico. In the past, sucha limitation was there because the maps were prepared bythe Army. Now however map production is in civiliandomain and these agencies are very open-minded andsupportive. They want Mexicans to have a lot of informa-tion and statistical maps for development. They have madeavailable a lot of geodetic data. They make the guidelinesand specifications to try to have a more focussed andquality approach to mapping.

Howawareand knowl-edgeable is thepolitical leadershipor bureaucracy at variousgovernment levells like feder-al, state and provincial govern-ments to ensure right kind of policiesfor the growthh of geospatial industry?

More than trying to help the industry per se, they arebecoming aware of the advantages of using geographicinformation systems / geospatial technologies for theapplications. In the past, Mexico has witnessed a lot ofrepercussions of bad policies. So this awareness can be awelcome step.

SIGSA undertakes a lot of capacity building activities.What is the mission behind this?

We do focus a lot on capacity building. We have been pro-viding training for 15 years and train more than 4000 peo-ple every year. We strongly believe that there is no point ininducting GIS in an organization if it doesn't get used. Also,technology has to be pervasive and transparent - some-thing like a cellular phone where one doesn't always knowthe technology behind it, but can just push some buttonsand get the functionality.

We are also involved in geospatial education at under-graduate and postgraduate level. We receive lot of stu-dents and we show them our work. In association withEsri, we have donated software to universities that can beused for training.

What are the other focus areas for SIGSA?One of our main focus areas is process development. I feelfrustrated that we have not succeeded in the way we hadset out to. My purpose of starting this company was notfinancial benefit or even map making in itself. The dreamof me, my trainers and like-minded people has been thatMexico could use the land and water towards social devel-opment - to produce enough food so that children arehealthy, smart and well educated. The reason this has not happened is because we didn't see the processes. It is not maps or mapping or even GIS, but the government processes which are not efficientbut are corrupt. The focus of SIGSA, besides GIS, is toexpand our platform through government processes man-agement.


n elegant ceremony marked the inaugural ofGeospatial World Forum 2011, organised by GISDevelopment in Hyderabad, India during January

18-21, 2011. The event saw the confluence of diversestakeholders in geospatial sector discussing the 'Dimen-sions and Directions of Geospatial Industry.'

Calling on the geospatial professionals to unleash thepower of geospatial information, chief guest Kapil Sibal,Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences;Human Resources Development; and Communicationsand Information Technology pointed out that any technol-ogy, including geospatial technology, is an enabler and avehicle through which information could be delivered tothe citizens, empowering them. The national geospatial

data authority bill, which is in the anvil, will be a greatstep in this direction, he opined.

Information is public good and the governmentstrongly believes in making 75-80 percent of geospatialinformation available to the citizens subject to securityconcerns, the minister said. To empower common peoplewith this information, Sibal said the government is work-ing on a framework of licensing and a regulatory policywhich would streamline the activities of geospatial sec-tor. He called on the industry to be an equal partner incommunicating the meaning and utility of geospatialtechnology to one and all and exuded confidence thatIndia will be a breeding ground of geospatial solutions inthe future.

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Geospatial World II February 201146

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Geospatial World II February 2011 47

POLITICAL SUPPORT

Detailing the high level of awareness and commitmenttowards geospatial technology at the highest level of poli-cy making in the country, Dr K Kasturirangan, Member,Planning Commission, said that geospatial industry inIndia has several supporters including Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and Deputy Chairman of PlanningCommission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and added that thePrime minister has mandated the Planning Commissionto use geospatial tech for national development in thesubsequent Five Year Plan. He called on the citizens todemand development and create a participatory move-ment for more geographic data.

Earlier, welcoming the gathering, Dr MP Narayanan,Chairman, GIS Development, outlined the core philosophyof the Forum in bringing together all the stakeholders ofgeospatial industry - policy makes, professionals, indus-try and the academia - to raise the awareness levelsabout the increasing relevance of geospatial technology inevery day life. Atul D Tayal, Joint Managing Director, RoltaIndia Ltd delivered the message of KK Singh, PresidentAssociation of Geospatial Industries and Chairman, RoltaGroup. He said that while on one hand technology has

enabled the production of quality geospatial information,on the other more than half of the world still remains tobe mapped, giving a huge opportunity for the geospatialindustry, he said.

Emeritus Prof Fraser Taylor, Chairman, UN Interna-tional Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM)outlined the need to enable more effective data sharingamong stewards of locationally referenced data; enable agreater degree of interoperability between and amongdatasets; make location data an integrated part of main-stream ICT and not a standalone system; link geographicinformation more effectively with socio-economic infor-mation; effective spatial management of geospatial infor-mation.

Calling climate change as the greatest challenge ofthe century, Dr Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Ministry ofEarth Sciences, Government of India enumerated the sig-nificance of geospatial technology in understanding thecomplex interaction between and among different compo-nents like atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryos-phere etc. Ocean and seabed mapping is the next big fron-tier for geospatial industry as future generations willincreasingly depend on ocean for their resources, he said.

PLENARY SESSIONS

The ffiirrsstt pplleennaarryy sseessssiioonn, chaired by Dr Shailesh Nayak,witnessed Ola Rollen, President & Chief Executive Officer,Hexagon AB, Sweden and Jeff Jonas, Distinguished Engi-neer and chief Scientist Entity IBM, USA share their views.Ola highlighted the need for dynamic GIS, that is, combin-ing accurate maps with trackers. Giving examples of theapplication areas of GIS in future, Rollen talked about theagriculture market and explained how we can use thistechnology to improve this sector. Jeff Jonas introducedthe audience to terms like 'sensemaking on streams' andcalled upon companies to evaluate new informationagainst previous information, as and when it arrives.

In PPlleennaarryy IIII, Jill Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Digi-

talGlobe, observed that collaboration with geospatialtechnologies is enabling dealing with various challengingareas including environment, economic and social chal-lenges. The session was chaired by Lt. Gen. N. B. Singh,VSM, Director General of Information System (DGIS), Indiawho said that geospatial database is a tool to developinteractive maps that can be manipulated digitally forreal-time situational awareness. Bryn A Fosburgh, SectorPresident -Engineering & Construction Emerging Mar-kets, Trimble, talked about emerging dimensions in theconstruction world. He said that the five dimensions ofconstruction have not changed over time, however,method of modeling, collecting, measuring and managingof the construction work has changed dramatically.Rajesh V Mathur, Vice Chairman, NIIT GIS, India talkedabout a new emerging trend on the horizon of geospatialtechnology, that is Geodesign - intersection of geographyand design. Through an interactive presentation, Mathurdemonstrated how GIS will remain at the centre of thecore practice of geodesign.

The PPlleennaarryy PPaanneell DDiissccuussssiioonn saw industry stalwartsdeliberate upon the dimensions and directions of thegeospatial industry. Session chair Dr. Vanessa LawrenceCB observed that geospatial industry is fast becomingpart of the mainstream industry worldwide. In his addressto the audience through a video presentation, Jack Dan-germond, President, Esri, shared his vision on the newmodality of the geospatial industry that builds uponenhanced sharing of knowledge and data as technologiesevolve. Dr. BVR Mohan Reddy, Chairman and ManagingDirector, Infotech Enterprises, India concluded that theindustry needs to ensure that they deliver value to cus-tomers. Absence of the same will impact not just onecompany but the industry. Brian Bullock, Chairman,


Awards

Geospatial World Forum 2011 recognised the exemplary contributionsmade by organisations and professionals to the growth of geospatialtechnology and industry around the world. The following organisa-tions/professionals bagged the GIS Development awards-

• Premier Mapping Agency: Natural Resources Canada

• Education / Capacity Building for geospatial technology:Department of Geography, University Of California, SantaBarbara (Dr. Val Noronah)

• Geospatial Personality of Decade: Vanessa Lawrence CB,Director General and Chief Executive, Ordnance Survey, UK

• Leading Professional Society: International CartographicAssociation (ICA)

• World Leaders in Geospatial Technology: Rolta Group

• Lifetime Achievement : Dr. K Kasturirangan

Intermap Technologies, US observed that the next decadewill witness an even larger explosion of data. He identifiedthe next dimension as higher accuracy and more growthas the direction. Matthew O' Connell, CEO, President andDirector, GeoEye, identified trends that are defining thedirection for the geospatial industry. These are increasedreliance on satellite imagery by governments around theworld, users increasingly wanting services that will helpthem make decisions using geospatial information andusers wanting easy access to flawless geospatial infor-mation any time, on demand through Internet. KanwarChadha, Founder, SiRF Technologies discussed thetrends in geospatial industry from consumer perspectiveand discussed the impact of cloud content and relevantlocation on geospatial industry.

In PPlleennaarryy IIIIII, Prashant Shukle, Director-GeneralMapping Info, Natural Resources, Canada, delivering theLate Dr Robert Moses Memorial Lecture instituted byOpen Geospatial Consortium, recalled the commitment ofLate Dr Robert Moses to the field. He called for the bridg-ing of the divide between those who understand the pow-er of geospatial technologies and those who do not. Jur-gen Dold, President and CEO of Leica Geosystems,reminded everyone that there is no 'spare earth.' Heunderlined the importance of dynamic updation of GIS tocapture reality and create infrastructure, manage andshare it. Shankar Aggarwal, IAS, Joint Secretary, Depart-ment of Information Technology, Ministry of Communica-tion and Information Technology, Government of India,spoke about the Application of GIS in National e-Gover-nance Plan. Manny Rios, Senior Vice President, P&CUnderwriting, USAA, United States, spoke about the ini-tiative of the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foun-dation that was established in the United States as a not-


Geospatial Excellence Awards

Category Awardee

Agriculture Cane Smile - Mitr Phol Sugar Group, Thailand

Business Intelligence

Ministry of Municipalities & Agriculture Affairs - Bahrain

Governance NIC, MP - India

Transport Management

Taipei City, Taiwan - China

Utility Penang State Subterranean Data Bank - Malaysia

Mining & exploration Anglo Platinum South Africa

Energy and Power Distribution

Spectra Energy, United States

Telecommunication Bharati AirTel, India

Land & resources management

Taranaki Regional Council, New Zealand

Geospatial Policies and Programme

Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC, Abu Dhabi)

Geospatial Innovation Awards

Category Awardee

3D Avineon - India

Photogrammetry Microsoft Vexcel Imaging

Mobile Mapping Dataworld - India

Remote Sensing DigitalGlobe - 8 Band World View II

Web GIS Aalto University, Finland

LiDAR Terrasolid, Finland


for-profit organisation. The vision of the organization wasto ensure greater use of the GIS information and reducethe impact of disasters like Hurricane Katrina. The Chair-man of the session, Anil K Sinha, called for greater under-standing of ground realities. The Minister for InformationTechnology, Government of Andhra Pradesh, PonnalaLaxmaiah, called upon the industries to look at the Advan-tage Hyderabad and set up their operations here.

SYMPOSIA

Geospatial for development sector. Issues of develop-ment sector came to the fore at the Symposium onGeospatial for Development Sector. The pre-lunch ses-sion, chaired by the Director of NATMO, Dr Prithvish Nag,saw some interesting discussions on ongoing develop-ment programmes in Africa and India. The post-lunchsession, chaired by Director General of RCMRD, Kenya, DrHussein Farah, saw some case studies on use of GIS indevelopment process.

Earth Observation Systems. "Will the satellite industrybe able to survive without the government's support?"This question was the focus of the symposium "Dimen-sions and Directions of Earth Observation Systems" andcontinued to remain the talking point in the panel discus-sion on "Commercialisation of Remote Sensing Industry."

Environmental management. The symposium onEnvironmental Management witnessed discussions on awide array of topics ranging fromprotected forest monitoring, non-renewable resources and bio-mass mapping to heat analyses inurban areas. Geospatial WorldForum 2011 also featured sym-posia on surveying and cartogra-phy; geospatial for design andengineering; integrated coastalzone management; geospatial forland management; global naviga-tion satellite system and urbanplanning and development.

SEMINARS

Climate change implications. Inthe seminar on Climate ChangeImplications on Socio-EconomicDevelopment, Jyoti Parikh, mem-ber PM Council on ClimateChange observed that the tech-

nology would be of a great advantage to policy makers in risk assessment, and vulnerability mapping, amongothers.

Open Source Initiatives. Mission GIS for billions ofpeople can be achieved with open source geospatial software, observed Dr. V Ravi Kumar, Retd. Director, Geological Survey of India, India, during the seminar onOpen Source Initiatives. The session in two parts waschaired by Arnulf Christi, President, OSGeo, US; and SNarendra Prasad, Senior Principal Scientist & Head,SACON India, respectively.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) at GeospatialWorld Forum 2011 constituted the Global Advisory Coun-cil (GAC), a blue ribbon council to understand the issuesof various regions in the utility of standards and to raisethe awareness levels of the same.

A wide range of more seminars explored develop-ments in the geospatial industry. These included semi-nars on spatial data infrastructure; utility; disaster man-agement, advancements in science and photogrammetryand a seminar by Natural Resources Canada.

SESSIONS

Web GIS. The session on Web GIS proved to be a platformfor knowledge sharing for industry, academicians,bureaucrats and technical experts. The topics in the ses-

sion ranged from applications ofGIS for forests and wild life con-servation to urban planning andefficient power distribution.

LiDAR, laser scanning, 3Dmodeling. This session witnessedinteresting and innovations appli-cations of these technologies andother aspects. These includedscalable workflows for 3D datamanagement, benefits of deploy-ing lasers for slope stability mon-itoring at a platinum mine, dis-cussion on the upcoming mobilelaser scanning and solutions inutility management.

Several other sessions tookplace at Geospatial World Forum2011. These were on remotesensing and image processing;NRDMS; natural resource man-

agement; water resources; governance; location intelli-gence and emerging trends and agriculture.

FORUMS

Geospatial Users Forum. The idea behind having thisForum was to have participants from organisations thathave implemented geospatial projects in unique verticalsgather with an aim of 'learning by sharing experiences'and 'learning by sharing mistakes made'. The Forum didjust that, with participants gaining geospatial gyan fromthe practicing gurus in the trade.

Integrated Design Education Forum. Various facets ofdesign education were addressed in this Forum. Theseincluded the significance of empowering next generation,trends affecting design and relevance of standards inrelation to design education.

Developers Forum. The Forum observed that SouthAmerica and Asia are top two investors in infrastructure interms of their GDPs, and that intelligent infrastructurecan be developed on geospatial platform but the geospa-tial data used in infrastructure building is different fromtraditional geospatial data.

NMO-INDUSTRY EXCHANGE FORUM

As a pre-conference programme of Geospatial WorldForum, GIS Development organised a two-day discussionforum for the heads of national mapping organisations(NMOs) from different countries and industry representa-tives from across the globe. Sanjay Kumar, CEO, GISDevelopment observed that the geospatial industry isgrowing rapidly and the major stakeholders in this industry are NMOs and the industry. This programmeaimed to facilitate exchange between these two so theycan put their act together and work out a growth path. Thesession concluded with the observation that factorsaffecting activities of NMOs are socio-economic develop-ment, funding, political situation, regulation and lack ofpolitical awareness.

EXHIBITION

The exhibition at Geospatial World Forum 2011 echoed the fact that geospatial technologies have come along way from their status as a technological tool to a way of life. The event witnessed participation ofaround 57 firms exhibiting their products and solutions tousher new relationships and making geospatial as anacceptable culture. While exhibitors expressed satisfac-tion about the event, the visitors and participants had agreat time too.

GEOSPATIAL PARK IN GUJARAT, INDIA

India's first geospatial technology park will be set up inGujarat. This was announced by Gujarat Chief MinisterNarendra Modi who presented the Awards duringGeospatial World Forum 2011. "Gujarat is ready to hostIndia's first geospatial tech park. We will provide all thefacilities that the industry needs," he said. He also invitedGIS Development to host the next Geospatial World Forumin Gujarat.

PROMISING NOTE

In the valedictory session, M Shashidhar Reddy, ViceChairman, National Disaster Management Authority,India reiterated how important geospatial technology is indealing with the vulnerable geophysical condition of Indiaand the significant role it can play in ensuring disciplinedurbanisation. He concluded that 'the announcement ofgeospatial park by Gujarat is just a beginning, many suchannouncements are about to come.'

Sanjay Kumar, CEO, GIS Development, conveyed histhanks to all delegates, speakers and visitors for thegrand success of the forum. He explained the need ofsuch forums for networking, connecting with users, posi-tioning of geospatial industry and facilitating the growth ofgeospatial industry. A total of 2266 delegates, 55exhibitors, 364 speakers and representatives from 81countries attended the Forum.


CONFERENCE REPORT : NSDI - 10


ational Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) of Indiaorganised NSDI - 10, in association with Associa-

tion of Geospatial Industry (AGI) in New Delhi, India. Thetheme of the event was "National Geospatial Ecosystem -The Road Ahead."

Inaugurating the event, Kapil Sibal, Hon'ble Ministerfor HRD, Telecom, Science & Technology and Earth Sci-ence, Government of India, said, "This sunrise sector, asthis industry is referred to as, is still waiting for the sun torise and this can be achieved through partnering with theindustry." According to him, a lack of unified self-regulat-ed mechanism is what is ailing the industry. Heexpressed that all information is empowering while tech-nology is only an enabler. A national policy should bebased on this concept. He observed that restricting infor-mation to people of the country is disempowering and notserving national interest.

S. Subba Rao, Surveyor General of India opined thatGIS is compelling Survey of India to have a strong IT com-ponent. The event also witnessed presentation of theReport of Task Force on 1:10,000 Mapping, and therelease of the geoportal of the Prakasam district inAndhra Pradesh.

Amit Khare, Joint Secretary, Ministry of HumanResources Development, opined that industry needs to beinvolved in curriculum issues. He identified four aspectsto be addressed: training and orientation of users as wellas decision makers, relevant education at university level,relevant education at school level, and citizen awarenessas user and developer.

During the session, Status of NSDI nodes, Dr. C.

Chandramouli, Registrar General and Census Commis-sioner of India informed that the organisation is thelargest producer of thematic maps in the country. Nir-malendu Kumar from NSDI opined that nodal agenciesshould create metadata and establish agency geoportals.

Addressing the session, Status of State SDI, Dr. P. S.Acharya from NSDI informed that Karnataka State Gov-ernment is coming up with a geoportal and the next isWest Bengal, followed by North-east and Haryana. Healso mentioned that very soon, states like Uttarakhandand Kerala would also come up with state SDIs. SaviturPrasad, Secretary, Department of IT, Delhi Government,said that 3D map of Delhi is being prepared using aerialsurveys and GPR technology. Dr. T.P. Singh, BISASG,Gujarat, said that the Gujarat SDI has followed somebasic principles like doing away with toposheets and notadding the terms "classified" or "confidential" in anythingthat they develop. Instead of toposheets, Gujarat SDI usedGPS measurements and turned it into a seamless mosa-ic at 1:5000 scale. He informed that till now, 1.25 lakhmaps have been digitised in the state.

In his valedictory address, Dr. Nayak, proposed thatNSDI should look beyond land and focus on oceans,atmosphere and biology as 70 percent of the Earth is yetto be mapped. He added that just as there are thoughtsabout cities on the Moon, similarly, we should plan forcities in the ocean. At the end, Sanjay Kumar, CEO, GISDevelopment, brought out Dr. Nayak's remark as the nextgeneration geospatial agenda. He added that in nearfuture the government of India may consider Institute ofGeospatial Technology on the format of IITs.

N

Empowering citizens

MARK YOUR CALENDER...

GeospatialWorld I February 2011

CONFERENCES

5353

FEBRUARY 2011

February 14 - 16

GSMA Mobile World Congress 2011Barcelona, Spainhttp://www.mobileworldcongress.

com

February 14 - 18

Spatial Data and the InternetCranfield, UKhttp://www.ccat.org/index.php?optio

n=com_ccat&view=event&Itemid=128

&cid[]=33

February 15

Geo-informatie in 2011 en daarnaEindhoven, The Netherlands http://www.esri.nl/nieuws-

media/nieuws-gis/geef-u-nu-op-voor-

de-roadshow-geo-informatie-2011-en-

daarna

February 16 - 18

WLIA Annual Conference

Madison, US

http://www.wlia.org/displayconven-

tion.cfm

February 21 - 25

Alaska Surveying and Mapping ConferenceAnchorage, Alaskahttp://www.aksmc.org/

February 23 - 28

GEOProcessing 2011Guadeloupe, France http://www.iaria.org/confer-ences2011/GEOProcessing11.html

February 25

Mobile Content Summit 2011 New Delhi, Indiahttp://virtueinsight.com/site/Tele-

comDetails.aspx?SC_ID=12

MARCH 2011

March 3 - 4

Web & Wireless Geographical Information Systems - JapanKyoto, Japanhttp://www.w2gis.org

March 7 - 9

Inspire 2011: Alteryx Community Broomfield, UShttp://alteryx.com/Pages/Events/Inspi

re-2011/Inspire-2011-Home.aspx

March 8 - 9

GIS in Mining and Exploration 2011

Brisbane, Australia

http://www.gisinmining.com.au

March 8 - 9

Utilities Uncovered Europe

London, UK

http://www.utilitiesuncovered.com

March 10 - 11

GeoViz Hamburg 2011Hamburg, Germany http://www.geomatik-

hamburg.de/geoviz/

March 15 -16

MAPPS Federal Programs Conference

Washington D.C., US

http://www.mapps.org/events/2011fe

deralprogramschedule.cfm

March 18 - 19

Geo Horizon11 Chennai, India http://www.geoinformaticsonline.

com

March 21 - 24

SPAR International Conference on 3D

Imaging & Positioning for Engineering,

Construction, Manufacturinng, Security

The Woodlands, US

http://www.SPARConference.com

March 23 - 25

1st Conference on Spatial Statistics 2011Enschede, The Netherlands http://www.spatialstatisticsconfer-

ence.com

March 28 - 30

GIS-T SymposiumHershey, UShttp://www.gis-t.org

March 28 - 31

CalGIS Fresno, UShttp://www.urisa.org/calgis/info

March 28 - 30

Geospatial Information Systemsfor Transportation SymposiumHershey, UShttp://www.gis-t.org

March 30 - 31

Enterprise Strategies for LocationIntelligenceChicago, UShttp://www.thewherebusiness.com/lo

cationintelligenceusa/?utm_source=Di

rections+Media&utm_medium=Ban-

ner&utm_campaign=DM1

March 31 - April 1

MAPublisher TrainingNew York City area, UShttp://www.avenza.com

APRIL 2011

April 4 - 6

Kuwait Oil and Gas Summit &ExhibitionKuwait City, Kuwaithttp://www.cwckuwait.com

FOSSGIS 2011 KonferenzApril 5

Heidelberg, Germanyhttp://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/wiki

/Main_Page

April 6 - 7

GEO-11 a World of Geomaticswith GIS InnovationsLondon, UKhttp://www.pvpubs.com/events.php

April 7

GeoDATA 2011Leeds, UKhttp://www.geoinformationgroup.

co.uk

April 10 - 14

Geospatial Solutions Conference - GITA 2011Texas, UShttps://www.gitaservices.org/

websites/gita2011/index.php?p=1

April 10 - 15

34th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of EnvironmentSydney, Australia http://isrse34.org

April 11 - 13

JURSE 2011Munich, Germanyhttp://www.pf.bv.tum.de/jurse2011

April 12 - 14

Ghana Oil & Gas Conference &Exhibition Accra, Ghanahttp://www.cwcghana.com

April 19 - 21

Where 2.0 Santa Clara, UShttp://where2conf.com/where2011

April 24 - 26

The Sixth National GIS Symposium in Saudi ArabiaKhobar, Saudi Arabia http://saudigis.org

April 18 - 21

The 14th AGILE International Conference on Geographic Information ScienceUtrecht, Netherlandshttp://www.uu.nl/faculty/

geosciences/en/agile2011/agile2011wel

come/Pages/default.aspx

GeospatialWorld I February 201154

Virtually there

Courtesy the virtual world, no place is too far off - including a combat zone. Just letting acomputer mapping programme run can make one almost feel like they are in Egypt with pro-democracy protestors.

"HyperCities Egypt," from University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) collects tweets livefrom the Egyptian capital of Cairo and displays them in real time over a digital map ofEgypt's capital. It streams a new tweet every four seconds. Because it gathers tweets fromthose who have enabled Twitter's "add location" function, the programme also maps theprecise location in Cairo from which they were sent.

Image & text courtesy: UCLA

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