Geospatial World March 2013

Vision to Reality
Transforming the way Heavy Civil Projects are Done

Trimble Connected Site solutions for heavy civil construction
automate work processes across the entire planning, design,
build and operate lifecycle.
visit www.connectedsite.com to learn more
2013, Trimble Navigation Limited. All rights reserved TC-183
The Construction Technology Standard
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March 2013 voI 3 Issue 8
Special Feature
24
25 years of IRS
Touching the skies
Prof. Arup Dasgupta
Articles
50
Data policy
Te missing link
56
Tendering process
Learning the ropes
Bhanu Rekha
60
Large Format Printers
Presenting the big picture
Deepali Roy
68
OGC Beat
Te value of certifcation
Luis Bermudez
Cover Story
Caught in a jam
Anusuya Datta
India
36
07 Editorial
08 News
22 Product Watch
70 TechKnow Buzz
72 Tenders
Corner Ofce
32
Raymond OConnor
President, Topcon
Positioning Systems
Construction and farming
are the two largest manufacturing
industries but the least automated
Inside...
Te edition contains 76 pages including cover
5 Geospatial World | March 2013
Aida Opoku Mensah
Director ICT Division,
UN Economic Commission
for Africa
Barbara Ryan
Secretariat Director, Group
on Earth Observations
Bryn Fosburgh
Sector Vice-President,
Executive Committee
Member,
Trimble Navigation
Dorine Burmanje
Chair-Executive Board,
Cadastre, Land Registry
and Mapping Agency (Ka-
daster), The Netherlands
Greg Bentley
CEO, Bentley Systems
Prof. Ian Dowman
First Vice President,
ISPRS
Dr. Hiroshi Murakami
Director-General of
Planning Department,
Geospatial Information
Authority of Japan
Juergen Dold
President
Hexagon Geosystems
Kamal K Singh
Chairman and CEO,
Rolta Group
Lisa Campbell
Vice President,
Engineering &
Infrastructure, Autodesk
Mark Reichardt
President and CEO,
Open Geospatial
Consortium
Matthew OConnell
CEO, Adhoc Holdings
Mohd Al Rajhi
Asst Deputy Minister for
Land & Surveying,
Ministry of Municipal &
Rural Affairs, Saudi Arabia
Ramon Pastor
Vice-President and
General Manager, Large
Format Printing Business,
Hewlett-Packard
Stephen Lawler
Chief Technology Offcer,
Bing Maps, Microsoft
Dr Swarna Subba Rao
Surveyor General of India
Vanessa Lawrence
Director General and
Chief Executive,
Ordnance Survey, UK
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Disclaimer
Geospatial World does not necessarily subscribe to the
views expressed in the publication. All views expressed
in this issue are those of the contributors. Geospatial
World is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to
the information provided.
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University of Salzburg,
Austria
2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, UltraCam, UltraMap and UltraCam Eagle are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
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Taking mapping to new heights.
Miles to go and explore the woods
O
f late, India has been in the news for
wrong reasons: falling growth rate,
rising infation, alleged fscal im-
proprieties, crime, etc. While these
factors grabbed media attention, the real growth
story, a growth powered by the use of geospatial
technology, has not made headlines. Even the
news of the successful launch of PSLV-C20 and its
feat of putting seven satellites into orbit, all in the
presence of no less a person than the President of
India merited a four inch column on page nine of
Indias leading daily. Te fact that with this launch
PSLV has set an enviable record of 95% success
rate, also went unnoticed. Successful technologies
rarely make news and this is refected in the scant
attention paid to the successful operationalisation
of g-tech in government departments.
25 years ago, when India took its frst step into
operational remote sensing and stalwarts like
Satish Dhawan and M G K Menon dreamt of a
space-based scientifc and technological revolu-
tion that would leapfrog India into a technologi-
cally enabled society, it would have been difcult
to imagine the progress made since then. Today,
every major government project has a strong
geospatially-enabled backbone. Te going has not
been easy. While scientists and engineers took to
geospatial technology as duck to water, for the rest
of India, it was all water of the ducks back. Fear of
technology, fear of transparency and a spirit of if it
isnt broke dont fx it ruled. Te trouble was it was
broke: cities bursting at the seams, land records
not verifed since Independence, horrendous
power losses and environmental degradation - it
was only a matter of time before the facts could not
be denied any longer.
Some of the scientifc and technical depart-
ments soldiered on but for operational depart-
ments, used to buying materials, it was a challenge
to buy services. What were the deliverables? Is
the lowest bidder the best bidder? Tese were
the challenges which had to be met not only by
the departments but also by the vendors. It was
a learning process. Tose who persevered came
up trumps. It also helped that, thanks to the IT
revolution, many Indian companies won overseas
contracts and this provided a learning opportu-
nity. Professional societies also put in their bit
through training courses, seminars and competi-
tive awards. Today, states vie with each other to
showcase their g-enabled status.
In the words of Robert Frost which impressed
Indias frst Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru, the woods are lovely, dark and deep, But
I have promises to keep, And miles to go before
I sleep . Pandit Nehru was a man who dreamt of
a modern industrialised India and called the big
projects of his times temples of modern India .
Today, Indias IT industry and its geospatial com-
ponent have become virtual temples. Yet, that is
not enough. Tose woods need to be explored. Re-
search in geospatial technology is woefully lacking.
Very few new ideas are emerging from academia
and research institutions and the divide between
academia and industry continues to remain
un-bridged. Consequently, the full capability of
geospatial technology has not been realised. While
meteorology and climate change studies have
progressed well in the area of geospatial model-
ling, it is lacking in areas such as urban planning
and environmental conservation.
Simon and Moodys have upgraded Indias
growth to 6.1 percent. How much of this upturn
will be contributed by g-tech?
EditorSpeak
Prof Arup Dasgupta
Managing Editor
arup@geospatialmedia.net
BUSINESS
Over $2mn GIS imagery
grant to 24 frms
Esri and PCI Geomatics have selected
24 organisations to develop and apply
innovative methods for using GIS to
analyse imagery for land use man-
agement. Trough the Esri Natural
Resources Imagery Grant Program, Esri
and PCI Geomatics each will provide
grant recipients with software and data
valued at $100,000. Participants are
required to improve efciency, produc-
tivity or accuracy for detecting and ana-
lysing land-cover change using MDAs
synthetic aper-
ture radar (SAR)
imagery from
RADARSAT-2
and 5 m multi-
spectral imagery
from RapidEye.
Tey will use Esri and PCI software to
process and analyse imagery.
EagleView, Pictometry
create $100-mn company
EagleView Technologies and Pictometry
International have entered into a merg-
er agreement, which results in a single
new company. EagleView and Pictom-
ery are now wholly owned subsidiaries
of the new entity. Te former sharehold-
ers of EagleView and Pictometry will
each hold approximately 50% of the
outstanding capital stock of the com-
bined company on a fully-diluted basis.
Combined, the two companies gener-
ated about $100mn in revenue in 2012.
Te merger will create a global leader
providing unparalleled geo-referenced
aerial imagery and analytical software
solutions servicing both government
and commercial customers.
$14-mn contract for
geospatial solutions
Intermap has completed the fnal
contracting requirements relating to the
$14.5 million Letter of Award previously
announced in January. Under the terms
of the contract, Intermap will provide
defned geospatial solutions to an inter-
national customer, including elevation
and imagery related information for
identifed areas in Southeast Asia. In-
termap will use its proprietary airborne
radar technology to collect and process
the 3D digital models of the selected
areas. Te project is scheduled to com-
mence immediately and is expected to
be complete prior to year-end 2013.
Alion to support US Armys
geospatial enterprise
To help build geospatial battlefeld
intelligence, Alion Science and Tech-
nology will provide the US Army with
geospatial enterprise development,
integration and evaluation under a $24
million award. Alion, under a three-year
contract will generate policy and stan-
dards that will guide the use of geospa-
tial data throughout the Army, develop
geospatial data, support the testing of
geospatial based systems and create
geospatial policy documents.
$2.2-mn contract for
GPSaugmentation
ITT Exelis has won a $2.2 million
contract from the Air Force Research
Laboratory for research in support
of the current GPS programme. ITT
Exelis will research the development
of a small satellite navigation payload,
known as the GPS Navigation Satel-
lite (GPS NAVSAT) to augment this
system. Te GPS NAVSAT seeks to
provide afordable capabilities to aid
end-users located in difcult-to-access
environments. Te GPS NAVSAT will
operate in a similar fashion to the cur-
rent GPS system, but it will also aid the
current systems end-users in signal-
constrained environments, be it urban
or mountainous terrain.
APPLICATION
Phones existing sensors for
indoor navigation
Communication and navigation tech-
nologies have come a long way, but
indoor navigation was a real challenge
for mobile devices - at least until Movea
came along. Te technology solutions
provider has unveiled a new app which
uses a phones existing sensors to cal-
culate indoor position. Moveas indoor
navigation system takes signals from a
$100k
GIS imagery grant to
24 frms each
NEWS
Americas
NEWS
Americas
Image Courtesy: popularmechanics.com
handsets accelerometer, magnetome-
ter, gyroscope, pressure sensor, GPS and
Wi-Fi and matches them against known
maps. To begin with, the app asks for
the users height in order to estimate
ones step length. With every move the
user makes, the phones accelerometer
registers the step and the app detects
the movement. Te app further uses the
phones magnetometer as a compass to
determine which way the user is facing.
USAID, NGOs to track
foreign aid via GIS
Every year, international aid donors al-
locate around $150 billion to support hu-
man and socio-economic development
worldwide. However, it is becoming a
challenge to monitor and track develop-
ment aid as it goes to sub-national levels
making it difcult for the international
development community and govern-
ments to determine how funds are used
and whether they are achieving results. As
a response to the international devel-
opment communitys call for greater
transparency in development assistance,
AidData Centre for Development Policy
was formed to improve the accessibility
of aid information. Te centre will build
a global network of geographers, health
scientists, economists, political scientists,
computer scientists, and statisticians who
are committed to helping USAID and
other development agencies reduce the
cost and increase the impact of their aid
programmes, said AidData Co-executive
Director Brad Parks.
NASA detects small
changesin landscape
A new way of studying and visualising
earth science data from a NASA and
US Geological Survey (USGS) satellite
programme is resulting in, for the frst
time, the ability to see the small events
that can cause big changes in an eco-
system. Te LandTrendr tool is able to
fnd patterns previously buried within
vast amounts of scientifc data. With
the help of this tool for the frst time in
satellite imagery an obscured, slow-
moving decline and recovery of trees in
Pacifc Northwest forests can be seen.
Te tool uncovered an insect outbreak
from space.
MISCELLANEOUS
US Navy should develop GIS
map of the oceans
The US Navy can offer a Google-type
information service to the world by or-
ganising its diverse data in a form that
would serve individuals, businesses
and people. This would place the Navy
in the realm of GIS providers whose
services are sweeping the globe, said
John Smart, president of the Accelera-
tion Studies Foundation. The service
would be built around the concept of
open, safe, lawful and sustainable seas
for all people, Smart said. Accord-
ing to John, the Navy would create
a public GIS map of the oceans and
populate it with vital informationall
unclassifiedthat would be useful
for anyone entering the maritime
environment.
Months after map fasco,
Apple on a hiring spree
In a massive overhaul of its heavily
lambasted mapping software, Apple has
posted job ads for software engineers
who will help in improving its map apps.
Apple has started advertising for a large
number of iOS Software Engineers whose
specifc focus will be on improving the
Apple Maps app that is included with iOS
6. Te company is advertising for ten new
software engineer positions, all dedicated
to working on various aspects of the Maps I
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NEWS
Americas
Land managed by the USFS in Washington, Oregon, California
app. Apples mapping woes started in
June last year, when it dropped Google
and launched its own maps app - using
licensed data and its own software.
However, the new job postings renew
CEO Tim Cooks promise of improving
its doomed app.
GPS on tiny objects may
become a reality soon
Imagine having GPS navigation capabil-
ity embedded on something as small as
a hummingbird-size unmanned aerial
vehicle. Tat day may be coming soon,
thanks to ongoing research and success-
ful testing completed by Rockwell Collins
and the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPAs
Dynamics Enabled Frequency Sources
(DEFYS) efort has created tiny electron-
ic oscillators and Rockwell Collins has
been testing the miniature clocks on GPS
radios. Te DEFYS efort has produced
microscale oscillators that are nearly 30
times smaller than what is currently used
on GPS receivers. Tey also consume 320
times less power.
Crowdsourcing tracks
infuenza outbreaks
A severe fu strain has hit the US and is
spreading across the nation. Te Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) has categorised the illness as
"widespread" in 41 states and 7 other
states are seeing regional activity. In
tracking the fu, physicians and public
health ofcials are using a host of new
surveillance tools like crowdsourcing
and social media. Such tools let them
get a sense of the fu's reach in real-time
rather than wait weeks for doctor's of-
Geospatial World | March 2013
fces and state health departments to re-
port in. Infuenza A H3N2 was the most
commonly detected infuenza subtype
nationwide.
JAMAICA
Mapping natural hazards
made easy
Te island nation has launched its
frst Virtual Reference Station Network
(VRS), gFIX.net, a tool for mapping
natural hazards. Robert Pickersgill,
Minister of Water, Land, Environment
and Climate Change said that as natu-
ral hazards become an increasingly
regular feature of life for many people
around the globe, gFIX.net will be a
useful addition to the tools we have
available to map them. It is an inte-
grated system of GPS, which uses data
from a network of fxed reference sta-
tions to model errors near surveying
locations. Tis data is then relayed to
a roving receiver and used to improve
the accuracy of reading in a particular
area. Te gFIX.net comprises 13 high
precision global navigation satellite
systems, which are strategically placed
across the island to facilitate the ac-
curate collection of data.
BRAZIL
First monitoring station for
GLONASS launched
Te frst overseas GLONASS ground
station for diferential correction and
monitoring to improve the navigation
systems accuracy has been launched
in Brazil. Tis station will be the frst
point of correction in the western
hemisphere and will signifcantly
improve the accuracy of GLONASS
navigation signals, a spokesman for
the Federal Space Agency said.
NEWS
Americas
NEW APPOINTEES
r. kobert f. Austin
1aIbot J. 8rooks
r. keith CIarke
Steve Coast
avid iSera
Matthew CentiIe
frank harjo
MichaeI Jones
Jack h. Maguire
CaroIyn J. Merry
koger MitcheII
MicheIe Motsko
r. ougIas kichardson
APPOINTMENT
13 MEMBERS APPOINTED TO NGAC
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has appointed 13 professionals to serve as
members of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC), which pro-
vides recommendations on federal geospatial policy and management issues and
advice on development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Te
NGACs inclusion of a broad range of
perspectives, governmental, tribal,
private sector, and academic, enables
it to provide valuable advice to fed-
eral agencies on the most pressing
geospatial issues, and helps us make
better progress toward our goal of
seamless integration and accessibil-
ity of geospatial data, said Anne
Castle, Assistant Secretary of the
Interior for Water and Science.
UK
Deal to make GPS
free and open
Te United States and United Kingdom
have announced that the British gov-
ernment would end eforts to obtain
patent or intellectual property (IP)
rights related to GPS. Te two govern-
ments afrmed their joint commit-
ment to ensuring that GPS civil signals
will remain perpetually free and
openly available for users worldwide.
As part of this efort, the UK is dedicat-
ing all government-held patents and
patent applications relating to US GPS
civil signal designs and their broadcast
from GPS and other global navigation
satellite systems to the public domain.
NEWS
Europe
8IM 2050 group for
industry professionals
Te BIM 2050 group has been
launched to enable young profes-
sionals working in all sectors of the
construction industry to have their
say on the future of digital technolo-
gies including building information
modelling (BIM). Cabinet Ofce
Parliamentary Secretary Chloe Smith
said, We are taking great strides to
make government construction faster,
cheaper and more innovative. We have
already saved GBP 179 million for the
taxpayer by stripping out waste and are
trail-blazing the use of digital technol-
ogies such as BIM, a pioneering UK-led
ICT solution that shares building plans
with multiple contractors working on a
building project.
Citizens to geo-reference
librarys map collection
Enthusiasts are being asked to update
arguably the greatest map collection in
the world. Te British Library wants on-
line volunteers to add further insights to
its vault of ancient terrains, using Google
Earth and location tagging to work out
where historic sites might lie today. Te
last time the library invited the public to
help update its collection of more than
4.5 million maps, 708 new additions
were made in a week. Tis project
brings together peoples passion for
maps and history with the latest online
crowdsourcing tools. Its a fascinating
way to explore the past while improving
the information that underpins our digi-
tised collections, said Kimberly Kowal,
the Lead Curator of Digital Mapping.
UK Space Agency gets new
chief executive
David Parker has been appointed as
the new chief executive of the UK Space
Agency. Parker has been acting Chief
Executive of the Agency since December
2012 and will take up the role with im-
mediate efect. Te Minister for Universi-
ties and Science David Willetts said, Im
delighted to welcome David Parker as
the next Chief Executive of the UK Space
Agency. He has been part of the agency
since its creation and most recently
played a leading role in securing GBP 1.2
billion of UK investment at the European
Space Agency Ministerial meeting.
Geofencing to enable new
multi-billion markets by 17
With low-cost developers tools becom-
ing available, geofencing is fnally com-
ing out of the shadows, moving beyond
traditional location-based applications,
to form the backbone of a host of new
applications and services. Senior ana-
lyst, Patrick Connolly said, Collectively
geofencing will enable whole new multi-
billion dollar markets around these
emerging areas. However, the provision
of geofencing tools will be a market in its
own right, forecast to reach almost $300
million in 2017. More developers are
increasingly looking to pivot to enter-
prise applications, where companies are
happy to pay for services that provide
RoI, geofencing will open the door.
Glasgow to become UKs
frst smart city
Te Scottish city of Glasgow has won
a 24 million grant from the UKs
Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to
become Britains frst smart city. Te
money will be spent by the council on
services for residents that will make
the quality of living in the city better.
Glasgow beat 30 other UK cities for
the prize. Projects on the table include
real-time trafc information, apps to
check when buses and trains are ar-
riving and a pothole reporting service.
Facial analysis for the citys CCTV
network and energy use monitoring to
make electricity and gas delivery more
efcient are also mooted.
English Channel switches
on GPS backup
In a bid to improve navigational
safety in the worlds busiest shipping
channel, ships in parts of the English
Channel will now be able to access
eLoran radio navigation technology as
a backup to satellite navigation systems
like GPS and Galileo. Te ground-
based eLoran system provides alterna-
tive position and timing signals for
improved navigational safety. Te Do-
ver area, the worlds busiest shipping
lane, is the frst in the world to achieve
this initial operational capability (IOC)
for shipping companies operating both
passenger and cargo services.
FRANCE
Galileos CospasSarsat
clears frst space test
Te frst switch-on of a Galileo search
and rescue package shows it to be
working well. Its activation begins a
major expansion of the space-based
CospasSarsat network, which brings
help to air and sea vessels in distress.
Te second pair of Europes Gali-
NEWS
Europe
Cospas-Sarsat system overview
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13 Geospatial World | March 2013 Geospatial World | March 2013
leo navigation satellites launched
together on 12 October last year are
the frst of the constellation to host SAR
search and rescue repeaters. Tese can
pick up UHF signals from emergency
beacons aboard ships and aircraft or
carried by individuals, then pass them
on to local authorities for rescue.
SP01 4 ends commerciaI
operations
Commercial operations of SPOT 4
satellite have been terminated. Te
joint decision on stopping commercial
operations of the satellite was made
by the SPOT 4 owner - CNES (French
Space Agency) and the satellite Opera-
tor Astrium GEO-Information Ser-
vices. Te satellite has been operating
for almost 15 years (177 months) since
its launch in March 1998. Over 6.8
million images of the earth have been
acquired since then.
Envisat-Meris images
available for free
Te VITO image processing team in
collaboration with ESA and Belgian
Science Policy announced a new free
product in the world of low resolu-
tion earth observation data, the global
Envisat-MERIS 10-daily composites at
1 km resolution (EM10). Te Envisat-
Meris S10 or EM10 are near-global,
10-daily composite images which are
synthesised from the best available
observations registered in the course
of every dekad by the orbiting earth
observation system Envisat-Meris. Te
EM10 products are available free of
charge for non-commercial use.
GERMANY
Astrium bags Luk 108 mn
contract from ESA
Te European Space Agency (ESA) has
awarded Astrium EUR 108 million worth
of prime contractor agreements cover-
ing the development of the Ariane 6 and
Ariane 5 ME launchers. Te contracts
follow on from the decisions reached at
the ESA Ministerial Council meeting in
Naples on 20-21 November 2012. Under
these contracts, Astrium will launch the
initial defnition and feasibility studies
for the future Ariane 6 European launch-
er. Expected to run for six months, the
study phase aims to identify the concept
and architecture for Ariane 6 and will set
out the new launchers main specifca-
tions prior to its industrial development.
SPAIN
Agreement to promote
exchange of geo-info
Te Department of Municipal Afairs
in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi signed an
MoU with the Cartography Institute of
Catalonia in Spain, a mapping agency
specialised in the feld of GIS and the
necessary technological systems to
build and manage the integrated geo-
detic positioning systems and the main-
tenance of the topographic data. Tis
MoU comes in line with the economic
growth and comprehensive develop-
ment in the Emirate and will enhance
geospatial services provided by the
municipal system to the residents.
FINLAND
1oyota embraces
Nokia maps
Nokia has won another bout in its ev-
erlasting battle with Google. Only this
time the stage was not the smartphone
platform but maps. In a major victory,
automobile major Toyota has adopted
Nokias HERE for its next-generation
navigation system over Googles Local
Search in Europe. Nokias Local Search
for Automotive will be included as
part of one of multiple in-dash touch-
screen navigation options available in
Toyotas Touch & Go information sys-
tem. Nokia claims that Toyota drivers
will have easy online access to high-
quality industry mapping information
and community-generated content fed
directly into their cars by leveraging
Nokia Local Search for Automotive.
MERIS mosaic of Africa
Te contracts enable:
- Stait of the Aiiane 0
piogiamme
- Ongoing development of
Aiiane ME
- Seaich foi syneigies between
the 2 launcheis
NEWS
Europe
NEWS
Europe
Te two-day National Remote Sensing
Centre (NRSC) Users Meet 2013, held in
Hyderabad, discussed issues regarding
application of remote sensing in national
development and making data available
to the lowest rung of the users. Talking
about mobile power, Professor Jayara-
man said todays mobile phones have
more power than the computers Ameri-
cans used to launch man on moon. He
identifed cloud as the next step and
crowd sourcing, cloud computing and
social networking as the new areas.
Experts hailed the Indian space
programme as unique because
it addressed all the national
developmental issues. Te way we
have named the satellites
Resourcesat, Cartosat
, Oceansat etc only
tells how we have taken
consideration of each social
segment. We have been
looking at natural resources,
social programmes,
mapping for use by various
ministries, contributing
towards development and
disaster management, PG
Diwakar, Director, Earth Observation
Systems said. Te meet also discussed
how data is no longer an issue today.
Te IRS data prices have come down by
more than 100% as compared to the last
Five Year Plan.
Lastly, the user meet urged for
better R&D from academia and
participation of the private sector to
make such events a success.
NRSC meet discusses national development,
calls for more user participation
NEWS
Asia
INDIA
Geo services enabling
Indian economy to grow
Te Indian geo services industry
generated $ 3 billion in revenue in
2011 alone while accounting for
approximately 1,35,000 jobs, accord-
ing to a BCG report commissioned
by Google. More signifcantly, the
impact of the geo services industry
is valued at approximately 15 times
its own size. In India, geo services
help Indian businesses drive $ 40-45
billion in revenue, save $ 70-75 billion
in costs and afect 8-9 million jobs in
India. Te report also revealed that
Indian consumers are also willing
to pay $ 1.5-2 billion more than they
currently do for geospatial services
such as online maps, navigation sys-
tems and local searches. Te Indian
geo services industry is comprised of
companies that process the loca-
tion data, companies that produce
geo-enabled software and expert
industries that use geospatial data to
generate insights.
keraIa state Iaunches
SDI portal
To promote the sharing and use of geo-
spatial information among state agen-
cies, Kerala has launched its own spatial
data infrastructure portal. Te Kerala
spatial data infrastructure geoportal
(KSDI Geoportal) allows users to share
and access geo-referenced information
related to political and administrative
boundaries, state geography, demogra-
phy, agro and socio economy, resources
and infrastructure facilities with their
attributes. It serves as a common plat-
form for geospatial information shared
across state agencies, the academy,
NGOs and other stakeholders.
Geological Survey of India
to buy korean vesseI
Geological Survey of India (GSI) will
soon have a new state-of-the-art
research vessel to carry out coastal
survey. GSI deputy director general
and head, natural energy resources,
NR Ramesh said that the new vessel
worth Rs 500 crore will have all mod-
ern gadgets to carry out research. Te
vessel will have all facilities to go deep
waters and conduct survey. It will fnd
out polymetallic nodules and many
other things. Te work of vessel is
progressing in Korea and it will arrive
within six months, Ramesh said.
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Former NRSC chief Prof V. Jayaraman lights the lamp to
inaugurate the NRSC Users Meet 2013,
Foreign satellites launched
- Sapphiie-Canada
- NEOSSat-built by MDA
- UniBRITE-Austiia
- BRITE-Austiia
- AAUSAT-Denmaik
- STRaND-1- Woild's fist
smaitphone satellite
Image Courtesy: ISRO
NEWS
Asia
ISk0 Iaunches SAkAL,
sixother satellites
Indo-French satellite SARAL, along
with six foreign mini and micro satel-
lites, was launched using ISROs work- kk
horse rocket PSLV from the spaceport
of Sriharikota. Te ISRO-built SARAL is
a 410-kg satellite with payloads - Argos
and Altika - from French space agency
CNES for study of ocean parameters
towards enhancing the understanding
of the ocean state conditions which are
otherwise not covered by the in-situ
measurements. Speaking toGeospa-
tial World,Devi Prasad Karnik, ISRO
spokesperson said this launch has not
only strengthened the Indo-French
space cooperation but has also boost-
ed ISROs capabilities as a commercial
launcher. So far, ISRO has launched 35
overseas aircrafts, including six satel-
launches, however nothing has been
fnalised yet, Karnik added.
MALAYSIA
ekadaster project
completed
The Department of Survey and
Mapping (JUPEM) in Malaysia has
completed its biggest project called
lites launched on February 25. ISRO
will carry out more such commercial
eKadaster in support of the nations
vision of becoming a developed
country by 2020, said Ahmad Fauzi
Nordin, Deputy Director General of
JUPEM. eKadaster project integrates
various systems such as the Land
Offices eTanah, the Land Surveyors
Boards eLJT and JUPEMs Geoportal
and MaCGDI (Malaysia Geospatial
Data Infrastructure). The project
aims to facilitate the sharing of
geospatial information and resources
between government agencies re-
sponsible for land administration.
BANGLADESH
Election commission to
digitise database
To eliminate complexities over
gathering relevant statistics ahead
of the general elections, the Election
Commission (EC) will strive to digitise
database of all polling centres through-
out the country. Te EC will enrich its
database by inserting geographical
locations, photos and other relevant
information of all polling stations into
a map using the GIS process. Directives
have been issued to immediately start
work with Dhaka Metropolitan that
houses almost 2,000 centres as part of
the primary experimental installations.
UAE
Deal to promote geospatial
data cooperation
National Center of Meteorology and
Seismology (NCMS), part of the Min-
istry of Presidential Afairs, has signed
a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with Bayanat for Mapping and
Surveying Services. Under the MoU,
Bayanat will provide the NCMS with
a package of services including digital
aerial survey, data gathering, geodesy
and feld surveying, sea-bed profling
and geospatial data visualisation and
cartography.
Satellite data to monitor
infra development
Te Emirates Institution for Advanced
Science and Technology (EIAST), as
part of its mandate to conduct research
using satellite data, has successfully
utilised DubaiSat-1 images to moni-
tor the construction of Concourse 3 at
Dubai International Airport. Te UAEs
frst satellite has been mapping the
progress of the project from its early
stages and will continue to track it until
its expected completion early this year.
DubaiSat-1 plays a vital role in the
infrastructure development process in
the UAE. Te analysis of the Concourse
3 project highlights EIASTs capabilities
to monitor key developments and pro-
vide useful information towards project
planning and environment protection,
said Salem Al Marri, Head of Marketing
and International Afairs at EIAST.
CHINA
8eidou technoIogy
compulsory in vehicles
Major transportation vehicles in
parts of China are now required to
use homegrown Beidou Naviga-
tion Satellite System (BDS). All tour
coaches, long-distance scheduled
buses and vehicles for transporting
dangerous articles, should install the
BDS service when they renew mobile
navigation terminals, according to a
statement issued by the Ministry of
Transport. Te Ministry aims to have
80% of vehicles in these categories
installed with the BDS service by the
end of March.
New maps highlight
South China Sea islands
China has inked, for the frst time,
South China Sea islands on its new of-
fcial maps in equal scale to that of the
Chinese mainland. Te new vertical-
format maps of China, published by
Sinomaps Press, include more than
130 islands and islets in the South Chi-
na Sea, most of which have not been
featured on previous maps of China.
Te maps will be very signifcant in
enhancing Chinese peoples aware-
ness of national territory, safeguarding
Chinas marine rights and interests
and manifesting Chinas political dip-
lomatic stance, said Xu Gencai, chief
editor of Sinomaps Press.
NEWS
Asia
17
RUSSIA
Ailing space industry to
double output by 2020
An ongoing reform of Russias ailing
space industry should double its out-
put by 2020, according to a new state
programme. Te increase should give
Russia a 16% share in the space tech-
nology market by 2020, up from the
current 10.7%,
said the pro-
gramme. Goals
outlined in the
programme also
include creation
of the new
Angara launch
vehicle, development of the Vostochny
space port in the Russian Far East and
improvements to the Glonass satel-
lite navigation system. Russias space
programme saw a slew of setbacks in
recent years, most of them blamed on
faulty hardware.
TURKEY
17 satellites by 2020
As per the ambitious road map for
the countrys multiple satellite pro-
grammes through 2020, a total of 17
Turkish satellites will come into orbit by
2020. A space industry expert based in
Turkey said the next fve years satellite
contracts would amount to $2 billion.
According to the road map, Turkey
will this year launch the Gktrk II,
an electro optical reconnaissance and
observation satellite. Gktrk I as well
as Trksat 4A, a communications satel-
lite, will be launched in 2013. Trksat
4B will be launched in 2014 and Trksat
4R in 2015 along with the Gktrk III, a
synthetic aperture radar (SAR) recon-
naissance and observation satellite.
JAPAN
Common grid system for
disaster response
Te Self-Defense Forces, police and the
Japan Coast Guards regional ofce in
central Japan will use a common coor-
dinate system to speed up the dispatch
of relief units in emergencies. Te
SDF, police and Coast Guard in other
regions have yet to adopt a common
coordinate system, but a Geospatial
Information Authority ofcial said the
Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)
grid is likely to become the national
standard in disaster response and
prevention activities.
PHILIPPINES
LiAk maps for ood
management
Topographic maps generated by LiDAR
will be used in food modeling for
disaster risk areas in the Davao region in
Philippines. Te LiDAR-generated maps
will have high resolution of 1:2,500 scale,
more detailed than the 1:10,000 geohaz-
ard maps of the Mines and Geosciences
Bureau. Te topographic maps will
show elevations up to barangay level.
Te maps will help in estimating the
damage cost of a disaster, including the
number of houses that will be afected.
SOUTH KOREA
First observation satellite
put into orbit
South Korea has successfully launched
a satellite into space from its own soil
for the frst time, weeks after archrival
North Korea accomplished a similar
feat, to the surprise of the world. Te
satellite launched by Seoul is designed
to analyse weather data, measure
radiation in space, gauges distances
on earth and test how efectively South
Korea-made devices installed on the
satellite operate in space. Te launch
is a culmination of years of eforts
by South Korea, Asias fourth-largest
economy, to advance its space pro-
gramme and cement its standing as a
technology powerhouse.
NEWS
Asia
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space technology
market by 2020
NEWS
Africa
ALGERIA
Surveillance satellite to
monitor terrorist activities
Alarmed at the emergence of a jihad-
ist sanctuary in northern Mali, US in-
telligence is considering providing the
military heavyweight in North Africa,
with a surveillance satellite to monitor
al-Qaida operations in the Sahara re-
gion. Algeria has for some months re-
fused US requests that UAVs deployed
in Burkina Faso and in the southern
desert of Morocco be allowed to use
Algerian airspace to track the jihad-
ists. Providing Algeria with spy satel-
lites may turn out to be the short end
of the stick for the Americans, who say
al-Qaida is extending its operations
across Africa.
NIGERIA
Computerised cadastre
system established
To strengthen property rights and se-
curity of land titles within the mining
sector, the Nigerian Mining Cadastre
Ofce (MCO), with assistance from
GAF AG, has implemented its new
mining cadastre system, which takes
into account recent amendments in
the countrys mining regulations. Te
efcient and reliable management
of mining titles is considered to be
a key element in increasing invest-
ment in the mining sector in Nigeria.
Te new system allows MCO to grant,
manage and cancel mining titles in
an efective manner, thus strengthen-
ing the property rights and security of
tenures within the mining sector, as
well as improving the transparency of
the mineral licensing process and the
governments regulatory capacity.
SOUTH SUDAN
Disease mapping to guide
treatment
Rapid mapping to quickly determine
precise distribution and prevalence
of major neglected tropical diseases
(NTDs) such as schistosomiasis and
lymphatic flariasis can help guide
evidence-based interventions, a
study reveals. Rapid mapping is very
important to help gather information
for interventions into NTDs and for
national policymaking, said Simon
Brooker, one of the report authors.
Te study provided evidence that
rapid mapping to target preventive
drug treatment is important in public
health due to the marked spatial
variation of the diseases and the
resulting need for evidence-based
targeting of treatments.
SOUTH AFRICA
Satellite-based radar to
monitor seas
Te Council for Scientifc and In-
dustrial Researchs (CSIR) Meraka
Institute is developing a prototype
maritime domain awareness system
based on imagery from satellite-
mounted synthetic aperture radars
(SARs). Such a system would allow
the country to monitor shipping in
its exclusive economic zone and
adjacent oceans, enhancing safety
and making it easier to detect illegal
activities. SAR allows the detection
of ships not using their transpon-
ders, said Dr Brian Salmon, senior
researcher, CSIR Meraka Institute.
Add that to the location of the vessel
and its activity pattern and that can
alert the authorities to possible illegal
activities, such as illegal fshing and
smuggling, he added.
Demand for digital
mapping services grows
South African companies are embrac-
ing digital mapping and plan to invest
more money in these services, ac-
cording to research released by World
Wide Worx. Te research revealed
that 76% of companies and 38% of
small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) spent more than 2% of their
information technology budgets on
mapping services and two-thirds of
companies planned to increase their
spending. Digital mapping services are
primarily used for asset tracking, feet
management and vehicle recovery and
navigation.
Image Courtesy: Plos One
GHANA
GIS for national product
traceability system
As the country hopes to rake in about
USD 3.3 billion from its exports this year,
the Ghana Export Promotion Authority
has rolled out geographical mapping
of companies to create a database
for a national product traceability
system. A data base for exporters in
food and agro processing products
will be developed which will enable
Ghana to avoid the risk of having its
exports to the European Union markets
reduced. Te EU Commissions decree
on the General Food Law requires all
exports be documented so that their
history and location could be verifed
to remove dangerous products from the
market. Te GIS project involves unique
identifcation of products and raw
materials from sources in originating
countries and maintenance of accurate
records on geographic location of
frms, farms, factories, movements and
utilisation of products at all stages of the
value chain.
UGANDA
GIS-based addressing
system unveiled
Te National Postcode & Addressing
System, the Entebbe Pilot Project for the
country has been announced by mapIT
in collaboration with SatNav East Africa.
Tis project will ensure a unique ad-
dress to every property and will enhance
the performance of service providers.
Te project involves digitalisation of
Entebbe maps for the implementation
of national postcode and addressing
system. Tis includes the GIS solution
with fve layers; the implementation
of a National Property Identifer using
SatCodes to provide address codes for
turn-by-turn navigation; the place-
ment of address placards on all houses in
Entebbe as well as a marketing campaign
to demonstrate and educate service
providers on the benefts. Te system
will provide detailed and dynamic
addressing information to support the
operations of a wide range of users such
as Posta Uganda, Entebbe Municipal
Council, utility companies and other
related service providers.
CONGO
Forest cover map to be
developed
Te GEOFORAFRI Programme has
awarded a contract to GAF AG to com-
plete the 2010 forest cover mapping of
the Republic of Congo for REDD+. Te
GEOFORAFRI programme aims to facil-
itate the adoption of earth observation
techniques and ensure the methodolog-
ical and technological know-how within
Central and Western African countries,
enabling local institutions to carry out
forest cover monitoring according to
the international guidelines required to
participate and beneft from the REDD+
NEWS
Africa
AUSTRALIA
Soaring temperatures alter
face of countrys heat map
Te countrys record-breaking heat-
wave has resulted in one unexpected
consequence Australias Bureau of
Meteorology had to add new colours
to its weather map. Now, parts of
Australia that touch temperatures
above 122F (50C) temperatures
that were, until recently, literally of the
scale will be marked in deep purple
and terrifying hot pink. In order to
better understand what temperatures
we might see, we introduced two new
colours, said Aaron Coutts-Smith,
manager of climate services at the
Bureau of Meteorology.
Augmented reality apps
boon for property sector
True augmented reality apps that
reveal highly detailed property intel-
ligence with just the scan of a smart-
phone are now within reach of the
nations real estate sector, following the
release of a new data source. Te new
ofering, released by MapData, is one of
the most detailed and accurate sources
of information on Australian proper-
ties ever assembled. Cassandra Barker,
General Manager, MapData Services
said the data could also be used to cre-
ate highly vivid virtual property worlds
meaning a user could become intimate-
ly familiar with a property without ever
having to leave their ofce.
Galileo, GPS technologies
integrated
Researchers from Curtin University
have discovered how to integrate GPS
technology with Galileo. Australian
Space Research Programme funded
the research. Te integration of mul-
tiple systems will enable much more
reliable data, particularly where signals
from one system may be blocked, such
as in open-pit mines or by skyscrap-
ers, said Professor Peter Teunissen
from the Western Australian School of
Mines.
Fires increase Sentinel
satellite demand
As bushfres continue to rage in the
country, demand for the national Senti-
nel Bushfre Monitoring System, hosted
by Geoscience Australia, is at its highest.
Hits to the Sentinel Hotspots monitor-
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Australia/Oceania
Australia heat map
MODIS image of bush fre in Australia
$2.1 bn
worth GIS industry in
Australia
ing service on the Geoscience Australia
wwebsite have increased from around
60,000 a day during December 2012 to
more than 2.5 mn. Te Sentinel system
provides timely and readily accessible
spatial information to emergency ser-
vvice managers and fre controllers across
AAustralia to help identify the locations of
hotspots, or fre fronts with a potential
risk to communities and property.
Mapping technology saves
millions
Cutting-edge mapping technology
saved more than US$3 million from
the bottom line of Australias largest
ever roadworks. Stretching six kilome-
tres the AirportlinkM7 tunnel rivals
those of the great Snowy Mountains
scheme. David Jaunay, GIS manager
for engineering frm Tiess, said that
the companys GIS-centric approach
made the job easier for staf members.
Te simple layering capability and
vvisual nature of GIS technology facili-
tates better decision-making, Jaunay
said. Once Tiesss staf became
familiar with its advantages, usage
wwent through the roof, with the central
WWeb-based viewer receiving up to 350
vvisits each day, he added.
Data to help in mineral
exploration
Geoscience Australias Onshore Energy
Security Program has released the fnal
seismic, gravity and magnetotelluric
processed data. Overall, Geoscience
AAustralia gathered more than 6500
kilometres of deep crustal seismic data
during the Onshore Energy Secu-
y g p rity Program and much has proved
invaluable to the minerals and energy
exploration industry already, said
Tristan Kemp,Geoscience Australia
geophysicist.
Local governments tie up
to create interactive maps
Local governments across Australia have
come together to participate in a ground
breaking new research project that will
fnally plot out how they collectively
use GIS technology to create intelligent
and interactive maps based on council
land and property records. Esri Australia
and the spatial sectors peak body,
the Surveying and Spatial Sciences
Institute (SSSI)
will conduct
the research
which has been
initiated because
of the lack of
readily acces-
sible knowledge about how councils
implement GIS technology.
New bathymetry dataset
offers easier access
A new multibeam bathymetry data-
set has been released that provides
improved understanding about the
topography and nature of the seafoor
of ofshore Australia, an area which
for the most part remains poorly
mapped. As national co-custodian
of this extensive multibeam dataset,
we hope this new accessibility will
facilitate the use of bathymetry data in
the wider mapping community, said
Dr Bruce Goleby, Group Leader of
Innovation and Specialists Services at
Geoscience Australia.
NEW ZEALAND
8oost to CIS education
in schools
Land Information New Zealand
(LINZ) has partnered with CORE
Education and its LEARNZ project
to develop an interactive learning
experience for school students focus-
ing on How Geospatial Information is
supporting the Canterbury Recovery.
Trough the use of multi-media and
web technologies the students get to
interact with inaccessible places and
people via a Virtual Field Trip (VFT).
Te VFT is an engaging curriculum,
rich e-learning opportunity for stu-
dents where the real world comes to
the classroom. During the feld trip the
students stay at school but visit places
they would never otherwise go to and
interact with people they would never
otherwise meet. Te participation of
students is enabled using live audio-
conferencing, web board and diaries,
images and video clips.
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50m multibeam dataset of Australia 2012
Australia/Oceania
Product
WATCH
Energy Mapper
now with SDK
Broadcom Corps GNSS chip BCM47521
is exclusively designed for the commu-
nications industry.
Key features:
The chip enables geofencing capa-
bility which preserves battery life.
It supports GPS, GLONASS, QZSS
and SBAS.
For indoor navigation, it uses Wi-Fi,
GNSS chip
for communications
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), NFC and
handset inertial sensor data.
It notifies when a user enters or
exits a virtual perimeter.
Broadcom Corp, known for semi-
conductor solutions for wired and wire-
less communications, claims the geo-
fence technology is a breakthrough in
virtual perimeter awareness.
Location platform for
big data
TerraGo Location Intelligence
Platform is the enterprise-level
software, exclusively designed for
the big data market.
Key features:
It gathers information from
social media.
It integrates geospatial intelli-
gence and delivers situational
awareness.
It works online and also in
bandwidth-restricted environ-
ments.
With the new platform, TerraGo
aims to harness the power of Big
Data in geographic context to
build actionable location intel-
ligence. In addition, to reflect the
fusion of innovative discovery,
integration and collaboration
capabilities, TerraGo unveiled new
company branding and logo.
Global Energy Mapper 14.1 along
with software development kit
(SDK), from Blue Marble, is now
available.
Key features:
The new mapper processes
hundreds of millions of LiDAR
point cloud data.
It provides preview of data be-
fore creating a gridded surface
model.
It provides access to detailed
statistical breakdown of the
point cloud.
It makes seismic survey cover-
age easier.
It enables users to create a site
pad for a non-level surface.
Raytheons One Force Mobile Collabora-
tion is a mobile app for first responders.
Key features:
It integrates voice, maps, drawing
tools, chat, real-time position track-
ing with GPS, streaming video and
image sharing.
It uses existing hardware and infra-
structure on networks.
It supports 2G, 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi.
It performs equally well over low-
data rate radio and tactical radio
networks.
It has heterogeneous
network capabilities
among responders.
With One Force,
Raytheon aims to
provide reliable and
secure real-time com-
munications, situational
awareness and a suite
of robust collaboration
capabilities for groups of users on
smartphones, tablets and mobile data
computers.
British GIS software developer
Cadcorp has released Web Map Lay-
ers for the insurance sector.
Key features:
It brings together location of assets
and hazards into GIS.
It provides location intelligence to
support multiple business activities.
It includes several tools for data
interrogation and analysis.
The browser-based application com-
bines base map data of users choice
with the organisations own business
data and helps in sales, underwriting,
customer service and claims investiga-
tion. It also calculates the accumulated
exposure to risk for a specified area,
and inform an underwriter when a pre-
defined level has been reached.
Green Streets GeoBrand, a new
Web-based graphics-branding
tool, can create custom GIS
maps that reflect a logistics
companys brand, assets and
processes. Now, users can up-
load custom icons, add unlim-
ited text and colours to countries
using a corporate branded
colour palette. Infographic
maps helps users understand
complex business solutions,
illustrate business data such as
supply chain operations, ware-
house or inventory locations to
customers.
App for secure
communications
Cadcorp eyes insurance sector
Custom GIS maps
for logistic frms
n April 26, 2012 PSLV C-19 roared into the skies
from SHAR on the eastern shores of India carrying
RISAT-1, the biggest of the Indian Remote Sens-
ing Satellite Series (IRS) weighing in at nearly 2
tonnes and carrying a state-of-the-art Synthetic
Aperture Radar. It represented a major milestone
in the overall Indian Remote Sensing Satellite
Programme.
Planning for the IRS Programme had begun in the
late 1970s and the frst satellite of the IRS series,
IRS 1A, a 1-tonne satellite carrying two CCD cam-
eras, was launched from Baikanur, onboard a Rus-
sian Vostok launcher on March 17, 1988. As the
Programme completes 25 years, it is worthwhile to
recount the IRS Story, the story of one of the most
successful programmes of Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO).
Te genesis
Te story begins in 1969. Vikram Sarabhai, the
father of Space Technology and Applications in
India, clearly saw the need for a remote sensing
programme for an agricultural society like India.
Tis is what he said in his presentation of the
summary of the conference and recommenda-
tion for initiatives at the First UN Conference on
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at Vienna in 1969:
When we came to Vienna, we thought that
the areas of most immediate practical applica-
tions would be communications, meteorology
and navigation, in that order. But one of the most
striking things to emerge has been appreciation
of the great potentiality of remote sensing devices,
capable of providing large-scale practical benefts.
One of the group discussions considered the cost
efectiveness of these techniques, and it was pointed
O
Special Feature | 25 Years of IRS
Touching the skies
Taking the daring step of breaking into the elitist league of space programmes 25 years
ago, with a purely development-based agenda, India is frmly at the forefront of earth
observation today. Lets take a look at the remarkable journey
out that there is a high cost beneft ratio, which,
for example, in cartography, can be as much as
18:1. Te time has come to interest meteorologists,
hydrologists, surveyors, agricultural specialists and
other groups in such programmes. Te chairman
of the thematic session summarised the consensus
that aircraft could initially be used because of their
comparatively low cost. Tere is need, to begin
with, to understand problems of interpretation.
Remote sensing cannot replace man on ground,
but can direct mans eforts on ground to be more
efcient.
Sarabhai sowed the seed but did not live
long enough to see the fruits as he passed away
in 1971. His successors in the Indian Space
Research Organisation took the idea forward
through a series of steps which were to lead to
the IRS Programme. Tese steps can be sum-
marised into three categories. Te frst was a
strategy to utilise opportunities that presented
themselves which could add to capacity build-
ing. In remote sensing, these included an
opportunity to develop a thermal scanner with
CNES, launch opportunities for the Bhaskara
series of satellites ofered by the erstwhile Soviet
Space Agency and the ofer to become a Prin-
cipal Investigator in the Landsat Programme.
Te second strategy was to pace technology by
applications. Tus, right from the frst aerial re-
mote sensing surveys and Landsat data analysis,
ISRO always had end users as equal collabora-
tive partners. Tis led to a third strategy in the
form of specifc utilisation programmes for its
satellites frst Bhaskara and then IRS. Tis
strategy gave a focus to technology developers
and opportunity to the user community to own
IRS.indd 24 3/9/2013 7:53:39 PM
the programme by providing a forum where they
could voice their needs.
Following a series of experimental satellites
like the Bhaskara launch on Vostok and RS-D1
and RS-D2 launched as experimental payloads on
ISROs nascent SLV launcher programme, a com-
mittee was formed by the late Satish Dhawan, the
then Chairman ISRO, under the Chairmanship
of the late Dr T.A. Hariharan, a senior scientist
handpicked by Dr Sarabhai from the Woods Hole
Research Laboratory, to come up with a blueprint
for an operational Indian Remote Sensing satellite
series. It included, among others, scientists like
George Joseph, O.P.N. Calla, P.S. Goel and Y.S. Ra-
jan who have since then become familiar names
in the Space community.
Tis committee, in its 1976 report Future
Indian Earth Resources Satellites , recommended
that ISRO should build a remote sensing satellite
that could be launched with an Indian rocket.
Tey felt that an optical Multi-spectral Scanner
(MSS) similar to that carried by Landsat with a
resolution of 100 metres would sufce for many
Indian application needs. Te committee also
said an experimental optical sensor using the
newly emerging Charge Coupled Devices (CCD)
technology should also be fown as a back up to
the MSS payload. Microwave payloads were also
considered as important in view of the cloud cover
problems during the major crop-growing season.
Te committee made a strong recommendation
that those critical technology activities in the area
of sensors, spacecraft subsystems, data processing
and data products are undertaken expeditiously
for a possible 1982 launch.
Detailed consultations among the scientifc
and technical professionals in ISRO and outside
including the user community followed. Te
experience from Bhaskara and RS-D satellites and
other ISRO programmes like the Apple Communi-
cations Satellite proved valuable in the confgura-
tion of what was to become IRS-1. To get the end
users involved in the process, a programme called
the Joint Experiments Programme was launched
in 1977 to develop a strong user community who
could contribute to the programme by way of ap-
along with six foreign mini and micro satellites, on February 25, 2013
plications development and inputs for the payload
selection and design. Using Landsat imagery
and imagery from ISROs airborne multispectral
scanner (an indigenous ofshoot of the thermal
scanner developed with CNES), applications
were developed for various areas like agriculture,
hydrology, geology, geomorphology, land use, soil
mapping and so on.
Te launch
Te IRS Programme was launched in late 1981
and its frst project IRS was frmed up as a three
axis stabilised, sun synchronous satellite carrying
two CCD cameras with resolutions of 70 m and
35 m in four spectral bands covering the visible
and near IR parts of the spectrum. In 1982, the
project was cleared by the government and India
made an announcement at the second United
Nations Conference on the availability of IRS data
to the world community, especially the develop-
ing countries. Dr K. Kasturirangan was designated
the project director and Dr George Joseph was the
director for the development of the two CCD pay-
loads. Tere would be two satellites IRS-1A and
1B and an engineering model 1E. IRS-1A would
carry three Linear Imaging Self Scanning Sensors;
one was LISS 1 with a resolution of 72.5 m and two
others were LISS-2A and B with resolution of 36.25
m. Te decision to drop the multispectral scanner
and commit to a new technology, the Charge Cou-
pled Device, for the sensors was path breaking.
Te only other satellite to opt for this technology
was the French SPOT satellite launched in 1986.
IRS-1A and SPOT-1 were thus contemporaneous,
both leading the switch to this new technology.
In 1983, the National Natural Resources
Management System (NNRMS) was set up by the
Departments of Space and Science and Technol-
ogy. Te NNRMS was the brainchild of Prof Satish
Dhawan and Prof M.G.K. Menon to prepare vari-
ous government departments as well as educa-
tional institutions to make the fullest use of the IRS
system. As part of this, three major eforts were
launched in the areas of forestry, groundwater
exploration and wasteland mapping. On March
17, 1988 IRS-1A took to the skies from Baikanur
atop a Vostok rocket.
Early on the morning of March 18, the excite-
ment of waiting for IRS-1A to open its eyes was
palpable at the Shadnagar earth station of the Na-
tional Remote Sensing Agency. Te satellite was
controlled from the ISRO Tracking and Telemetry
Station in Bangalore. Each event was relayed by
voice from Bangalore to Shadnagar; acquisition
of the spacecraft as it rose above the southern
horizon and the series of operational commands
followed by payload on . A big cheer went up as
the frst images of the southern peninsula of India
came into view on the quick look display moni-
tor. India had stepped into the age of operational
remote sensing from space.
IRS-1B, incorporating improvements aris-
ing from the analysis of the performance of 1A,
was launched on August 29, 1991 again onboard
Vostok from Baikanur. By this time, the PSLV
launcher was ready for its frst developmental
fight. It was decided to make IRS-1E fight-worthy
and launch it on the frst developmental fight,
PSLV-D1 from SHAR. Te LISS 2 cameras were
replaced by an experimental payload from the
German Space Agency DLR, called the Monocular
Electro-Optic Stereo Scanner. Unfortunately, the
only PSLV fight to fail happened to be the D1 and
IRS-1E failed to orbit.
Two remaining developmental fights of PSLV
were used to launch experimental IRS satellites.
PSLV-D2 put IRS-P2, carrying two LISS-2 cameras,
into orbit on October 15, 1994. On March 21, 1996
Te Russian Vostok launcher which carried the frst
satellite of the IRS series, IRS 1A, on March 17, 1988
I
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We took
approximately 6
years to develop
IRS-1A. In these
6 years, we were
doing end-to-end
experiment of
Landsat data,
but we were
determined that
we will develop
everything
indigenously. And
see the progress.
Before IRS-1A,
Bhaskra 1 & 2 were
launched in 1979
& 81. Bhaskra 1
had the capacity
provide data at 100
kilo bit per second
but with IRS-1A
we achieved the
data rate of 25 mb/
second.
Dr V. Jayaraman,
Satish Dhawan
Professor

Tematic Mapper of Landsat (30m) and XS-
HRV of SPOT (20m). It lacked the second short-
wave IR band and thermal IR bands of the TM
but scored over the three bands of XS-HRV. Te
LISS-3 is a versatile sensor and the workhorse
for most applications. PAN was, till the launch
of IKONOS in 1999, the highest resolution civil-
ian camera.
Going global
Te failure of Landsat 6 and the upheaval in the
international remote sensing scene caused by
premature commercialisation of remote sens-
ing data acquisition resulted in a situation where
the global user community was left with very
few options. Tey could depend on an ageing
Landsat 5 satellite or an expensive French SPOT
satellite. Te commercial wing of the Depart-
ment of Space, Antrix Corporation, addressed this
vacuum and foated enquiries for global partners
to receive and redistribute IRS data worldwide.
An agreement with EOSAT was signed in 1994
and consultations began between EOSAT and
ISRO engineers on the nitty gritty of data recep-
tion. Te frst international IRS reception system
was inaugurated in 1995 at Norman, Oklahoma
in the US. Reception began with IRS-1B data
and preparations were started for the simultane-
ous commissioning of IRS-1C data reception at
NRSA Hyderabad station and the EOSAT station
at Norman. On December 28, 1995 IRS-1C took
to the skies from Baikanur onboard the Molniya
launcher. IRS-1D was launched on September
27, 1997 on board the frst commercial fight of
PSLV, PSLV-C1. From now on PSLV would be the
workhorse launcher for IRS.
PSLV-D3 launched IRS-P3 which carried a Wide
Field Sensor, WIFS. A two-band version of this was
already launched on IRS-1C. Te version on P3
had an additional shortwave IR band. WIFS was a
low-resolution sensor with a very wide coverage
resulting in repeat coverage every fve days. Tis
trade-of between and resolution and coverage
was dictated by the need for enhanced repeat
coverage to monitor situations like drought and
food and to be able to monitor crops over their
growth stages. P3 also carried an experimental
sensor called Modular Opto-electronic Scanner,
MOS from DLR for remote sensing of the oceans.
Tus while D2 established confdence in the PSLV
launcher D3 was useful to try out experimental
sensors. A word on the ISRO satellite naming
convention: the P designation was applied to
prototypes. Successful prototypes were renamed
and started a new series like Oceansat, Cartosat
and Resourcesat.
Meanwhile, the operational series contin-
ued with the design of IRS-1C and 1D. LISS-1
was replaced with a two-band WIFS while
LISS-2 was replaced by LISS-3 having a resolu-
tion of 23m. LISS-3 also added a shortwave IR
sensor at 70m. A new sensor called PAN was a
steerable panchromatic high resolution sensor
providing a resolution of 6m. An onboard re-
corder was added to provide global data. Tese
changes were the result of feedback from the
Indian user community as well as the need to
be competitive in the global market. Although
not explicitly stated, IRS 1C was designed to
be a global player. Its WIF camera was unique
and later copied by SPOT in its SPOT 4 and 5
satellites. Te LISS 3 was slotted between the
IRS 1 C and 1D was a saga where India really dominated remote sensing
as an instrument of resource information across the world. We wanted to
institutionalise this efort...Tere was considerable amount of skill, creativity
and innovation that we have put in and there was a time when we are no
longer worried whether we were the worlds best or not.
Dr K. Kasturirangan
Former Chairman, ISRO
Indian space
programme is
unique because
it addresses
the national
developmental
programmes.
The way we
have named
the satellites
Oceansat,
Cartosat,
Resourcesat etc
only tells how
we have taken
consideration
of each social
segment
Dr P.G. Diwakar,
Director, Earth
Observation System,
ISRO
Ocean sensing
Te IRS series, operational and experimental,
concentrated more on land-based applications.
Tis is to be expected as the major driving force for
remote sensing applications were land applica-
tions such as crop forecasting, forest manage-
ment, land management and mineral exploration.
A Department of Ocean Development was created
in 1981 and soon attention turned to ocean sens-
ing, perhaps catalysed by Dr A.E. Muthunayagam,
Director of ISROs Liquid Propulsion Systems
Centre, who took over as the Secretary of the De-
partment of Ocean Development in 1994.
Te IRS programme responded with IRS-P4
which carried a new sensor called the Ocean
Colour Monitor, OCM and a microwave sensor
called the Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave
Radiometer, MSMR. Te OCM was used for
studying the ocean colour to track ocean features
like temperature, chlorophyll and pollution. Te
microwave sensors made a comeback at long last
after the Satellite Microwave Radiometers, SAMIR
on board Bhaskara 1 and 2; a hiatus of nearly 15
years. Also it is important to note that though the
Hariharan Committee mentioned these sen-
sors, it took time before an operational sensor
emerged. IRS-P4 was launched on May 26, 1999.
It was renamed Oceansat-1 and was followed by
Oceansat-2 in September 23, 2009.
Tracing the terrain
Te next area to be addressed by the IRS Pro-
gramme was the third dimension in geography
the terrain. IRS-1C and D carried steerable PAN
cameras which could be used to image an area
from diferent directions to create a stereo pair,
which could then be used by a photogrammetric
workstation to create a Digital Elevation Model of
the terrain. However, these were not dedicated for
this purpose. To meet this requirement, IRS-P5,
renamed Cartosat-1, carried two 2.5m resolution
PAN cameras pointed fore and aft along the fight
track. Tis ensured a complete stereo coverage of
the country enabling users to create 3D models of
any part of India or even the world.
Another area covered by IRS is that of agile
imaging at very high resolution. Tese are require-
ments of the security establishment as well as
agencies like infrastructure and urban planning
departments. Tis technology was frst tried out
on a Technology Evaluation Satellite (TES), which
had 1m resolution and could be commanded
to image a specifc area. TES was launched on
October 22, 1999. TES was followed by Cartosat-2
in January 10, 2007, Cartosat 2A on April 28, 2008
and Cartosat 2B on July 12, 2010.
Te successors
Meanwhile, IRS-1D was aging and required a
replacement. Tis came in the form of Resourc-
esat. Resourcesat-1 was launched on October 17,
2003 and was a vast improvement beyond IRS-1C
and D. In keeping with the ISRO naming policy,
the frst satellite was designated in the P category
as IRS-P6. It carried an Advanced WIFS (AWIFS),
which had a 740-km swath, 70m resolution and
three bands, efectively bringing back LISS-1
resolution of IRS-1A and B with a very wide swath
and therefore higher revisit. Te workhorse sensor
continued to be the LISS-3. Another new sensor
was LISS-4, a multispectral upgrade of the PAN.
Resourcesat-2 followed on April 20, 2011.
Te latest in the series of IRS satellites is RI-
SAT-1, which in a sense completes the programme
envisaged by the Hariharan Committee in 1976 by
adding a Synthetic Aperture Radar to the constel-
lation of sensors in space on board IRS satellites.
Providing all-weather, day and night capability,
RISAT-1 represents the acme of technological
achievement. No other country in the world has
Providing all-weather, day and night capability,
RISAT-1 represents the acme of technological
achievement. No other country in the world has
such a huge constellation of operational satellites
carrying a wide variety of sensors from the visible
to microwaves and from 1m to 70m resolution
Postage stamps
commemorating
the achievements
of the Indian space
programme
such a huge constellation of operational satellites
carrying a wide variety of sensors from the visible
to microwaves and from 1m to 70m resolution.
Secret to success
How did ISRO manage this feat in 25 years?
Te three-pronged strategy has already been
described earlier. Te other key factors were or-
ganisation and management. ISRO centres are self
contained and represent a centre of excellence in
their areas. In the case of IRS, ISRO Satellite Centre
was responsible for the satellite bus and overall
management; Space Applications Centre pro-
vided the sensors, data processing software and
applications; LPSC provided the control thrusters;
VSSC provided the avionics; ISTRAC provided
the satellite control and NRSC provided the data
services. Inter-centre management teams coor-
dinated the activities and a strong management
ofce ensured budgets and schedules. Above all,
it is the spirit of can-do, extension and enthusiasm
of a young set of engineers and scientists who did
not fear to venture into unexplored territories.
However, in brief four phases can be observed:
Te early pioneering phase, in which every-
thing seems to revolve around late Dr Vikram
Sarabhai. Te time frame is approximately
from 1970 to 1974.
Te capability build-up phase under late
Prof Satish Dhawan (1975-1982) in which
large-scale projects are undertaken and
competence established in the entire value
chain of remote sensing technology. Te ini-
tiation of the IRS project and its associated
programme elements marks the end of this
phase. Tis was also the period characterised
by innovations in technology as well as novel
organisation structures and processes.
Te operational phase largely under the
stewardship of U.R. Rao (1983-1992). Tis is
the phase in which the frst IRS satellites get
launched and provide operational services.
Te decision to use the well-established CCD
technology enables ISRO to become a world
leader in remote sensing technology.
Te globalisation phase under Dr Kasturiran-
gan (1993-2003), and carried forward by Dr
Madhavan Nair (2003-2009) and now Dr Rad-
hakrishnan in which ISRO is trying to leverage
on its innovation and capabilities to become a
player in the global scene.
Tis article is based on the personal experi-
ence of the author and on two reports. One is
Te Indian Remote Sensing Programme A
Case Study on the Management of High Technol-
ogy authored by Kiran Karnik and the author,
and presented at the National Convention on
R&D Management, Bangalore, 1994. Te other
is a study for the UPIASI research project on
Te Context of Innovation in India: the Case of
the Information Technology Industry entitled
Indigenous Innovation and IT-enabled Ex-
ports: A Case Study of the Development of Data
Processing Software for Indian Remote Sensing
Satellites, by S. Chandrashekar and the author,
September 30, 2000
(Images courtesy ISRO)
Prof. Arup Dasgupta
Managing Editor
arup@geospatialmedia.net
RISAT-1 undergoing
prelaunch tests
Indian space
programme has led
to data democracy
downloadable
data, down-
loadable tools.
All this has led to
development even
at the lowest levels
like villages and
panchayats
Dr Y.V.N. Krishna
Murthy,
Director, Indian
Institute of Remote
Sensing
The Happening Places

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Te geospatial industry as a whole is still in a stage of infancy, believes Raymond
OConnor, President , Topcon Positioning Systems. Te number and scale of infrastructure
projects going on all over the world only indicate the huge potential to be tapped. Further,
he sees the whole sector moving towards being a solutions-oriented industry.
What are the advantages ofered by machine control and
what is the kind of acceptance among new customers?
r beneft of machine control is productivity gain. Be A major b
it fne-grading in construction or sowing seeds or harvest t fne
ing in agriculture, cost savings accrued w
available today can enable 30-40% increa
a conservative estimate. In some cases, cu
doubling of productivity. Machine contro
ed in the US and European markets. With
fuel, labour and everything else going up
on productivity improvements to make m
In new or emerging markets, projects
kind of standardised cost structure as it h
mature markets. When we introduce mac
in emerging markets, it is more difcult to
vantages over the entire project. Tis is ve
neering eforts in mature markets a few d
the cost benefts are only in a quarter or o
project initially. Translating that to the ov
a little more complicated. In many cases,
do not have the required tools to save mo
aspects of the project. And speeding up th
just one area doesnt always give the sam
in the US or Europe.
Even in the mature markets we faced
resistance initially from people handling
machinery because they were concerned
the productivity tool will take over their jo
Corner Ofce | Raymond OConnor
Construction and farming
are the two largest manufacturing
industries but the least automated
Tough it is not always the case, but this kind of
resistance slows down introduction and accep-
tance of a new technology.
Which are the promising vertical industries in
terms of machine control?
Te verticals beneftting from machine control are
all very diferent from each other. We have been
very successful in the mining industry but it has a
limited size with a limited number of machines.
Te biggest and the fastest growing industry at the
moment is agriculture. In 2000, the farm industrys
use of precision measurement equipment was
less than $100 million; last year, it was more than
a billion dollars. Te agriculture sector is adopt-
ing advanced precise positioning technology
much faster than any other business; it has been
adopted by equipment manufactures even faster.
Te trend started with John Deere in the 1990s,
and it was based on the premise of precision farm-
ing throughout the farming cycle. Agriculture is
the fastest growing segment of Topcons business
t the moment.
However, the adoption of advanced technol-
gy in construction machinery is also moving
ery fast. Construction and agriculture are the two
rgest manufacturing industries in the world rep-
esenting between $8 to 10 trillion a year but are
he least automated. So, these two are the areas to
ok out for.
Is Topcon aiming to create and nurture new
verticals?
We are doing it, but I wouldnt want to comment
n it due to competitive reasons. Te core of our
usiness is the areas I have just mentioned. Tech-
ology is being adopted and it is growing in both
mature and emerging markets.
When I joined Topcon in 1993, the survey-
ing industry was doing a business of about
$800 million a year globally; today it is a
$5-billion business. So the opportunities
have grown exponentially and in some areas
the growth has been tremendous in con-
struction, civil engineering, mining, agricul-
ture and mapping.
Te industry as a whole is still in a stage of
infancy. Look at the kind of projects going on all
over the world highways, infrastructure, build-
ings, pipelines, mining the cost of constructing
all these is a fraction of the cost of maintaining
the entire infrastructure for a lifetime. And until
recently, we didnt have a good way of capturing
all this data, but now capturing, handling and
managing this data throughout the life of the proj-
ect has exploded into the marketplace.
What are the future business directions of
Topcon?
Till mid-1990s, Topcon was an optical surveying
instrument company. Ten we got into laser and
machine control; then came GPS, and fnally
the software side of the business. Obviously, the
core of our business remains surveying, civil
engineering, construction and agriculture where
positioning technologies are being adopted. Our
goal is to be the top supplier in those industries
and we have two major competitors there. Te
key advantages lie in the area of technological
advances.
Customers are asking for solutions and not just
products. What is Topcons strategy in such a
solution-centric market?
Our whole industry is focused on moving from a
product-and-technology industry to a solutions-
oriented one, where a company not only supplies
a product or a piece of hardware but also the sup-
ply integrated solutions and the software. We have
been working in that direction with acquisi-
tions as well as strong partnerships.
Te solutions business is an absolute necessity
in order to grow. But whether we will be buying or
partnering with another company depends on our
own strategic direction and how we want to evolve
the business. Everybody is trying to develop solu-
tions, but how Topcon gets there will be diferent
from others.
Without providing the total solution, it is very
tough to get into the emerging markets. Our goal is
to provide total precise positioning and machine
control solutions to the global marketplace.
Corner Ofce | Raymond OConnor
Topcon has been acquiring companies since
2008. How are you capitalising on the acquisi-
tions?
Te acquisitions were done for diferent reasons.
Sokkia was done with the focus on being the
top supplier of optical surveying equipment in
the world. Te deal made us the largest global
supplier of about 35-40% of optical instruments
across the board. Te Voxis acquisition was purely
a technology purchase. In some geographical
areas, our acquisitions have been done purely for
tactical reasons. Topcon is not focused on being
in the distribution business in certain areas of the
world. Our acquisitions are for investment rea-
sons, for gaining a foothold in a specifc market
or market niche and maintaining and enhancing
that position.
Surveying is evolving as an integrated technol-
ogy discipline but is surveying as a business
facing a dead end?
A lot of people are concerned about what machine
control would mean to the surveying business. I
can confrm that we sell a lot more total stations
today than we have ever had. When GPS came
into the market, a lot of people were concerned
about the optical survey business. But again, the
GPS and optical survey business evolved together
and grew together.
Tere is a perception that surveyors do not
have much surveying options because of all the
sensors and machines available. However, we
have found that in the mature machine control
markets, surveyors sometimes are paid more
than the actual dataset costs to mark the sites and
produce the 3D data in order to get the machines
work on the projects. In some cases, laborious
jobs like driving stakes into the ground and moni-
toring areas has gone up. So there is a transition in
responsibility but work hasnt become less for the
surveyor.
Obviously, everyone in the industry has to hear
about why we have to do it the old way. But it is
just a matter of time before everyone understands
that these changes save time and thus contribute
to the bottomline.
GIS was becoming more important than sur-
veying about 10 years ago. But today, survey-
ing, machine control and laser scanning have
taken a leadership role and GIS is adding value
to these in the overall workfow management.
How do you look at the GIS industry?
GIS is exactly like the workfow and management
of data we had earlier the limited sets of data.
A popular technology today is mobile mapping.
Last years InterGeo trade show witnessed the
new trends in mobile mapping helicopters,
airplanes, UAVs being deployed. Our ability to
manage the huge amount of data, and to process
it quickly, didnt exist even fve years ago. All that
was developed when the Googles and Maptechs
decided to map the world. Tis has led to a tre-
mendous amount of development and growth in
that area.
We now have the ability to go out and collect
huge amounts of very accurate data. Te whole
GIS industry is moving to in-house workfow
By cooperating in certain areas, we coulddo
so much to educate the industry to use
thetechnology; that grows the business
foreverybody.
and so we are going to feed all that data in the
GIS model. It is natural to assume they will grow
together.
Apart from the cost structure and workfow
management, what are the other challenges in
operating in emerging markets?
Teres more money in educating those who
make up the core markets because there are
tremendous savings and environmental benefts
involved. If a company can complete its work in
half the time, it also means it is using only half the
amount of fuel. But technology and the savings
realised are not yet a priority in many areas, espe-
cially in the emerging markets.
Trying to increase market share from a pio-
neering standpoint is a very difcult undertaking.
And manufacturers have to spend a lot of money
to break into emerging markets. Companies have
to work together to develop those markets. It is
benefcial to the countries, benefcial to govern-
ments from a cost perspective, benefcial for the
environment and for all our businesses. We need
to collaborate more to open up new markets.
Do you have any specifc strategy for the emerg-
ing surveying and positioning markets like the
BRICS, Africa and Eastern Europe?
In the BRICS, particularly in Russia, we have a
strong distributor liaison and we have a very high
market share. Its the same in Brazil. In China, we
have invested in our own manufacturing and dis-
tribution organisation and have grown the busi-
ness exponentially over the last 10 years. Working
with an in-country distribution partner typically
works very well but where we cant, we open up
our own company. In India, we set up our own
distribution company last year.
Your distributor in Latin America is the same
as that of your competitor Trimble. How does it
manage a balance?
Tats a very unique situation and I think the
distributor is doing a very good job being mar-
ried to two wives! Te reality is that the company
was a very strong distributor for both Topcon
and Trimble before we treaded into each others
product territories. Trimble was a GPS company
and Topcon was into optical instruments. Now,
Trimble sells on its own the products that the joint
distributor doesnt sell and we do the same.
Positioning contributes to a little over 35% of
the Topcon groups revenues. What kind of
growth are you visualising here?
Our goal is to double the growth in the next fve
years. It is a very exciting time to be in this indus-
try. Te competition is fantastic and I am a big
promoter of competition. But I would like to see
our competitors also trying to help the market by
doing more to educate it because there are a lot
of things we can do to build the markets, expand
them more rapidly in more areas, expand our
networks, standardise data formats and educate
the emerging markets. By cooperating in certain
areas, we could do so much to educate the indus-
try to use the technology; that grows the business
for everybody.
Sometimes I think our competitors lose sight
of the bigger picture and get focused on the
day-to-day business rather than the long-term
picture of the industry. But I prefer our approach
of having a long-term view of the overall industry
because not only it is a good and proftable busi-
ness, but we also are doing something to really
help the world.
36 | March 2013 Geospatial W or ldGeospatial W or d
he India governments annual Economic Survey
for 2012-13 has called for careful mapping,
assigning of conclusive titles to facilitate land leas-
ing, and creating a fair but speedy process of land
acquisition for public purposes .
Way back in 2001, a report by McKinsey Global
Institute had stated that land market distortions
accounted for close to 1.3% of lost GDP a year in
India. While many subsequent estimates put this
fgure at 2-3% of the GDP, even at 1.3% this is a
straight loss of Rs 1.38 trillion or $25.29 billion a
year for the country at current values.
Geospatial technology is fundamental to land
T
Te Indian growth story has suddenly hit the brakes. But geospatial technology
could get it out of this mess. What is required is an integrated policy and enabling
environment for the sector to give a push to Indias stagnant growth engine
Caught in a jam
records management. In other words, efective
use of geospatial and information technologies in
Indias land records management could unlock
$25.29 billion in the economy. Te Indian GDP is
estimated at Rs 106 trillion (around $1.94 trillion)
at present.
Tis is but just one example and just a plau-
sible scenario.
Twelve years and two Five Year Plans down,
not much has changed on the ground. As the
Economic Survey highlights, the biggest hurdle
in the Indian growth story in the last couple of
years has been land. With a land acquisition Bill
Cover Story | India
pending tabling in Parliament and mega invest-
ment projects stuck across the country for lack
of clarity on land laws, Indias GDP which even
beat the global slowdown in 2008 has really bitten
the bullet in last couple of years. Even though the
fnance minister claims there is an upturn, fgures
released by the Central Statistical Organisation in
February showed that GDP growth in the October-
December period slipped to 4.5% decades
lowest quarterly growth ringing an alarm bell
for many major sectors like farming, mining and
manufacturing. Investments worth more than
Rs 5 trillion involving more than 500 projects were
shelved during 2011-12.
G-tech to the rescue
But all this could change with efective planning.
Given that the need for spatial data for planning is
well recognised, g-tech could play a pivotal role in
changing the way India charts its growth trajectory
once again. Geospatial technology plays a crucial
role in improving governance through better
planning, decision making, efective and timely
implementation and real-time analysis, says Kau-
shik Chakraborty, Vice President, Hexagon India.
Understanding this, several states have initiated
setting up state spatial data infrastructures.
Recognising the importance of spatial data
and geospatial technology in boosting Indias
economic growth, the XI Plan (2007-12) had laid
a great emphasis on this. While provisioning for
around Rs 66 billion in the use of various types
of technologies under diferent ministries, it had
also mandated the use of geospatial applications
in some of the mission mode projects such as the
National Land Records Management Programme
(NLRMP), Restructured Accelerated Power De-
velopment and Reform Programme (RAPDRP),
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission (JNNURM), National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act (NREGA), while actually acknowl-
edging that location-specifc planning using geo-
graphical information system ... helps in planning
for sustainable development.
However, as we enter the XII Five Year Plan in
2013, a realistic stocktaking would reveal that the
progress and implementation have been far from
operational and sporadic to say the least.
After the euphoria of the XI Plan, the XII Plan
draft is suddenly muted on g-tech. Other than Rs
25 billion provisioned for setting up of the Nation-
al GIS and mapping of the entire country at 1:10k,
there are but very little mention of its use and
allocation. Of course, for the Department of Space,
the provisions have been Rs 397.50 billion, but
the Plan is more emphatic on the Mars and Moon
missions. But Rajesh C. Mathur, Vice chairman,
NIIT GIS, says, some of the XI Plan projects will
go into the XII Plan. NLRMP, Crime and Criminal
Tracking and Network System, National e-Gover-
nance Plan (NeGP) will all go beyond the XI Plan.
Even JNNURM, which ended with the XI Plan, will
be extended into the XII Plan. Te industry also
thinks even though the XII Plan or Union Budget
doesnt specifcally mention geospatial, the mega
development and infrastructure projects in it
would ride on geospatial technology.
Required: An integrated policy
Te geospatial services industry alone is estimated
at $3-billion in India as of 2011 and provides jobs
to 135,000 people, says a study by Boston Consult-
ing Globe. It is estimated to deliver an annual
efciency gain of $40-45 billion in revenue terms
and $70-75 billion in cost savings. But despite
its contributions to various sectors in planning,
empowering and enabling, the sector is yet to fnd
a mention in the Union Budget or Five Year Plans.
While several sectors such as e-commerce ($5
billion) or animation ($1.68 billion) either already
are or are in the process of being recognised as
2008
Data Source: CSO
GDP Growth
4
6
8
10
2010 2012
$3bn
Annual revenues of
Indian geospatial
services industry
$40-45bn
Annual effciency gains
from geo services
$70-75bn
Cost savings achieved
by use of geo services
3.5-5%
Revenues of IT, telecom,
utilities from geo
services
8-10%
Savings in transport,
warehousing, mining
10-15%
Expected growth in
impact of geospatial
services in fve years
Emerging
growth booster
Source: BCG report on Indian
geospatial services industry
38 Geospatial W or ld| March 2013
ning, consumer indexing, load dispatch, checking
pilferage or even infrastructure, points out Arvind
Takur, CEO, NIIT Technologies.
Further, while there is a tremendous amount
of cost savings and efciency in a fully integrat-
ed GIS, how can this return on investment be
calculated when it is used for empowering and in-
cluding people? A case in point is the investment
by the National Informatics Centre in geospatial
technology as part of the complete systems and
support infrastructure established for e-gover-
nance in the country.
Cadastre and land administration
Te basic economic problem that India is cur-
rently facing is the allocation of the available but
limited land among a growing number of users.
While this requires a huge political will, on the
execution front what is required is proper and
efective technology-enabled policy that leads to
proper land records and titling.
Although some form of cadastre exists in India,
the information is often outdated with incomplete
and poorly organised paper records making up for
a large percentage of the database, says Charanjit
Singh, Director, NLRMP. Lack of digitisation
means information cannot be verifed or shared,
thus its real value is locked up. Land records man-
agement is fragmented, with bits of information
held by too many departments.
Te department, which had launched the
NLRMP in 2008 to develop a modern, compre-
hensive and transparent land records manage-
ment system with the ultimate aim to implement
the conclusive land-titling system with title guar-
antee, is targeting full digitisation, including GIS
maps, and interconnectivity between land records
and registration by the end of the XII Plan or 2018.
Some states like Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have made con-
siderable progress. Singh is particularly in praise
for the integrated system of Bhoomi (land records)
and Kaveri (registration) in Karnataka, which has
cut out fraudulent deals. Te Haryana govern-
ments use of high resolution satellite imagery
for speedier modernisation its records and the
sunrise sectors, geospatial is still recognised as a
small cog in the bigger IT wheel.
Given the way geospatial technology has
been enabling national development, it should be
recognised as a sunrise sector and get adequate
tax breaks and incentives, says Rajan Aiyer, MD,
Trimble India. But for that various industry
bodies like AGI, Ficci and others have to work in
unison to present the demands of the sector to the
authorities. Industry insiders believe the lack of a
well-defned geospatial strategy and understand-
ing of this niche technology among policymakers
and a highly restrictive environment owing to
security paranoia is holding back the sector from
its realising its full potential.
We are working with industry chambers like
Nasscom, CII and Ficci to build a comprehensive,
encompassing strategy for growth of the geospa-
tial sector in India, says Bharti Sinha, Executive
Director, Association of Geospatial Industries
(AGI). Geospatial is not non-IT but it is new IT,
and that is why it needs special focus the right
enabling environment, tax, sops and subsidies.
Geo services have the ability to transform all
aspects of life from business to government, says
Prashant Agrawal, one of the BCG consultants
who worked on report commissioned by Google.
Te study identifes easier access to data and
clearer data sharing policies as some of areas that
can boost this sector.
Currently, geo services represent 0.2% of
Indias GDP. However, there is tremendous room
to grow this industry and create a competitive
advantage for India, emphasises Agrawal. Te
impact of geo services is expected to grow at an
annual rate of 10-15% for the next fve years. What
is interesting is geospatial has a multiplier efect,
which is expected to go up from 15 to as high as
20 or 30. Te fgures may sound astounding, but a
close look at some of the projects that it has been
part of only establishes the point.
Take for instance, the R-APDRP. Te invest-
ment in geospatial part of it is just 10-15%, but
from planning to implementation, or operation, it
is core to the projects functioning. APDRPs code
is GIS the geospatial element is central to plan-
Cover Story | India
Given the way
geospatial tech-
nology has been
enabling national
development, it
should be recog-
nised as a sunrise
sector and get ad-
equate tax breaks
and incentives
Rajan Aiyer,
MD, Trimble India
Geospatial
technologies play
a crucial role
in improving
governance through
better planning,
decision making,
efective and timely
implementation
and real-time
analysis of the
situation on the
ground
Kaushik Chakraborty,
Vice President,
Hexagon India
Gujarat governments pure grounded method are
also commendable, he says.
However, since land is a state subject, the
Centre can only give guidelines. Also, there is also
great reluctance among the populace regarding
land surveys, especially in a country like India
where 70% of the population live in rural areas.
Further, the line departments are not keen either
on the high-end technology. We have to convince
people that proper land records management is
for their beneft as it frst establishes their right on
the land and then increases the value, reduces dis-
putes and encourages business, says Bipin Bihari
Srivastava, Secretary, DoLR.
Srivastava also thinks that the entire land
records and management system in the country
needs to be revisited, including some laws that
have become archaic. Te DoLR knows much is
riding on this project and that is why it has kept a
strict deadline end of the XII Plan for comple-
tion. But it is also being realistic. I think this will
spill over to the next Plan, admits Singh. Tis is a
huge and challenging programme. Land record is
quite a sensitive issue and we should not hurry.
Infrastructure
Land that is well connected to markets is espe-
cially scarce, and lack of supporting infrastruc-
ture causes greater cash burn and distraction of
management from core business operations, says
the Economic Survey. Te XII Plan has proposed
$1-trillion investment for the infrastructure sec-
tor, lining up a time-bound, ambitious plan for
new roads, railway tracks, ports and airports and
upgrade of existing infrastructure.
G-tech is going to play a very valuable role in
utilising these dollars to maximise the benefts for
the citizens of the country and thus refect in the
economic growth of the country, says Rajan Aiyer.
However, construction of any big infrastructure
project involves automated machines and these
machines talk to each other on wireless. At pres-
ent, the import duties are as high as 25-30% with
restrictions on import, operation and support of
these systems with clearances required at every
stage. All this takes about six months, by that time
the project phase is complete, says Aiyer. Further,
all these licenses are not one-time and a company
has to apply for them again for a diferent project.
Roads & highways
India has the second largest road network in the
world with 3.3 million km but about two-thirds of
it is unpaved or poor quality. Indias road network
logistics and transportation bottlenecks hinder its
GDP growth by 1- 2%, fnds a KPMG report.
Recognising this, the Budget has given a boost
to dedicated industrial corridors connecting met-
ros while contracts for 3,000 km of road projects
will be awarded in the frst six months of 2013-14.
Te geospatial industry sees this as a big welcome
push for a new wave of industrialisation and
urbanisation. From planning to construction and
alignment of roads and tracks, to operation and
maintenance,geospatial technology can play a big
role. Signifcantly,the XII Plan puts a special thrust
on progressive use of technologies for enabling
real-time monitoring of projects,putting them in
the right direction,and fast decision making.
Te governments target of building 20 km of
national highways per day under the XII Plan will
require the use of state-of-the-art construction au-
tomation technologies, admits Atul Kumar, Chief
General Manager, NHAI. Te creation of massive
highway assets with four /six laning of over 20,000
km of national highways in the last few years has
led to the challenging requirement of timely and
efective monitoring of their construction, quality
maintenance and efciency, he says. ICT along
with satellite imaging, surveying and latest gadgets
Integration and computerisation of land records not only protects them, but makes
indexing possible for access by various departments. This can help to detect owner-
ship conficts and track usage agreements attached to parcels. Within a GIS, a
parcels title chain can be traced, thus eliminating a risk for fnancial investors and
making it easier to establish the propertys capital value. This cadastral data can
then be linked to other land attributes as well such as spatial information on topog-
raphy, environmental conditions, land use and natural resources to give graphical
depictions of real property. Some states like Gujarat have not only established a
complete cadastre, but the land information system has as many as 20 layers.
UNLOCKING THE REAL VALUE
L&T uses g-tech

in construction
projects like
roads, airports,
large townships
and shipyards.
It saves our
time and
effort, making
the whole
process very
smooth. This
has been very
instrumental
in significant
upgrade of
manufacturing
technologies
Director & President,
Larsen & Toubro
provide the much-needed fnancial breather
for the cash-strapped Railways in the long run.
Railways, the largest owner of land in the country,
has not been able to monetise this resource due
to defciencies in its land administration and
maintenance of land records. Te expert group on
modernisation of railways headed by Sam Pitroda
had estimated that monetisation of surplus land
and airspace could mobilise Rs 500 billion. Calling
for GIS mapping of land resources, digitisation of
records and perfection of titling at the earliest, the
panel had said for long-term lease and licensing
by Railways, land rights must belong to them.
Further, the Railways is yet to fully exploit the
benefts of g-tech in operations and safety. Two
years back, the Railway Budget had announced to
cover all its eight zones with anti-collision devices.
Te project, which uses GPS and sensors to de-
termine train location, speed, course of travel and
time, has been implemented only on around 2,700
km of track of the 65,000 km route.
Te success of Delhi Metro has led to more
metro projects for Indian cities. Tis can happen
with the Indian Railways too, feels Aiyer. Indias
size, population and the rising middle class is
ideal for use of high-speed trains as mass trans-
port. A number of countries, including China,
have done it so efectively, he says
Te XII Plan lists out a number of construc-
tion projects dedicated fright corridors, high
capacity rolling stock, last-mile rail linkages and
port connectivity, and development of logistics
parks areas where geospatial could play a key
role. Tere are also opportunities for surveying
and construction automation in the process of
track building and improving quality. Enhancing
project execution capabilities would be critical for
the railways in improving returns on investments.
Aviation
Te civil aviation sector in the country has ex-
panded rapidly with the opening up of domestic
skies and airports to private players. At present,
the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is upgrad-
ing and modernising 35 non-metro airports at an
estimated cost of around Rs 45 billion while 15
The GIS-based data system will provide information about the life-cycle of a coach,
wagon, locomotive, building, signalling system and other assets while making decision
making faster in crisis-like situations. Once integrated, the disaster management system
will give location and accessibility of accident sites, availability of resources for rescue
operation, location of medical relief facilities etc. The railways had started a real-time
train tracking project SIMRAN as a pilot project along with IIT-Kanpur. The pilot was
scrapped in November 2012, which was followed with a similar RailRadar. However,
this is not a real-time GPS tracking. The trains are yet to be tagged with GPS.
like GPS-enabled cameras and video logging,
sensor-based monitoring is giving results, he feels.
Currently the highway department follows the
kilometre-based referencing system on road, but
we had taken up a pilot on GIS-based National
Highways Information System. We hope to take
up GIS-based referencing system soon, says C.
Kandasamy, Director General, Ministry of Road
Transport & Highways. NHAIs GIS-based road
information system is being populated with
data, and there are plans to integrate it with a
trafc management system for dissemination of
information such as feet management, incident
response, toll, vehicle regulation etc. Tis can also
be used for giving information to travellers.
Railways
Te Indian Railways is running late in the geo-
spatial track and has just about woken up to its
benefts. While so far it had talked about only GPS
tracking of trains for passenger benefts and stray
projects like night-tracking and fog safety services,
the Railways has fnally embarked on an ambi-
tious project of creating a GIS-based database of
its network and assets, including, track, station
and signals to make the operation system efcient.
Under the Rs 300-million plan, an inventory
of the entire railway network including land will
be created through GIS, says S.S. Mathur, General
Manager, Centre for Railway Information Systems.
In January, the Railways placed a six-fgure order
with GeoEye for stereo imagery to use in planning
and designing of freight corridors and even two
high-speed transportation corridors.
Signifcantly, GIS mapping is expected to
Cover Story | India
FINALLY ON TRACK
Geospatial
technology is
essential for all
areas of road
development
from survey
and planning to
construction and
maintenance. A
pilot on GIS-based
road referencing
system will also be
in place soon
C. Kandasamy,
Director General
(Road Development),
Ministry of Road
Transport & Highways

Gagan, the Indian satellite-based augmentation system, is a project
taken by AAI and ISRO. Gagan is designed to provide additional accurac
ability, and integrity necessary to enable users to rely on GPS for all phases of fight,
form en route through approach. A possible certifcation by 2014 will propel India
as the only fourth country to have this facility in the world. According to US defence
giant Raytheon, which has provided the ground segment technology for the project,
Gagan-equipped aircraft is estimated to save as much as 20% on fuel.
greenfeld airports have got in-principle nod.
Te airports sector is estimated to require an
investment of about Rs 675 billion during 2013-18.
Te plan to propel India among the top fve civil
aviation markets could be provided with access to
safe, secure and afordable air services through an
appropriate regulatory framework and by devel-
oping world-class infrastructure facilities.
World-class infrastructure comes with geospa-
tial solutions such as 3D indoor mapping and GPS
for feet, vehicle and asset monitoring. We are
seeing companies invest in efciency-related tools
that GIS can provide feet management solu-
tions, vehicle tracking and software, says Rohan
Verma, Director, MapmyIndia.
Power
Indias energy sector is increasingly under pres-
sure to deliver a secure supply of energy amid
growing demand and fuel imports, notes a report
by the International Energy Agency (IEA). India
currently has a power generation capacity of
211,766 MW of electricity, which meets only 90%
of the demand. Te XII Plan recognises unreli-
able and inadequate power supply to be a serious
impediment in India. What makes matters worse
is the high aggregate technical and commercial
losses sufered by power utilities, estimated to be
equivalent to 1.5% of GDP. Te IEA report says the
nationwide AT&C losses were 31% in FY 2010-11,
compared to developing economies such as Brazil
(17%), China (5%) and Indonesia (10%) in 2009.
A major initiative of the XI Plan was R-
APDRP which aimed at actual, demonstrable
performance in terms of AT&C loss reduction.
Launched in 2008 with an allocation of Rs 515.77
billion, the programme covers state utilities in
urban areas. Te project, which mandated GIS-
based consumer indexing and extensive network
mapping, has seen signifcant progress in the
frst part in almost all eligible towns. Te second
phase has also been launched in some states, with
Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, West Bengal and
Madhya Pradesh leading the pack. Te benefts
will be realised only when they go through energy
audit, says Rajesh Mathur. Last 3-4 years have
been the project phase and we should see the
benefts in the coming year.
However, data updation is a very worrying
aspect about R-APDRP since there is no provision
in it for that. Whatever data was generated was
done two years back, so updation and recollection
is a major problem, says Pankaj Gupta, Head, GIS
Data Collection, Trimble. Te industry claims this
was brought to the governments attention but
the Power Finance Corporation, the nodal agency
for the project, says it is the responsibility of the
electricity boards. Te power boards in turn say
they do not have the funds.
Some of the key recommendations of XII Plan
to bring distribution system on track include R&D
in advanced metering, distribution automation,
utility automation covering SCADA, mapping and
GIS, outage management system areas where
g-tech can play a crucial role. Te core of build-
ing a smart grid, which is the ultimate goal for the
power sector, is again geospatial technology.
Power capacity addition target for the XII Plan
has been fxed at 88,537 MW. Te share of nuclear
power is expected to rise from 3% in 2012 to 5% in
2017, another area which is likely to give a fllip to
this industry. From identifying uranium/thorium
deposits to site selection for plants and disposal
of nuclear waste, remote sensing plays a vital
role in nuclear power generation, explains A.K.
Chaturvedi of the Department of Atomic Energy,
who believes nuclear power is Indias answer to
clean energy.
Mining
Much of the power sectors woes has been caused
due to shortage of coal owing to a drop in produc-
FLYING HIGH WITH GAGAN
GIS ties together

all the pieces of the
electric distribution
system for
improved customer
service, better
management of
assets and outages,
and increased
accuracy of data
Harsh Sharma,
Vice President, BSES
Yamuna Power
tion and transportation However, production is
likely to rise by 2016-17, thanks to mining giant
Coal India Ltd, which aims at taking up around 70
expansion/new projects during the XII Plan.
To achieve these targets, Coal India, which
supplies 81% of the coal used in the country, is
planning extensive use of geospatial technology,
says Chairman Narsing Rao. It already uses g-tech
for real-time trip counting system at opencast
mines, truck movement monitoring system at
weighbridges and coal handling plants mines.
From the pre-mining phase to surveying, explo-
ration, determining baseline data of environmen-
tal situation and land use pattern, we are using a
lot of these technologies, emphasises Rao.
Mining, as is known, has huge potential for g-
tech and the XII Plan opens up further avenues. It
has said a database of mineral resources needs to
be developed besides calling for a National Geo-
physical Data Repository and National Drill Core
Library. It has also talked about a National Tene-
ment Registry and integrating it with the cadastral
maps being digitised under the NLRMP.
ICT
Mission mode projects are building blocks of the
National e-Goverance Programme (NeGP), which
is the key driver for integrating all e-governance
initiatives. Te ICT structure is poised for growth,
as the XII Plan seeks to take NeGP to the next level.
Te next phase of NeGP will focus on improving
the delivery of public services using the informa-
tion databases of the mission mode programmes,
explains Hexagons Chakraborty, while pointing
out geospatial technologies need to become the
key driver ... to form the backbone with regard to
the processes of governance, decision-making,
planning and nation-building.
In addition, ICT is becoming ubiquitous and
intrinsic part of peoples behaviours as well as
of business practices, government activities
and service provision. Promotion of use of ICT
by domestic industry will enhance productiv-
ity in priority sectors like agriculture, health,
education, retail and automotive. Information
is there in the verticals and we need horizon-
tal exchanges of information. Time is now to
integrate all this and GIS is known to be a great
integrator and enabler of information, says Dr
Vandana Sharma, Deputy Director, NIC.
Telecommunication
Te telecom sector has been the most visible in-
dicator and catalyst to economic growth for India
in last few years with teledensity increasing from
18.31% to 78.66% during 2007-12. Te telecom
sector and geospatial go a long way in ensuring
sufcient allocation of resources, infrastructure
and asset management and customer servicing.
Private telecom players in India such as Reli-
ance and Bharti have long been using geospatial
technology for these purposes. Now, the govern-
ment has also recognised the benefts as it calls for
a national-level efort to harmonise the policies
of various authorities to address issues related to
land allocation, power supply, towers erection
all of which needs extensive use of g-tech.
With the successful rollout of 3G services, the
country is moving to 4G rollout now. A key thrust
area for the XII Plan is to connect all villages with
population more than 500 on the National Optical
Fibre Network. Te NIC and Department of Tele-
coms joint vision, the Rs 350-billion Bharat Broad-
band Nigam Ltd, seeks to realise broadband on
demand by laying down optical fbre network
connecting about 250,000 village panchayats.
Te XII Plan recognises the need to provide
incentives to encourage the uptake of broadband
in sectors like education, healthcare, public safety,
government operations, and so on. While this sure
opens up new vistas, it will also boost the value-
Cover Story | India
Changing Structure of Fuel for Power Generation
Nuclear
Renewables
Hydro
Gas
Coal
2012 2017 2030
70
69 58
12
11
12
9
16
5
5
3
7
14
6
3
From pre-mining
phase to surveying,
exploration,
determining
baseline data of
environmental
situation and land
use pattern, we
are using a lot of
these technologies.
We are open to the
emerging ones too
Narsing Rao,
Chairman & MD,
Coal India

geo services industry expected to ride on the mo-
bile market, telecom sure is a hotbed of activities.
Urban development
As more and more of rural population moves
to urban India in search of employment, the
infrastructure of our cities will be further strained.
As per 2011 Census, 31.15% of Indias population
live in cities while contributing to more than 60%
of GDP. Te Ministry of Urban Development had
launched the National Urban Information System
in 2006 to develop GIS databases for 152 towns/
cities in the country in two scales 1:10,000 and
1:2,000. Utility mapping at 1:1000 scale was also
to be undertaken for 24 towns. Te project is in
advanced stages.
Signifcantly, a working group on Urban
Strategic Planning has also called for a combina-
tion of spatial with socio-economic and fnancial
planning, and transportation with land use and
environmental planning. It has also identifed lack
of enabling tools such as GIS and GIS-enabled
management information as one of the major
impediments. Tere is recommendation for a Na-
tional Spatial Strategy covering national transpor-
tation grids and national priority cities, establish-
Cover Story | India
F
or several of the national develop-
ment projects to be success, geospa-
tial technology has to penetrate into the
society and government departments.
However, lack of awareness among
policymakers and ofcials often creates
great hurdles in the integration of geoin-
formation into the system. Tere is also
reluctance among line ofcers to shift to
a technology.
Amiya Kumar Mahapatra of Orissa
State Application Centre (ORSAC)
realised this much to his dismay when
the ORSAC started creating maps under
NLRMP. We were told by state ofcials
that RoR was sacrosanct and nothing
could come over that. It took ORSAC
years before the state Assembly passed a
special Act only last year which provides
legal coverage for conducting survey
and resurvey with modern technology
in the state.
Besides the typical change man-
agement problem, there is a genuine
lacuna in understanding among people,
often even at the highest level. Ofcials
are not able to understand the tech-
niques. We have conducted training
programmes with the decision makers
but still they are not able to understand,
says S. Sudhakar, Director of the North
Eastern Space Applications Centre.
Andhra Pradesh IT secretary Sanjay
Jaju thinks this whole exercise of GIS has
not been put into a particular depart-
ment, which is complicating the issue
further. Many of these activities have
been relegated to planning departments
who have no expertise in this subject.
Also, state ofcials often are reluctant
to take specialised training and be part
of a GIS cell in various departments
since they feel they are sidelined from
the mainstream. Jaju thinks shifting/
integrating these responsibilities to the
IT department will help.
Lack of skilled resource is a great
problem in India, with the demand seen
at anything between 20,000 to 70,000
over the next fve years. SoI as a na-
tional mapping agency is itself in such a
LACK OF AWARENESS & TRAINED CAPACITIES
added services market. GPS and navigation have
almost become ubiquitous in mobile phones now.
Mobile is driving the LBS space. Every major
handset manufacturer now provides a built-in
GPS chips in smartphones, says Verma, recol-
lecting how the Apple iO6 fasco last year boosted
download of MapmyIndia services. Recognising
the potential, even state-owned telecom enti-
ties BSNL and MTNL have tied up with Russias
Glonass for satellite-based navigation services.
Te BCG study sees geospatial playing a huge
role in telecom its impact is expected to grow at
15 to 20 times in the next fve years. Already, about
3.5 to 5% of revenues in telecommunications can
be ascribed to it. With the rapid growth in Indian
The JNNURM programme, as the frst national fagship programme for urbanisation,
envisages a total investment of over $20 billion over seven years and has been widely
accepted as being effective in renewing focus on the urban sector across the country.
Rajiv Awas Yojana under JNNURM, which aims to provide affordable housing for the
urban poor, extensively uses GIS and has even laid down a set of guidelines on GIS
mapping, MIS development and integration of GIS with MIS. The Union Budget has
allocated Rs 85 billion ($1,547 million) for urban development for 2013-14 with
JNNURM getting Rs 550 million.
ON DEVELOPMENT ROAD
ment of an institutional ownership for GIS data in
state urban information systems and integrated
land use and transport planning.
Te Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure,
which has integrated all databases for develop-
ment purposes, is a good example towards this
end and the next step would be moving towards a
spatially enabled urban planning for the national
capital. While several states are putting in place
SDIs, some departments are using geospatial
technology in planning for housing, transport,
sanitation etc. A number of local bodies, which
have successfully used GIS and related technolo-
gies are now reaping the benefts by way of efec-
tive e-governance and increase in property taxes.
Rural development
Clearly, the road to Indias development goes
through its villages, which houses nearly 70% of the
population. In keeping with its policy of inclusive
growth, India government has been using geospa-
tial technology in connecting with village people
and panchayats in a systematic manner. A great
part of ISROs mission and work by its state-level
space application centres have revolved around
catering to empowering panchayats with latest
technologies such as crop forecasting, information
on irrigation, drinking water, sanitation and educa-
tion through village resource centres.
Te Union Budget has allocated Rs 801.94 bil-
lion for 2013-14 fscal towards rural development.
However, the departrment also faced fak for its
failure to spend on some schemes. A major prob-
lem with rural development is there are too many
schemes doing the same things. Geoinformatics
can help us connect all this, thinks M.V. Rao, Di-
rector National Institute of Rural Development.
With mega welfare schemes like MNREGA,
National Livelihoods Mission and Bharat Nirman,
the XIth Plan saw an unprecedented injection of
funds in rural development. Te XII Plan aims to
take these further, as it promotes use of remote
sensing, GPS and GIS to prevent social exclusion.
Rural development schemes have been
dogged by largescale corruption issues and Rao
thinks remote sensing and satellite imagery can
monitor some of these works. Te draft guideline
for MNRGEA has also called for use of GIS as a
decision support system. It seeks latitude and
longitude information of all works in Web-GIS
(Gujarat Model) or in Google Maps to enable real-
time progress monitoring.
crisis; private agencies are in worse state
perhaps, says Surveyor General of India
Dr S. Subba Rao. Te industry is facing
lack of trained manpower even for the
ongoing projects. During R-APDRP there
was so much of dearth of manpower that
people were actually poaching on each
others resources.
Tere is no proper system in place
to churn new talent. Either we produce
graduates in conventional geography
or scientists in satellite and remote
sensing technology. But we need more
engineers. We need formal educational
programmes like B.Tech/M.Tech in geo-
spatial technology, says Arvind Takur,
CEO, NIIT Technologies.
Te sector has developed to an extent
that it can be an exciting career oppor-
tunity but people do not know about
them. Already some universities like
Anna University, JNTU, Symbiosis, NIIT
and a host of engineering colleges have
courses in geomatics but there are few
takers. From academic year beginning
April 1, the Central Board of Secondary
Education will start geospatial technol-
ogy as a vocational elective in Class XI
and XII to create basic awareness about
the emerging technologies.
Subba Rao thinks we should have GIS
courses at ITIs and government universi-
ties. Te government is talking about it
and there has been some move by the
education ministry. But things are mov-
ing very slow. But then he points to lack
of trained faculty in the country. Most
government engineering colleges do
not have enough qualifed and trained
faculty. Who is there to teach GIS!
A lot of industry people, including the
government and private sector, think the
private education sector should come
forward and start these courses. Tat is
also not a foolproof formula though. As
Subba Rao says, most of the passouts
from private colleges leave India after a
year so for better prospects abroad. Tis
skillset shortage is not only in India; its
a problem worldover because its an
upcoming sector.
A major problem
with rural
development
is there are too
many schemes
doing the
same things.
Geoinformatics
can help us
connect all this
M.V. Rao,
Director, National
Institute of Rural
Development
GIS is part of our
overall execution
methodology. From
telecom to retail
to distribution of
petroleum products,
we are probably
the frst one in the
country to be doing
this on such a scale
Sanjay Mashruwala,
President, Projects,
Reliance Industries
We have
successfully
incorporated
geospatial
technology in our
orgnisations day-
to-day activities.
We had to be
quicker than the
competition
Ramamurthy Kolluri,
Vice President,
Networks, Bharti Airtel
A number of initiatives taken by ISRO, the Min-
istry of Environment and Forests and the Ministry
of Earth Sciences in the recent times have been
towards sustainable development while improv-
ing the scope and quality of both climate data and
other remote sensing applications.
Te fagship Integrated Coastal Zone Man-
agement project is an ambitious programme
to build national capacity for comprehensive
coastal management approach in the country.
Te $285.67-million World Bank-funded project
was part of the XI Plan and is implemented by the
Survey of India to map the 7,500-km coastline.
Launched in 2010, the project is in its frst stage
now and is working on mapping, delineation and
demarcation of the hazard lines, and delineation
of coastal sediment cells.
Under the XII Plan, a dedicated satellite for
monitoring forest cover, NTFP resource, biodi-
versity on periodical basis along with change
monitoring is also on the anvil.
On the climate side, a number of initiatives and
coordination among ISRO and the India Meteo-
rological Department have improved the climate
data quality in recent times. Since groundwater
accounts for nearly two-thirds of Indias irrigation
and 80% of domestic water needs, a new pro-
gramme of aquifer mapping at a scale of 1:50,000
aims at sustainable management of groundwater.
Signifcantly, the government envisions trans-
forming the MNREGA into Indias largest water-
shed and groundwater recharge programme.
Disaster management
India with its geographical and climatic diversities
is one of the most disaster prone countries in the
world. Growing political unrest and inadequate
infrastructure add to threat of man-made disasters
too. While we have taken huge strides in disaster
management since the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, a
2011 UNDP report estimates India still loses about
2% of GDP to natural disasters. Estimates suggest
about 60% of the landmass is prone to earth-
quakes, 40 million hectares prone to foods, 8%
area prone to cyclones and 68% is susceptible to
drought. Te loss in terms of human lives, private,
Agriculture
Rapid urbanisation is progressively reducing the
availability of most productive lands for agricul-
ture. With water becoming a scarce resource, In-
dias heavily monsoon-dependent agriculture has
been reduced to contributing only about 14% of
the GDP in recent times. Scarcity of cultivable land
coupled with a growing population are demand-
ing increased yield per acre to ensure the govern-
ments food security programme. Te XII Plan
has recognised that an important aspect of land is
its degradation, which is threatening the sectors
growth rate. With over 120 million hectares having
been declared degraded or problem soils, the Plan
has recommended remote sensing and GPS-
based support system for rejuvenation.
Even the Union Budget has underlined the
need for a technological innovation to revamp
the sector and allocated Rs 5 billion for crop
diversifcation. Te XII Plan wants pilot studies for
perfecting remote sensing techniques and GIS/
GPS to develop reliable estimates of area under
agro-forestry area under crop production, land-
use planning and precision farming. However,
Indian farmers are unable to exploit the full poten-
tial of GNSS technology due to restrictions.
Rajan Aiyer agrees that is a big problem.
However, since agriculture is a state subject, there
has been some relief in certain states. Also, given
that India typically has small-size farms, precision
farming hasnt been able to take of. But preci-
sion farming can be used in cooperative farming
for opitmising use of fertiliser, insecticides etc.
Forests & environment
India needs raw materials for fuelling its growth.
However, its ecological assets are also as impor-
tant. Further, there are people tribals to use
the laymans term who are also dependent on
forests. Sustainable development is possible by
striking a balance between economic and ecologi-
cal goals, feels A.K. Wahal, Director General, For-
est Survey of India. Efective mapping of forests
and other biodiversity resources go a long way in
securing our environment and biodiversity, and
also helps in planning and policy making, he says.
Cover Story | India

community and public assets has been colossal
over the years.
Te XII Plan has envisioned a rapidly deploy-
able multi-protocol wireless communication
system, interoperable across all the services
engaged in disaster management. It has also
said digital elevation models along major river
systems will be prepared for all river basins
while ISROs Disaster Management Support
Programme will be expanded to include more
river basins. Te Plan is emphatic on the use of
geospatial tools, food mapping, use of NRSCs
food hazard zonation maps among others.
Te ISRO programme provides near-real-time
disaster management support. However, what
is required is an integration of this with local
authorities for ground-level implementation.
Also, there are only three disaster forecasting
systems in place as of now food, cyclone and
tsunami. We need to work towards developing
forewarnings for other emergencies like earth-
quakes and on disaster alert systems, says Dr V.
Bhanumurthy of ISRO.
Conclusion
Rising infation, slowing growth, constrain-
ing budgets and an uncertain global economy
are all pointers to a gloomy future. Neverthe-
less, this slowdown is an opportunity in itself
because that is when geospatial as an enabling
technology can establish its real value. Te
industry feels in times of crisis, businesses look
to save costs and they look for tools that help
towards this. Besides projects enablement, ac-
curate real-time data helps in quick, transparent
and objective decision making. It also empow-
ers the feld workers and efective communica-
tion with them always saves time, efort and
costs, says Rajan Aiyer.
Te recent trend in India clearly indicates the
value of geospatial technologies for all nation-
al-level projects. Hexagons Chakraborty sees the
sector becoming a key driver for employment.
And he is not wrong. Te BCG study has shown
that the sector already employees 135,000 people
while touching 2% of our workforce.
People have begun to realise that geospa-
tial-enabled services are benefcial for their
work be it people, government or busi-
nesses, says Agrawal of BCG. Te report also
points to an encouraging trend increas-
ing public demand and use of geo-enabled
services. Consumers are now placing consid-
erable value on geospatial services such as
Web-enabled map applications and the value
of this consumer surplus is estimated at about
$1.5-2 billion.
Te industry thinks India is ready for us-
er-based services now. When we talk about
geospatial in India, it becomes very data-cen-
tric, says Rajesh Mathur. But look at what us-
ers want, so the whole data policy and strategy
becomes demand/consumer driven.
Agrees former NRSC chief Dr V. Jayaraman.
Data is no more an issue. We must focus on de-
livery of applications and services, he says while
identifying crowd sourcing, cloud computing and
social networking as the new areas.
Te taxation issue, among other things, has
to be competitive for global players to come in
and make it a viable business, emphasises Ai-
yer. Te sector also requires product innovation
for advanced, cost-efective and better geospa-
tial solutions. Also, the current solutions are
data hungry; to maximise the results from the
business requirements, periodic data updates
are required to be undertaken in a pro-active
manner.
Despite the constraints, the industry is op-
timistic about the future. As Chakraborty says,
We can make rapid progress with adequate
support and encouragement by way of timely
policies, incentives and initiatives. A clearer,
holistic and timely geospatial policy, further
investments and easier access to data will surely
help India realise its vision of becoming a highly
industrialised and technology-driven economy
while catering to its fundamental policy of
inclusive growth.
Anusuya Datta, Deputy Executive Editor
anusuya@geospatialmedia.net
Geospatial
technology
enables us to
understand
problems
better because
it presents
issues visually,
in a more
understandable
format. Our aim
should be to see
how e-governance
programmes can
get a geospatial
layer and turn
into g-governance
Arvind Takur,
CEO,
NIIT Technologies
48 48 | March 2013 Geospatial W or ldGeospatial W or d
Do you integrate GIS with
other technologies like SCADA,
MIS, ERP etc?
2 Do you get right guidance from the industry?
1GIS brings
measurable improvement
in terms of:
No
Yes
Yes
No
5 Has the use of g-tech opened
up new business avenue
for the company?
7%
93%
How do geospatial technology users in India rate it in
terms of benefits accrued?
Survey
Users
25% no 75% yes
4 How easy/difficult is it to procure
spatial data for your need?
24%
Easy
33%
Difficult
33%
Somewhat
Easy/Difficult
3
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Customer Service
Effciency
Safety
Productivity
Return on Investment (ROI)
Source: Geospatial World survey of users in India, a majority from the public sector.
85%
15%
Cover Story | India
49 49 | March 2013 Geospatial W or ldGeospatial W or d
1 Which are the top 3 promising verticals in India for the next 3 years?
2 Should India have a
unified geospatial policy?
4 What according to you are entry and
operating barriers for the industry to
thrive in India?
3 Will a national geospatial
repository spur industry
growth in India?
What does the geospatial industry think about the Indian
market? How big are the opportunities?
Tax structures
Policy
Other
Survey
Industry
0
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
Others
Land reforms and administration
Urban planning
Utilities
Infrastructure
55%
64%
27%
Yes 100%
Source: Geospatial World survey of geospatial companies in India.
sound policy framework that facilitates the
availability and accessibility of geoinformation is
crucial in exploiting the full potential of geospatial
data as an enabling tool in mission mode projects,
governance, businesses and everyday lives of
citizens. Coming out of the military domain, the
frst de-restriction of topographic maps in India
started around 1967. In the last 47 years, it has
come a long way, opening up several core yet
independent geospatial information organisa-
tions for topography, remote sensing information
as well as thematic mapping organisations for
forestry, census, archaeology, soil and land use.
With such a wide variety of data generating
organisations, a laudable space programme and
a thriving services sector, data should have been
the last issue in the country. Unfortunately, while
there is an abundance of geospatial data, the
Indian data environment is still fraught with nu-
merous challenges in the absence of an integrated
national geospatial strategy, clear-cut data-sharing
policy and easy access to high-resolution data.
Security paranoia?
Te National Map Policy (NMP) was estab-
lished in 2005 with an aim to promote the use
of geospatial knowledge and intelligence by all
sections of the society. With the NMP, two series
of topographic maps became available one for
defence forces and another for civilian purposes
as Open Series Maps (OSM). Te Remote Sensing
Data Policy 2011 was announced while taking into
consideration the availability of very high-resolu-
tion images, from foreign and commercial remote
sensing satellites, and noting the need for proper
and better management of the data acquisition/
distribution from these satellites in India. As a
result, all satellite data of resolutions up to 1 metre
was free of any restriction for distribution on a
nondiscriminatory and as requested basis.
It wont be breaking news to say both these
policies are underlined by security concerns. Te
A
India | Data Policy
As geospatial
technology
becomes part
of growth and
development,
its time India
takes a look at
and revamps
the existing data
policies to help the
sector realise its
full potential
Image Courtesy: Lostman Project
The missing link
NMP 2005 states that SoI has been mandated
to take a leadership role in liberalising access of
spatial data to user groups without jeopardising
national security, and each of these OSMs (in
both hard copy and digital form) will become
unrestricted after obtaining a one-time clear-
ance of the Ministry of Defence. It adds and SoI
will ensure that no civil and military Vulnerable
Areas and Vulnerable Points are shown on OSMs.
Similarly, the Remote Sensing Policy 2011 rec-
ognises that national interest is paramount, and
that security consideration of the country needs to
be given utmost importance.
While the government opened up the data for
various applications recognising the signifcance
of geospatial data, observers feel the security
concerns still prevail upon even the open data.
A report, Perspectives for a National GI Policy, by
the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS),
observes that soon after the NMP was announced,
it dawned that the digital Open Series Map is only
a red herring and that the security concern
would still prevail.
Te government, however, believes the restric-
tions are not a great hurdle to development. Dr
V.K. Dadhwal, Director, National Remote Sensing
Centre (NRSC), is emphatic that the high-quality
imaging environment is not restrictive in India.
Yes, higher spatial resolutions than 1 metre have
a set of guidelines. But geospatial sector is much
more than imaging. NRSC believes in open data
and that is why all satellite data is available for
purchase by users, he claims while adding open
data should not be confused as free data. NRSC
ofcials also point out that data prices have come
down by over 100% in the last few years, which
only point to the fact that the sector is opening up.
Further, use of high resolution data is allowed
in special cases, points out Dr S. Sudhakar, Direc-
tor, North Eastern Space Applications Centre
(NESAC), who in fact believes 2.5 metre resolu-
tion is more than sufcient to handle most of the
development-related works. Surveyor General Dr
S. Subba Rao says the Survey of India, the nodal
agency for maps, has just begun mapping the
country at 1:10,000 scale and once completed, it
will take care about 90% of development projects
in the country. He is also of the opinion that the
remote sensing policy that opened up imagery
of up to 1 metre is absolutely fne. Beyond that I
dont think many people need it.
Te Indian Railways recently placed a six-
fgure order with GeoEye for stereo imagery with
spatial resolution of 50 cm. However, it may take
months before the images actually land with the
Railways after the clearances from NRSC, which is
again the sole custodian to acquire and dissemi-
nate all foreign remote sensing data entering In-
dia. Procurement of foreign imagery is not so easy,
especially for the private sector, but NRSC ofcials
claim the delay is due to the normal procedures.
Te industry acknowledges the security con-
cerns but wants the government to be judicious in
its approach owing to development needs. With
the private geospatial sector getting more and
more involved in national development projects,
there is a genuine need for access to data. Imag-
ine using data with error margin of 50 feet for
cadastral mapping where people are possessive
about every inch, says Rajan Aiyer, MD, Trimble
India. Even for pipelines, underground utilities,
fbre optics, aligning roads, we need millimetre or
centimetre-level accuracy.
And this opens another pandoras box. Tis
kind of accuracy can come with use of GPS for
positioning or Virtual Reference System (VRS),
use of which is restricted in India. Te govern-
ment is apprehensive that it can be used by people
for nefarious activities. But even smartphones
can be used for that. We have to remove this fear,
Once the 1:10,000

scale mapping
of the country
is complete, it
will take care
of about 90%
of development
projects. Also, the
remote sensing
policy that clears
release of images
of up to 1 metre is
absolutely fine
Dr. S. Subba Rao,
Surveyor General
of India
A national geographic information system (NGIS) has been envisaged in the XII
Five Year Plan to map information, assets and data accurately, which will assist
in policy and works planning and improve delivery of services in urban and rural
areas. The Plan has approved Rs 25 billion for the project to be implemented by
the Survey of India. National GIS envisions a well maintained collection of geo-
spatial datasets to allow national use, published via standard web services so that
government and private sector entities and citizens have the same national view
of GIS data. The National GIS can be envisioned as a GIS Systems of Systems, to enable
mechanisms by which GIS can bring in full-scale support to governance and embed GIS
in all aspects of planning.
VISION FOR A NATIONAL GIS
uncertainty and doubt, says Aiyer.
As a result, many users, including government
departments, are increasingly using sources like
Google Maps. For instance, the Railways is using
Google Maps for preparing its GIS basemap. It
is just that Google is available easier, says S.S.
Mathur, General Manager, Centre for Railway
Information Systems. Agrees Sanjay Jaju, IT Secre-
tary, Andhra Pradesh, who says the state govern-
ment has started collaboration with Google since
it is available in such a user-friendly open format.
When you have Google and others, holding
government data is not going to make any difer-
ence to you. Private companies who work in India
and abroad understand this but the government
has a problem, says Pankaj Gupta, Head GIS
Collection Data Collection, Trimble India. Gupta
points out that China has every district mapped
on VRS. Even Bangladesh allows VRS. SoI has
started talking about its own 50 receivers because
they want to create a VRS system in India.
Data sharing
If security is a laid-down issue, the lack of laws or
policy regarding data-sharing further complicates
the problem. Data custodians are often reluctant
to share their data. People think data is power; if
you share, you lose the power, says Subba Rao.
Maj Gen Dr R. Siva Kumar, CEO of National
Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) agrees that
reluctance to share the data, in addition to other
factors like lack of metadata, data in analogue
form, non-interoperability and policy, has been a
reason why users have traditionally not been able
to use and add value to this asset (spatial data).
NSDI was set up in 2006 as a national infrastruc-
ture for the availability of and access to organised
spatial data, with the objective of developing and
maintaining standard digital collection of data
and developing common solutions for discov-
ery, access and use of spatial data in response
to the needs of diverse user groups. Over the
years, Kumar says NSDI has been able to develop
consensus amongst 17 mapping agencies to come
together and commit for sharing geospatial data
but a lot remains to be done.
However, many within and outside the gov-
ernment think even though NSDI was launched
with much fanfare, it hasnt been able to achieve
much. Industry insiders concede that data sharing
is a mindset problem. Sudhakar of NESACfeels
there is an inherent reluctance among govern-
ment departments in sharing data. Voicing similar
sentiments, Ganesan Kumar of the Tamil Nadu
Highways department says, For our work, it was a
challenge to get SoI maps with information about
boundaries of MLA/MP constituencies. Harsh
Sharma, Vice President (NMG,EA and IT), BSES
Yamuna Power Limited, says that the procure-
ment of images from government departments
is major challenge faced during preparation and
updation of base maps.
Te National Data Sharing and Accessibility
Policy, cleared by the Cabinet in early 2012, is
expected to be in force in a few months. Te policy
makes it mandatory for every department to share
data spatial and otherwise thus helping in ef-
fective framing of national policies and planning.
All governmental data-holding organisations will
have to prepare a negative list of non-shareable
sensitive data, weighing the need to restrict
public access due to security or privacy, against
the obligation to share it with civil society and
NRSC believes
in open data
and that is why
all satellite data
is available for
purchase by users.
Open data should
not be confused as
free data
V.K. Dadhwal,
Director, NRSC
Key
Challenges
Data
Sharing
Data
Duplication
National
Security
Standard
India | Data Policy
the scientifc community. Once this happens,
everyone will fall in line, says Subba Rao. Te
government has also launched a data portal (data.
gov.in) to make data accessible and available to all
government ministries and departments, which is
a great initiative on paper. But even then there are
issues. For instance, the NICMaps prepared by the
National Informatics Centre (National Informatics
Centre) are awaiting clearance from Ministry of
Defence before it can be made accessible.
Data duplication
Often, there are multiple agencies involved in data
generation, activities or data pertaining to the
same geographic location. And this data is collect-
ed by these agencies independently. As a result,
the authenticity of data is often lost, impacting the
decisions it supports. For instance, Varsha Joshi,
Director, Census Operations Delhi, shares that her
department had to face numerous problems while
conducting census operations in 2009 over the au-
thenticity of maps due to multiplicity of sources. In
such a situation, users also lack clarity on whom to
approach for the most authentic information.
Any metropolitan city in India typically has
a municipal authority, an urban development
authority, a public works department, the water
board, and even power, gas and telecom utilities.
All these bodies produce their own data, often
resulting in duplication. Subba Rao points out
that the Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure
(DSSDI) was envisaged to address this issue and
created one database for the Delhi Government.
He, however, concedes that this is a difcult and
time-consuming task and the Delhi Government
had to bring in legislation to mandate this.
Further, a lot of corporate data exists in the
geospatial data space. Geospatial solutions and
services companies require diferent kinds of
geospatial data for their activities and meet project
requirement. While some of it is procured from
the government agencies, companies also acquire
their own data. Dr Aniruddha Roy, Vice President,
Navayuga, says the company acquires primar-
ily the SoI base data and imagery products from
NRSC. Datasets required in addition to these are
normallydeveloped afresh based on the project
requirements. He adds that there is often a lack
of clarity regarding the processes involved in
acquiring datasets from government agencies.
Turnaround times can also be a constraint as the
companies need to meet project deadlines.
A private player, on the condition of anonym-
ity, shares that the company generates its own
data to deliver its projects efciently. Similarly,
there are a lot of individual surveying and map-
ping projects undertaken by various government
departments for specifc purposes. All these
activities generate a lot of geospatial data and
information which does not fnd its way back into
some central system from where it can be picked
up by other users for their activities. Te employee
of a public sector organisation undertaking a large
surveying exercise agrees that such data, which
will otherwise remain within the project itself, is a
national resource and should be available for use
by other organisations.
One way to address this, as Roy suggests, is that
all government-sponsored projects should have
a common repository. A project like R-APDRP
should have a common GIS repository, which in
this case can be with the Power Finance Cor-
poration and the Ministry of Power. Tey can
store the data in central repository which can be
shared through distributed environment, he says.
However, the basic facts need to be kept in mind
that the base line data in terms of boundary etc
should match with the SoIbasemaps.
Standards
Data comes in various standards. GIS experts in
India have repeatedly raised concerns about the
interoperability issues and the diferent versions
of maps and data created by various government
departments in India. Multiple standards and lack
All government-
sponsored
projects
should have a
common central
repository for
data which
can then be
shared through
distributed
environment
Dr Aniruddha Roy,
Vice President,
Navayuga
Te Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure has
created one database for the Delhi govt and all
depts are mandated to share and use this data
of interoperability not only hampers its efective
usage, but can also be a roadblock in addressing
problems like inter-state issues.
SoI, which is implementing the governments
ambitious National GIS project that aims to have
one database across the country, also plans to
address the issue of uniformity of standards.
Subba Rao explains that SoI will soon formalise
the methodologies standards to be adopted,
format in which the data will fow in, kind of data
transaction etc. As a one-shot solution, SoI is
trying to make sure all data that goes into NGIS is
OGC-compliant. As for standardising data from
other departments, as of now, SoI plans to accept
whatever format data comes in and convert it for
NGIs. At a later date, when NGIS is launched and
they all become part of it, they will automatically
migrate to a uniform format and this will gradually
become a standard. Today, if I tell them to use a
certain standard, it may come across as an imposi-
tion, says Subba Rao.
Way forward
Te underlining problems are primarily because
there is no ownership of geospatial as a sector
among any government department or ministry.
With the major data-generating organisations in
India spread over various departments (see box:
Data Custodians), no one ofcial or minister has
the onus of getting deep into the problems to cre-
ate a conducive policy environment. Also, several
eforts to facilitate cooperation and collaboration
among these agencies have not achieved the
desired level of results primarily because each of
these agencies have a very distinct mandate and is
administered by diferent ministries.
Industry experts believe that initiatives like
NSDI no doubt work to facilitate collaboration
among various spatial data organisations, but this
works only to promote the sharing of information
without the necessary mandate to encourage the
creation, management, maintenance and the
utilisation of geospatial information.
Further, these data custodians served certain
well-defned purposes which were
relevant at the time of their creation.
Today surveying and mapping has
evolved into integrated geospatial fac-
ulty which ofers much greater degree
of utility and contribution to socio-eco-
nomic development of the country and
its people. Terefore, feel experts, there
is a need to amend the scope and man-
date of these organisations in order
to make them more meaningful and
relevant to serve the country to their
fullest potential. Take for instance the
Geological Survey of India (GSI). GSI is
administered by the Ministry of Mines,
which has no interest in strengthening
the institution beyond using it for min-
ing and exploration activities within
the government sector. However, if
modernised and mandated, GSI can
play a much larger role in national
development through contribution to
commercial mining and exploration
industry. Recognising these lacunae,
Data custodians
The data generating agencies in India come under various departments
Agency Department
Dept. of Space
Dept. of Science & Technology
Ministry of Environment & Forests
Dept. of Science & Technology
Ministry of Home Affairs
Ministry of Environment & Forests
Ministry of Water Resources
Ministry of Water Resources
Ministry of Mines
Ministry of Earth Sciences
Indian Navy, Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Communications & IT
National Remote Sensing Centre
Survey of India
Forest Survey of India
National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation
Offce of Registrar General of India
Central Pollution Control Board
Central Water Commission
Central Ground Water Board
Geological Survey of India
Indian Meteorological Department
National Hydrographic Offce
National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning
National Informatics Centre
India | Data Policy
the XII Plan seeks to position GSI so as to empha-
sise on geospatial and multi-disciplinary work for
the beneft of science, society and the nation.
One way forward is setting up of an agency that
will be an integration/merger of core geospatial
data organisations, including topographical, geo-
logical, remote sensing, land registry and others in
the country. An encouraging development in this
direction is the recommendation put forward by
Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Communications
and IT, to set up a national geospatial information
agency/authority. He asserts that data should be
housed in one national agency. A number of coun-
tries such as Japan, Canada, Indonesia are working
in this direction.
To address the issues, the Indian government
has envisaged creation of a National GIS system
which aims to have one database for the entire
country for all geospatial data that is integrated
and from all government agencies. Te XII Plan
has approved Rs 25 billion for the programme.
SoI, which is mandated to set up the NGIS and
make it functional, is targeting to launch it by
October with its present set of 1:50,000 maps of
the country. It plans to update it gradually with
1:10,000 maps as they are created as well as with
data from other departments and states.
Te government believes that NGIS will go a
long way into solving a lot of these issues. While
ironing out the challenges of sharing, standards
and duplication, it will also be a repository of
all government geospatial data in the country.
However, while there is a lot of euphoria about
this, the industry is trying to stay cautious since it
believes NSDI was also launched with such hype,
but several years down the line, data sharing is
still a challenge. Some like Rajesh C. Mathur, Vice
Chairman, NIIT-GIS, believe NGIS is at a very high
level and the real issue is penetration to the state
and district levels. For, while policies are made at
the national level, actual development work hap-
pens at the state level. NGIS is like a banyan tree
which has a lot of other ofshoots. Its not an end
in itself. For NGIS to be truly successful you need
state GIS, he says. Towards that end, a state GIS
only can integrate various departments of the state
governments and become part of the National GIS
in a federative manner.
Some experts, however, say centralising every-
thing could be a total formula for disaster. Te
world is talking of distributed GIS and cloud, and
we are still talking of centralising, says an insider.
Further, the NGIS also fails to address the issue
of data generated by private organisations. Te
recent report by Boston Consulting Globe on the
state of geospatial services sector in India had
called on exploring PPP initiatives for building a
geospatial capital. In building out infrastructure
and collecting data, companies often replicate
each others work. Tey can reduce costs and save
time by building mechanisms for exchanging the
data they have already gathered, it said.
Conclusion
Te NGIS vision document recognises that for
National GIS to be successful, it is imperative to
have a National Geographical Information Policy.
Dr K.Kasturirangan, Member (Science), Planning
Commission, had also recently talked about the
need for a national geospatial policy to address
issues like data sharing and formatting.
Te NIAS report on the National GI Policy,
created on the behest of the Department of Sci-
ence and Technology, further widens the scope,
underlining that any such policy also must defne
how activities of GIS data usage and applications
can be undertaken while addressing issues of
national strategic relevance, technological su-
premacy in GI, wide-spread usage of GI in society,
address privacy, data quality, intellectual property
rights and national security issues all of which
are yet to be well-defned and to be made clear.
Tere is no dearth of geospatial data in the
country. However, if geospatial data has to
become the backbone of mission mode proj-
ects, become part of governance and business
endeavours and become a key enabler to advance
the economy, it has to be credible, available and
usable. It is important to address the gaps in the
data landscape to ensure this criteria is met.
Team Geospatial World
NGIS is like a
banyan tree
which has a lot of
other offshoots.
Its not an end
in itself. For
NGIS to be truly
successful you
need stateGIS
Rajesh C. Mathur,
Vice Chairman,
NIIT-GIS
R
Learning the ropes
iding the crest of high GDP growth, India an-
nounced several mission mode projects of
national importance during the XI Five Year
Plan (2007-2012) mandating the use of geo-
spatial technology in some. After the initial
euphoria, government departments, which
spearheaded these projects, found themselves
caught unawares. As several big-ticket projects
mandated the use of geospatial technology for
the frst time in the country, there was no pre-
cedence in adapting to the technology. Survey
of India (SoI), the ofcial in-charge of surveying
and mapping in the country, was wrest with the
responsibility of implementing several projects.
With exponential increase in demand for sur-
veying and mapping activities, outsourcing be-
came inevitable as SoI could no longer deliver
all the tasks independently. An industry, which
Te past few years have been a learning experience for the industry and
government departments in tendering and bidding for major mission
mode projects in the country as they now mature towards foating RFPs
India | Tendering Process
was content with delivering services to the rest
of the world thus far, was suddenly fush with
domestic projects.
One of the options exercised universally to
execute a project is to get a price specifcation
and go for the lowest priced vendor (L1). Tis is
used in majority of cases in India but unfortu-
nately is not the right ft for buying technology
and technical services. As the procurement
processes in the geospatial domain have not ma-
tured yet, several challenges arose in tendering
and procurement. Tese included defning the
objectives of the project clearly, establishing the
technical and fnancial entitlement of vendors,
defning the responsibility matrix and setting
realistic timelines, to just name a few. It felt
almost like an exercise in confict management,
says a government source.
Te experience of Delhi State Spatial Data
Infrastructure project (DSSDI, the frst major
project in the country, worth Rs 1.25 billion)
has taught several lessons. Subsequent projects,
like the Rs 1.25-billion Integrated Coastal Zone
Management saw maturity at various levels.
Procurement manuals were created as the proj-
ect involved several procurements. Ambiguity
regarding the responsibility matrix, technical re-
quirements and type of tendering to opt for were
resolved. Even at the start and during the project,
quick decisions were enabled and the projects
incorporated a lot of fexibility. However, the
lessons learnt are not uniform across the projects
and several challenges still abound.
Setting expectations
Often, the expectations of the users/vendees of
projects are not enumerated with clarity in the
Request for Proposal. Lack of precedents, limited
understanding of technology and experience of
utilising the same has posed a challenge. Te clas-
sic case is the National Land Records Modernisa-
tion Programme (NLRMP). Some industry quar-
ters believe that the government/stakeholders
did not exactly know what the outcomes from the
NLRMP programme should be. In some states, the
objectives and the time period were not defned
clearly, leading to confusion. Tere were instances
where such ambiguity led to litigation.
In about 90% of the projects, there are some
loopholes and outcomes are not defned very
well, says Rajesh Alla, President & CEO, IIC
Technologies. Te question is how far one can let
that go on. It is often important to educate the gov-
ernment users. Te onus is on the industry and it
requires commitment from the industry, he says.
However, having learnt from the initial mis-
takes, many projects subsequently ironed out
such challenges. Enumerating how the Depart-
ment of Land Resources (DoLR), the nodal agen-
cy for the NLRMP programme, resolved the issue,
Charanjit Singh, Director, says, We have created
a committee of senior ofcers who understand
this feld to help us in enumerating the objectives
right. Te department decided to divide the work
because one vendor cannot deliver all the tasks.
We then studied all the RFPs, selected a few
model RFPs and put them on the DoLR website
for the beneft of all state governments, he adds.
Another recommendation that has come
forth is having a consultant who can guide the
project team to the right technology specifca-
tions. Te Association of Geospatial Industries
(AGI) is ready to take on such a role.
Of pilots and slices
Several mission mode projects that stipulate
the use of geospatial technology are large, and
the tendering process cumbersome. Often, the
buyers know what they want but sometimes
RFPs are a mix and match. RFPs mix a lot of
things. No one comes to concurrence and no
one bids for it, says Pankaj Gupta, Head-GIS
Data Collection, TUFS&MCS, Business Devel-
opment, Trimble India. According to him, the
best approach is to do one or two pilots before
the major project, assess and vet the technol-
ogy. It is good to have an empanelled set of
companies, come up with a limited RFP instead
of an open RFP, he recommends.
A few programmes in the country have
already taken that route. In the case of NL-
RMP, some states have done pilots and moved
on to foating RFPs for the larger part. Te
programme is already in the fourth year. States
have been successful in setting the practices.
We have made very detailed guidelines for the
implementation of the programme, avers Singh.
Almost all the projects currently underway in
the country are massive in scale. For example,
the ICZM covers 70,000 sq km of aerial fying.
Since the government was of the opinion that no
single vendor can deliver projects of this scale
in stipulated time, they have been sliced. Tis
ensured that timelines are met and quality is not
compromised, says a Survey of India source.
Empanelled vendors
One recommendation put forth by the industry to
streamline the tendering process is to have a list
of empanelled vendors. For example, NRSC has
a list of empanelled vendors and they have a set
price for each of the tasks. Based on this, NRSC
In about 90%
of the projects,
every contract
has some
loopholes and
outcomes are
not defined
very well. The
question is how
far one can let
that go on. It is
often important
to educate the
government
users. The onus
is on the industry
and it requires
commitment
from the
industry.
Rajesh Alla,
President & CEO,
IIC Technologies
awards contracts. Te R-APDRP project has taken
a similar approach but it faced several challenges.
Rajesh C Mathur, Vice Chairman, NIIT GIS says,
We started with the right approach of empanel-
ling the vendors and making sure that only they
are allowed to bid. However, there were many
who should not have been empanelled and they
started quoting crazy prices just to bag the deal.
We need more stringent norms for companies to
qualify for empanelment.
A approach to save the projects from being
bid by vendors with insufcient domain knowl-
edge is to adopt weighted evaluation of bids. Of
late, many projects are taking this route, giving
weightage to technical competence, commer-
cial aspects and based on these, arrive at the
derived L1. Tis way, a vendor may not be the
cheapest, but value for money is ensured, says
Mathur. Voicing similar sentiments, Alla says,
Tere is no one medicine for the problem.
Each scenario needs a diferent approach. Qual-
ity-based selection is very important; technical
profciency and price is another alternative.
Unrealistic timelines
Many projects in India have unrealistic timelines.
For example, a project stipulated mapping of the
entire state in 15 months. Multi-crore projects like
R-APDRP have been colossal failures because of
such riders. Tis is because of the rigidity in terms
of deliverables, pricing and as a result a few well
known geospatial companies have almost gone
bankrupt. Projects need to have healthy clauses.
Only then can the industry remain healthy and
proftability maintained, an industry insider says.
Partner for win-win situation
For mission-critical projects, only partnership
process works and not L1, according to the spokes-
person of a leading geospatial services company.
In this, the buyer considers the vendor as a partner
with an obligation to fulfl the objectives of the
project in the long run and share the returns/ben-
efts. RFP should stand for Request for Partner-
ship and not Request for Proposal. Tis ensures a
win-win situation in the long run, he adds.
Charanjit Singh agrees that state govern-
ments cant accomplish the NLRMP project on
their own. Tey have to go for either PPP mode
or completely outsource the project. Some rev-
enue-sharing models need to be developed. For
example, if a vendor computerises the existing
land records, we need to evolve a revenue model
where the vendor gets some money and some
portion goes to the government. Such models can
be worked out on a sustainable basis, he adds.
Policy tangle
Tough the tendering process is maturing,
several projects still face constraints vis-a-vis
policy related to security. For example, there
is no timeframe in India in which clearances
for aerial fying will be given. Until the policy is
crystal clear, there is an environment of uncer-
tainty around geospatial projects. If security
is a concern, every project needs to be cleared
in the frst stage itself so that there is no air of
uncertainty and the timelines can be clearly set,
say both industry and users.
Conclusion
Learning from the experiences of tendering and
bidding for major mission mode projects in the
country in the past few years, the industry and the
government departments are refning the tender-
ing processes and are maturing in foating RFPs.
However, a lot needs to be done to streamline the
process and ensure that geospatial projects are
completed in an environment of clarity and cer-
tainty, contributing to the confdence and belief
of the government users on the credibility and
efcacy of geospatial technology.
Bhanu Rekha, Executive Editor
bhanu@geospatialmedia.net
One approach to save the projects from being bid
by vendors with insufcient domain knowledge is
to adopt weighted evaluation of bids
Some revenue-
sharing models
need to be
developed.
For example,
if a vendor
computerises
the existing land
records, we need to
evolve a revenue
model where the
vendor gets some
money and some
portion goes to
the government.
Such models can
be worked out on a
sustainable basis
Charanjit Singh,
Director, NLRMP,
Department of Land
Resources
India | Tendering Process

Feature | Large Format Printers
Putting high quality geospatial information literally in the hands of the users, large
format printers are becoming integral in the changing geospatial work environment as
it becomes more mobile and collaborative
Presenting the
BIG picture
G
eospatial information is fast becoming ubiq-
uitous and emerging as a key decision support
system across a wide range of applications. Te
visual representation of this information allows
users to see patterns, understand trends and
make informed decisions based on scientifc
analysis. Technologies like GIS, remote sensing,
photogrammetry and BIM are enabling efective
analysis of the geographic information and are
being adopted worldwide.
Visualisation and publishing of this geoinfor-
mation is one of the key steps in exploiting the
potential of the information. It is often essential
to present complex spatial and design data in
a simple, attractive and efective way. Efective
printing solutions for geospatial information
are available to users in the form of large format
printers.
Quality matters
Large format printers help produce high-quality
prints of complex and detailed images like aerial
or satellite imagery, and are an efective medium
to get the big picture without missing out on
details. Ramon Pastor, Vice President and Gen-
eral Manager, Large Format Printing Business,
Hewlett-Packard Company, elaborates that this
working tool lets users see both the large picture
and the details in the same print, allowing them
to analyse, discuss and discover the meaning and
information contained in the data, fostering cre-
ativity and enabling collective decision making.
Large format printers enable fast and ac-
curate geospatial information to support quick
and accurate decisions, says Kazuto Akane,
Senior Manager, WFP Product Marketing
Department, Regional Wide Format Printer
Products Division, Canon Singapore. When
it comes to time and accuracy, large format
printers such as those provided by Canon
beneft geospatial industry professionals by
providing highly accurate, precision imaging
solution or print quality in large format size,
he adds.
Technology developments are enabling
integrated use of multiple data types like high-
resolution satellite and aerial imagery, 3D data.
Also, with the growing capabilities and sophis-
tication of design software, geospatial fles are
increasingly getting larger and more complex.
Large format printers allow for powerful fle pro-
cessing, fast speeds, increased fexibility and high
quality colour that cannot be achieved with small
format printers available in the market. HPs
PostScript Printer series, for example, efectively
supports the GIS environment. By submitting
many fles at a time, directly to the printer, with-
out having to wait to open an application, users
can signifcantly cut down on time required to
create a print, says Pastor. Featuring 8-ink print-
ing system, users can also get accurate colours
fast, easily and cost efectively, as the embedded
spectrometer enables automatic calibration and
profling, minimising expensive trial-and-error
printing. Te system also enables processing of
large fles quickly and easily with a 160GB hard
disk drive and users can achieve high-quality
results on a wide range of applications with built-
in PostScript support for PS/PDF fles.
With a print speed of up to 46 seconds for
A0-sized output and the ability to print technical
documents with resolutions up to 2400 x 1200
dots-per-inch with precise lines, Canons image-
PROGRAF series printers are suitable for profes-
sionals who need speedy, precise and high-qual-
ity print output, says Akane. Designed to handle
high resolution and large-size fles with complex
images, these printers are also equipped with a
250GB hard drive, of which 32GB is dedicated
solely to fle processing memory, he adds. Te
increased hard drive capacity streamlines the
workfow by bearing the processing workload on
the printer to increase overall print processing
times, signifcantly increasing user efciency.
In tune with evolving work processes
Beyond dots per inch (dpi), large format print-
ers are emerging as crucial tools to support
the evolving work processes in the geospatial
community. Geospatial work environments are
increasingly becoming distributed, mobile and
collaborative. Te need to share, view and print
geospatial documents from multiple information
hubs at distributed sites is growing. Increasingly,
more and more users of geospatial information
are non-GIS professionals. Tey need to view
and share data at multiple locations via diferent
devices which can be a laptop, a tablet, or a
smartphone.
Web-connected large format print-
ers, such as HPs ePrinters with ePrint
and Share software solution, make
large format printing an easy, intuitive
experience, making it easy for non-
GIS experts too to print large format
documents. Its direct, hassle-free
printing directly from the laptop or
even straight from a USB drive, without
the need for printer drivers, applications
or servers. With touchscreen navigation,
users can have accurate previews before printing
from the intuitive colour touchscreen. In case
the users are away from ofce, they can print
remotely too from a computer or a smartphone
to a Web-connected printer, informs Pastor. One
Large format
printers let users
see both the
big picture and
the details in
the same print,
allowing them to
analyse, discuss
and discover the
meaning and
information
contained in the
data, enabling
collectieve decision
making
RamonPastor,
Vice President and
General Manager,
Large Format Printing
Business, Hewlett-
Packard Company
can also easily access, preview and share fles
and track the teams access to project docu-
ments. Tese printing solutions also let users
save their content online to the cloud so that they
can access, share, print and re-print their content
when they need to. Canons in-built software fa-
cilitates real-time sharing of geospatial informa-
tion through cloud, enhancing users workfow,
shares Akane.
Hosting information in the cloud and le-
veraging on the ability of large format printing
solutions to access, update and print geospatial
documents in the feld can yield signifcant
benefts for companies. Lets take a look at some
of them.
Key users
Segments with signifcant volume of geospatial
data at the core of their activities are perceiving
these benefts and incorporating this tool into
their activities. Te benefts of large format print-
ers are highly relevant to the segments that rely
most on geospatial information. Printer makers
observe that users in areas like e-governance,
disaster management, energy, military, mapping,
municipalities, land records modernisation,
construction and engineering, 3D
visualisation, urban planning etc
can share critical information from
various locations for greater ef-
ciency and quick decision making.
National mapping organisa-
tions: Te national mapping
organisations (NMO) of various
countries constitute a big user
base of large format printers. As
the NMO of South Africa, National
Geo-spatial Information (NGI),
prints maps and imagery, includ-
ing topographical maps, aeronau-
tical charts, thematic maps, ortho-
photos and aerial imagery. Chief
Director Dr Derek Clarke informs
that in the past, all the maps were
printed using lithographic of-set
printing and the imagery using
Transport Department issues
permits faster with LFP
Case Study
E
ngineer technician Taddeus Stephenson at the District 1
Permits Ofce of the Nevada Department of Transportation
(NDOT), US, takes customer service seriously. His ofce is charged
with reviewing and approving road construction permits, a job
that requires him to work with engineers, contractors and vari-
ous government agencies to ensure that each project follows state
regulations. At peak times, his ofce receives 120 permit applica-
tions per month.
When applicants bring their drawings to the ofce, Stephenson
sits down with them and shows them where they need to make
changes to comply with regulations. But out-of-state applicants
usually cant come to his ofce. In the past, this meant that Ste-
phenson would receive plans by FedEx, mark them up, and mail
them back. Tis process often included several rounds before the
permit was approved, delaying the application by weeks. Stephen-
son knew that, from a customer service standpoint, NDOT had to
do better.
In 2011, Stephenson advised NDOT to purchase the HP Design-
jet T2300 eMFP. Te ability to quickly scan and print quality colour
drawings and collaborate via HP ePrint & Share,
1
plus additional
user-friendly features, convinced Stephenson that the HP Designjet
T2300 eMFP would provide good value for NDOT. A year later, that
investment is still paying of.
Convenient colour printing
Before purchasing the HP Designjet T2300 eMFP from California
Surveying & Drafting Supply, NDOT only had a black-and-white
plotter. When it needed colour prints, NDOT outsourced the work
or went through the cumbersome process of manually tracing the
coloured lines with highlighters.
With the HP Designjet T2300 eMFP, NDOT can conveniently print
quality colour drawings and aerial photos in resolutions up to 2400 x
1200 optimised dpi. At colour image speeds of up to 549 sq ft (51 m
2
)
per hour, NDOT can get accurate colour prints in minutes. And when
clients bring fles in on a thumb drive, all Stephenson needs to do to
print TIFF, JPEG, or PDF
2
fles is plug it into the printers USB port.
Saving time and money
NDOT bought the HP Designjet T2300 eMFP not only for its ability
to print high-quality colour drawings, but also for the ways HP
(Continues...)
When it comes
to time and
accuracy, large
format printers
benefit geospatial
industry
professionals by
providing highly
accurate, precision
imaging solution
or print quality in
large format size
Kazuto Akane,
Senior Manager, WFP
Product Marketing
Department, Regional
Wide Format Printer
Products Division,
Canon Singapore
photographic processes. With all these products
now available in digital format, NGI has moved
to using large format digital printers. Elaborating
on the advantages, Clarke says the large format
printers facilitate printing on demand and they
require minimal set-up and are cost-efective
for small print runs. With litho of-set printing,
the process of making printing plates and the
cost thereof, requires a minimum print run of
600 while the plate-making process is also time
consuming. Te large format printers provide
the advantage of quicker turn-around in printing
and are cheaper for smaller print runs, he adds.
For Te Netherlands Cadastre, Land Registry
and Mapping Agency (Kadaster), large format
printers ofer fast delivery time, quality, eco-
nomical unit price, minimisation of paper waste
and less use of ink, says A.A. Mohamedhoesein
(Aslam), Ordercordinator, Kadaster/Geo-
informatie.
Malaysias Department of Survey and Map-
ping (JUPEM) uses large format printer for
proofng and map printing. In addition, it also
serves the agencys on-demand printing needs
such as backdrop printing for departmental
events, publication needs, and others. Te fact
that it can be used for various purposes (and
not only map printing), helps the department
to save cost and time, according to the Map
Printing Section of JUPEM.
Clarke concurs that when maps are stored
in the cloud, they can be printed at any location
where a large format printer is available. Te map
producer only needs to put the print-ready map
in the cloud and it can be shared. Mohamedho-
esein says Kadaster has integrated its HP printers
into its workfow made possible by software
developed by the printer company.
Energy: Energy companies often have
projects spread out over geographies. A hydro
power company fnds large printouts of site
maps and other drawings an efective com-
munication tool between the central ofce and
feld ofce. While this ensures that the feld
ofce works on the latest version of the fle, the
feld ofce is also able to make modifcations to
the fles on the same printout based on ground
situation, and the communication fows back to
the central ofce. Prior to large format print-
ers, the central ofce had to use smaller print
sizes and attach them together. Tis not only
was cumbersome and time taking, there was
also the risk of the set of papers not reaching
the feld ofce in original shape. With large size
printouts, the ofces not only have overcome
these inconveniences, but have also been able
to enhance their work efciency and decision
making. Ofcials can view large amount of de-
tails about the project in one document.
Oil and gas: Similarly in an oil and gas
exploration and production, more than 80%
information is geospatial information which is
the starting point for almost all activities. Eko
Darminto, GIS, Topo and Carto Engineer, New
Ventures Division, Total E&P Indonesie, shares
that geoscientists in the organisation are more
comfortable working with large size paper print-
outs to arrive at various decisions.
Architecture, engineering & construction
(AEC): Typically, a construction site operates
out of a set of maps that are hosted in multiple
repositories. Efectiveness in the construction
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r
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:

H
P
industry means managing the inevitable changes
on a building project, be it a commercial or resi-
dential job, on a daily basis.
Charlie Byrd of Middleburg, Virginia-based
construction frm IntelliStructures says construc-
tion frms often have to quickly communicate,
approve and enact design or blueprint changes
with a variety of individuals and teams from
architects and engineers to subcontractors and
clients. A Web-connected printer gives construc-
tion frm owners control over exactly what and
when they print. As a critical business tool, Byrd
observes that a large format printer with such
features enhances professional collaboration. He
says he can print directly from his computer or
USB drive without installing drivers, or use the
colour touchscreen to print directly from the Web.
He can share and access fles among not only his
own team, but with colleagues in the building in-
dustry as well. Te AEC segment can also beneft
from a host of features developed by printer mak-
ers for this segment. HP for example, ofers inkjet
printing at LED speed at breakthrough TCO (total
cost of ownership) saving time and expense.
Users can enjoy high-speed, unattended print-
ing, radically simplify and speed up their entire
workfow, produce monochrome CAD drawings
for the same paper cost as their current LED
prints and even use laser paper. Tey can even
load diferent media on three diferent rolls. In
addition, such a printing solution also seamlessly
integrates with any IT environment.
Utilities: Similar benefts can be seen in other
segments with highly mobile workforces, like
public utilities. Te feld ofce can access the
latest version of the fle from the central ofce,
using Web, scanner and printer, to ensure that
the modifcations they make, like those to water
pipes, are accurate. Tey can also make changes,
if any. Since these changes are in the cloud, the
central ofce is up-to-date on any changes. Tis
way the organisation can also identify if there
were any errors in their plan or GIS system. Large
format printers therefore not just provide the big
picture but are also a low-cost tool for access to
information in the feld, says Pastor.
Case Study
ePrint & Share helps NDOT speed up the permitting process. With
HP ePrint & Share, Stephenson can easily upload fles and share
them with applicants and colleagues. When he prints using HP
ePrint & Share, a copy of the fle is saved to the cloud, allowing him
to access and track diferent versions of the same fle.
Stephenson has begun encouraging out-of-state applicants to
sign up for HP ePrint & Share, which provides up to 5 GB of cloud
storage for free, because it allows you to get what you need in real
time. With the HP Designjet T2300 eMFP, Stephenson is able to print
technical drawings, consult with colleagues, mark up the plans and
then scan them directly to HP ePrint & Share. Applicants can then re-
view comments and make changes. At a time when state budgets are
thin and small businesses are struggling, the time and shipping costs
saved by NDOT and its business applicants are signifcant.
Stephenson is also discovering that HP technology is great for
working on the go. He says that having the HP ePrint & Share app
downloaded to his Android device allows him to go to work sites,
where he can collect data and mark up drawings on his phone and
then print the fles at his ofce using the HP Designjet T2300 eMFP.
A good value
Before NDOT purchased the HP Designjet T2300 eMFP, it rarely
produced prints for other state agencies, other than occasionally
helping the attorney generals ofce with cases that involved state
roadways. Now that it has a powerful new colour printer, NDOT
is in high demand. Stephenson recalls one court case where the
attorney general needed a letter-size aerial photograph blown up
to 6 x 6 ft (1.8 x 1.8 m). Stephenson scanned the image, and, using
editing software, he split the image in half. Ten he printed each
half and put the images together on foam board.
Stephenson recalls, When she came to pick it up, she could
read the arrows and the words painted on the street. She just
couldnt believe the resolution of the photo.
Stephenson estimates that, over 5 years, his ofce spent nearly
$100,000 leasing and operating its old black-and-white plotter and
scanner. With the HP Designjet T2300 eMFP, NDOT adds colour
printing, Web connectivity and features such as the intuitive colour
touchscreen and the ability to print directly from a USB thumb
driveat a lower cost. According to Stephenson, Te HP Design-
jet T2300 eMFP has already paid for itself. Tat value is helping the
Nevada state government become more efcient and is one more
way Stephenson feels he is able to better serve his customers.
1
Internet connection to printer is required.
2
PDF fles only available with Adobe PostScript accessory (optional accessory to be
purchased separately) or by buying PostScript versions
(Continued...)
2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
The printing
is under control.
Whats next?
The HP Designjet T7100 Printer can take the pressure, so you can
keep on delivering results. From simple CAD drawings to high-quality
colour documents, the high-speed T7100 gets on with the job even
a pea| pr|n|n |me. | a|o |no an, |T env|ronmen, rao|ca||,
|mp||,|n ano peeo|n up ,our en|re wor|ow. So w|aever
comes next, youll be able to handle it.
Find out more at hp.com/go/DesignjetT7100
3D printing
Geospatial users are also working with 3D data a
lot more than ever before. Advances in instrumen-
tation and software are ensuring that there is a
growing ability to collect and present vast quanti-
ties of 3D data. Using 3D landscape/cityscape
models for education, situational analysis and
communication requires the timely conversion
of GIS data to physical form. Unfortunately, the
traditional processes for building models hand-
made, CNC, or molded are slow and expensive.
Turnaround can take weeks and the process can
be very expensive. Printers are coming at the
forefront to address this issue as well. 3D printers
enable users to output high-quality maps in hours
at very low cost, according to 3D Systems, maker
of 3D printers.Te technology is poised to fun-
damentally improve the way people use GIS data
to communicate, while enabling them to analyse
critical elements with quick, inexpensive, and eas-
ily reproducible 3D models. Te advantages of 3D
printers include quick sophisticated cartography
at very low cost; taking hours instead of days or
weeks; costs being limited to tens or hundreds of
dollars instead of thousands and clearer com-
munication with clients, co-workers and public
audiences, informs the company.
Greater fexibility
With such benefts, large format printing solu-
tions are therefore aiding the geospatial work- kk
forces by providing greater fexibility in to their
workfow through the ability to access, update
and print geospatial documents as per their
requirement and giving the quality of print they
require. Tese solutions beneft not just any one
category in the workforce chain various links.
Akane elaborates that these solutions address
technical staf that requires accuracy as well
as management ofce that needs high-quality
imaging solutions and printing in line drawing
and colour. Oferings like Canons imagePrograf
cloud solution aims to enhance their productiv-
ity by shortening their workfows.
Large format printers are also designed to
print on a number of materials like canvas and
vinyl, an option that can be handy for geospatial
users. JUPEM, for example, often prints on dif- ff
ferent materials, specifcally for banners, posters
and backdrops. Eko too says that his organisa-
tion at times prints on other media like canvass
and plastic.
Challenges
While these printers are fnding their way as a
signifcant tool in the geospatial ecosystem, they
still have to long way to go. For instance, users
fnd that they could do with a bit more speed in
printing maps. Clarke says the printers his or-
ganisation uses only have a production capacity
of 10 prints per hour. Tere are also issues with
colours sometimes. Eko says when the colour on
the computer monitor is too complex or gradual
colour, the resultant printout is not the exact
colour as seen on the monitor even if the printer
is an 8-ink one.
In printing high-resolution large format
map mosaic, colour consistency for each sheet
is extremely important. Te Map Printing Sec-
tion, JUPEM has experienced instances where
certain large format printers do not have the
colour management feature. Tis feature is
very important to ensure the quality of prints of
its documents.
HPs digital sheetfed press prints four million colour pages
per month with higher proftability
Large format
printers facilitate
printing on
demand and they
require minimal
set-up and are
cost-efective for
small print runs.
Dr. Derek Clarke
Chief Director
National Geo-spatial
Information
South Africa

Prospects ahead
Geospatial information is increasingly get-
ting democratised. While earlier it was mainly
the governments that had access to geospatial
information, there are a host of players now with
access to this information. More and more SMEs
(small & medium enterprises) are entering the
fray with geospatial solutions and services. A
widening base of GIS and geospatial solutions
spell greater avenues for large format printers,
observes Pastor.
Is increasing digitisation a threat to the paper
world? He does not think so. Te companys
management team was quite apprehensive with
the evolution of digital technology, speculating
what it would bring to their existence, he adds.
However, a market research revealed that despite
the digital technology, the customers were still
using the print format in processes like represen-
tation and discussion. A small construction proj-
ect might get by with a small print, but for large
infrastructure or GIS projects, all major discus-
sions are based around a large print. Ramon says
the company has not witnessed reduced demand
because of these factors.
Printed information is still necessary during
presentations or during discussion meetings
while on-site, mobile meetings, says Akane. Ad-
ditionally, quality print data on diferent types of
media can suit users requirements compared to
digital viewing of information.
To maximise gains from these opportunities,
Pastor says the driving factors would be ease
of use, mobility and afordability of the solu-
tion. According to Akane, print industry would
need to constantly provide quality innovative
solutions for geospatial industry.
Some of these solutions would be to address
the anticipations of users. Mohamedhoesein,
for example, expects a higher rate per minute in
terms of printing, more efcient use of full colour
ink toners as well as higher lightfastness for full
colour toners (longer endurance to daylight
before discolouration) at reasonable cost. Clarke
observes that connecting the printers to an intel-
ligent map printing management system, which
then allocates a map for printing to the next avail-
able printer, will increase the total print produc-
tion of the grouped printers. In addition, he says
that the inks used by the printers are also critical.
Organisations like his need fast drying inks, that
still meet all other requirements, to increase the
production rate. JUPEM too would like to see large
format printers with higher speed performance.
Currently, printing 10 AO size maps take almost
an hour. With the latest cutting-edge printing
technology, printing time should also be reduced.
JUPEM also looks forward to better image quality
with improved light fastness for indoor/outdoor
and enhanced sharpness.
Te printing industry is putting forth a
range of solutions that have potential to take an
organisations business to the next level. HP, for
example, ofers Indigo Digital Press the SRA3+
format digital sheetfed press that prints four mil-
lion colour pages per month with higher proft-
ability. Using the Enhanced Productivity Mode,
throughput increases 33% to 160 colour ppm,
increasing volume signifcantly. Such options
can be explored by organisations publishing
large volumes of geospatial data, like mapping
organisations.
Conclusion
Te power of physical form of maps and other
geospatial information cannot be denied. Print-
ing in geospatial applications can greatly impact
a companys efciency in performing the job.
Large format printers, with their ability to output
this information in high quality, as well as their
critical supporting role in enabling the increas-
ingly mobility in the geospatial environment, are
making their presence strongly felt in the geo-
spatial ecosystem. Given the current low levels of
penetration, along with growing awareness about
benefts and a widening base of prospective
users, opportunities are aplenty for large format
printers.
Deepali Roy
Sr. Assistant Editor
deepali@geospatialmedia.net
Geoscientists in
our organisation
are more
comfortable
working with
large size paper
printouts to
arrive at various
decisions
Eko Darminto,
GIS, Topo and Carto
Engineer, New Ventures
Division,
Total E&P Indonesie
Large format
printers offer
fast delivery
time, quality,
economical unit
price, minimisation
of paper waste and
less use of ink
A.A. Mohamedhoesein,
Ordercordinator,
Kadaster/Geo-informatie
Spatial Web services depend on agreed open interfaces and encoding standards from
the OGC and ISO. Software buyers need to keep in mind, however, that the standards
are not always implemented correctly. Heres a look at a programme that certifes that
software products have correctly implemented the standards
S
oftware communication via the
Web is based on services. AWeb
serviceis a set of operations,
based on Web protocols (such as http),
that enable users to, for example: get
a map on a browser after typing an
address, make a purchase on a website,
or check their electricity bill. Usually a
user sees the result not of a single Web
service, but a chain of Web services
that communicate in an ad hoc fashion
through agreed interfaces.
Spatial Web services depend on
agreed open interfaces and encod-
ing standards from the OGC and ISO.
These standards are becoming estab-
lished in many information domains
such as aviation, weather, hydrol-
ogy, defense and intelligence, earth
observation and emergency and
disaster management. They are at the
heart of modern government spatial
data infrastructure programmes that
provide access to fundamental data
layers such as elevation, transporta-
tion, land use, soils, etc.
OGC facilitates an international
process in which organisations work
together to create open standards that
enable systems and services to speak
the same language when commu-
nicating location or more complex
geo-processing service requests. If the
standards are correctly implemented,
those software systems can commu-
nicate geospatially with thousands
of other software systems around the
world. Software buyers need to keep in
mind, however, that the standards are
not always implemented correctly.
Te OGC Compliance Testing
Programme
Te OGC Compliance Testing Program
(CITE) provides resources, procedures
and policies to certify that software
products have correctly implemented
one or more OGC standards that is, to
certify that those products are compli-
ant with the standards.
The Compliance Testing Program
serves both technology vendors and
buyers. Through this programme,
buyers can feel confident that an
OGC compliant product will work
with another compliant product
based on the same OGC standard,
regardless of which company devel-
oped the product. Vendors can feel
confident that they are providing a
product that will be easier to inte-
grate and easier to market.
Hundreds of tested Products
OGC provides an online testing facility
for vendors and solution providers to
test their implementations. Tis facility
can be used for free by anyone. OGC
also provides an online database of
implementers that lists more than 700
products that claim to implement OGC
Standards. Te OGC also provides an
online database of implementers that
lists more than 190 products that are
Certifed OGC Compliant.
To have their software products
certifed as OGC compliant, software
implementers are required to follow a
simple process that requires submit-
ting the test results to OGC and paying
a license fee. Once OGC approves the
test results and receives the license fee,
the implementer can use the OGC cer-
tifed mark and claim that the product
is OGC Compliant.
Geospatial software buyers should
always review the registered and
OGC certifed products at the OGC
Implementations page, but it is just as
important that buyers communicate
to vendors their interest in purchas-
ing software that implements open
standards. Open standards make open
procurements possible. Open procure-
ment language might be, for example,
Application shall implement a
geocoding service that is accessible via
the OpenGIS (OGC) Location Service
Geocoder Interface Standard. Tis
ofers geoprocessing software buyers a
clear and easy way to specify function-
al and interoperability requirements.
OGC Beat
The value of certifcation
Starting with this edition, we are introducing a regular column from Open
Geospatial Consortium. This quarterly column will focus on various issues pertaining
to standards, including implementation and benefts, policies and procedures
Procurements can thus include software from
multiple vendors. Trough open procurements,
organisations buying software avoid getting
locked into buying from a particular vendor
solution over time and they have the freedom to
buy diferent best of breed software for difer-
ent purposes at diferent times.
Tis multi-vendor procurement process has
been used successfully by numerous govern-
ment organisations over the years. For example,
the German Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)
portal uses OGC CITEcompliance testing and
certifcation tools.
How an organisation can beneft
OGCs mission is realisation of the full societal,
economic and scientifc benefts of integrating
electronic location resources into commercial
and institutional processes worldwide. OGC
membership has grown steadily since 1994. As
the number of members increases, the number
of opportunities for cost sharing increases. In
almost everything the OGC does, members
fnd common needs and then share the costs of
meeting those needs.
OGC provides compliance tests for the most
commonly used OGC standards. Some OGC
compliance tests are in beta and others have
yet to been written. Members in-kind contri-
butions (hours of software development) and
fnancial contributions will help speed the
critical progress toward a more complete CITE
ofering.
Te OGC is the Internet worlds hub for
geospatial interoperability, and the value of
OGC membership grows as this hub grows
in connections, functions, and infuence. We
encourage organisations to look into the ways
in which their organisation can beneft from
membership.
Luis Bermudez
Director, Interoperability Certifcation
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
!
Implementing
Organisation
Promote
compliance
OGC
Standard
Tests
OGC
Online
Testing
Facility
Implementing
Success
More contracts
Users fnd it benefcial to access diverse kind
of information from diferent servers using
standards
Unifying information
A camera without a lens!
Technology
always
surprises
us by
making the
impossible
possible.
Did you ever
imagine
a lensless
camera? Did
you ever
wish for
real-virtual
world like
the Matrix?
I
magine a highly efcient camera, without
lenses, which can see through materials like
clothes, wood, rain and dust; and provide al-
ternative of expensive LiDAR system in map-
ping. It is soon going to be a reality. Scientists
at Duke University, North Carolina, US have
devised a metamaterial that uses microwaves
to image objects or scenes in real time.
Microwave imager
Conventional imaging systems acquire
information as pixels or vectors and perform
software compression. But, metamaterials
perform hardware compression during image
acquisition. By leveraging metamaterials and
compressive imaging, the researchers devel-
oped a low-profle aperture capable of micro-
wave imaging without lenses, moving parts,
or phase shifters. Te innovative aperture
allows image compression to be performed
on the physical hardware layer rather than in
the postprocessing stage.
Te researchers subsequently developed
a device, using thousands of tiny apertures
arranged in a strip 40 cm in length, which
records images in 2D one dimension across
the strip and the other for depth. Tis device
illuminates objects with K-band microwave
radiation (18.5 to 25 GHz). Image acquisition
is accomplished with a 40:1 compression ratio.
Future imager Vs cameras
Conventional cameras contain chips that
carry millions of silicon-based detectors. Each
detector records the intensity of light hitting
it, producing information corresponding to
one pixel of the image. On the other hand, the
future imager, built of metamaterial, is a strip
of metal patterned with elements. It resonates
at a specifc frequency to steer radiation.
Te engineers placed the strip on top of a
separate, plastic-covered metal sheet. Te
small metal strip replaces lenses, multi-pixel
detectors and moving parts in a conventional
millimetre- or microwave-imaging system.
Future applications
Te technology is being tested in various ap-
plications, eg: a smaller microwave aperture is
being used in self-driving cars to see through
fog and dust and sense obstacles in front
of the vehicle. Te fndings of the research,
supported by the Air Force Ofce of Scientifc
Research, were reported Science journal.
tech
Buzz
know
(A) Conventional imaging (B) Imaging using a random mask
and two lenses
Comparison of different kinds of imaging
(C) Imaging using microwave
metamaterial imager
S
o
u
r
c
e
:

I
E
E
E

&

S
c
i
e
n
c
e
Blurring the line between virtual & real world
E
volution of technology has changed
the way we lead our lives, by bringing
abundance of readily available information
at our fingertips. Whether we like or not, our
computers, apps and the cyber world know
us better than we would like to believe. Amid
this evolution, technologies such as augment-
ed reality are blurring the line between virtual
and real world and Microsofts IllumiRoom is
a great example of this.
IllumiRoom is an augmented reality,
peripheral projection technology that could
be one of the key features of the Xbox 720 or
Kinect 2.0. By combining a Kinect camera and
a projector, IllumiRoom augments the area
around the television to increase immersion
in the game or the movie. Kinect captures
the appearance and geometry of the room
and then this data is used to adapt the extra
visuals that are projected against the wall and
furniture around the TV.
IllumiRoom is a prototype system, which
is based on Microsofts patent immersive
display experience. The US Patent and
Trademark Office granted this patent applica-
tion in September 2012. The patent refers to
an immersive display experience within a
display environment that includes a pri-
mary display (referring to television) and a
peripheral image that would seemingly be
projected onto the environment around users.
It also includes a peripheral input configured
to receive depth input from a depth camera,
referring to Kinect.
The company claims that user enjoyment
of video games and related media experi-
ences can be increased by making the gaming
experience more realistic. Previous attempts
to make the experience more realistic have
included switching from two-dimensional
to three-dimensional animation techniques,
increasing the resolution of game graphics,
producing improved sound effects, and creat-
ing more natural game controllers.
In addition, the next Kinect sensor will
be able to detect the dimensions of the room
a player is in, including its depth. A new
camera component could include a depth
camera that may capture a depth image of a
scene and use infrared light to determine a
physical distance from the capture device to a
particular location on the targets or objects in
the scene. In other words, Kinect will be able
to identify the size of the room around users.
Competition
Microsoft isnt the only company trying to
stake out territory in the new world of aug-
ment reality gaming technology. Oculuss Rift,
a virtual reality headset is gearing up to offer
gamers a chance to immerse themselves in
artificial worlds.
Though IllumiRooms design calls for
external projection of computer-simulated
images as opposed to a headset, the concept
of inserting the gamer into the world as an
active participant rather than an observer re-
mains powerful. Enterprising visual technol-
ogy like the Rift and IllumiRoom provide ways
of mentally incorporating a more full-bodied
interactive experience that crashes through
the boundaries of boxed-inimages.
The figure shows
how the device could
project a peripheral
image in a 360-degree
field around [the]
environmental display.
Courtesy: faqs.org
EUROPE
GIS Implementation
Category: GIS
Location: Poland
Closing Date: April 10, 2013
Web Link: http://goo.gl/2G67f
Enhancement of GIS System
Category: GIS
Location: France
Web Link: http://goo.gl/DB1SP
Geological Mapping
Category: Mapping
Location: Estonia
Web Link: http://goo.gl/mVORF
Orthophoto Production
Category: Misc
Location: Denmark
Closing Date: March 21, 2013
Web Link: http://goo.gl/orzLy
Contract for Aerial Photography
Category: Aerial Photography
Location: Hungary
Web Link: http://goo.gl/sGK1y
APAC
Subscription of GIS Software
Category: GIS
Location: Philippines
Web Link: http://goo.gl/WPBJX
Operation of GIS Portal
Category: GIS
Location: Japan
Web Link: http://goo.gl/hTW1r
Geospatial Information Library
Category: Misc
Location: Japan
Web Link: http://goo.gl/llvUb
Spatial Information Sharing
Platform
Category: Misc
Location: China
Web Link: http://goo.gl/8skf
Aerial Surveillance Service
Location: Australia
Web Link: http://goo.gl/9PJkk
AFRICA
GIS Based Mapping
Category: GIS
Location: Kenya
Web Link: http://goo.gl/lyJCq
Spatial Data Warehouse
Category: Misc
Location: South Africa
Web Link: http://goo.gl/0eC4t
GIS Data Collection Service
Category: GIS
Location: Tanzania
Web Link: http://goo.gl/H8Ftn
Surveying of Bulk Water
Supply Infrastructure
Category: Surveying
Location: Namibia
Web Link: http://goo.gl/CaIAe
AMERICAS
Aerial Photography
Location: Canada
Web Link: http://goo.gl/ntyKW
Land Surveying Services
Category: Surveying
Location: United States
Web Link: http://goo.gl/5P8Yq
GIS Consultant Services
Category: GIS
Web Link: http://goo.gl/upr45
Online Mapping Platform
Category: Mapping
Location: Canada
Web Link: http://goo.gl/eKSfb
GPS Receiver
Category: GPS
Web Link: http://goo.gl/z3wrP
Surveying Services in Kentucky
Category: Surveying
Web Link: http://goo.gl/rwvkb
SOUTH ASIA
Procurement of GPS
Category: GPS
Location: India
Web Link: http://goo.gl/JsSV4
Tender Alert
GIS Mapping of Hazardous
Waste Units
Category: GIS
Location: India
Closing Date: Oct 1, 2013
Web Link: http://goo.gl/rh0yE
MIDDLE EAST
Supply of Tracking Devices
Category: GPS
Location: United Arab Emirates
Web Link: http://goo.gl/ztZQU
Supply of Aerial Photography
Location: Bahrain
Web Link: http://goo.gl/gAiSA
Develop GIS for Municipality
Category: GIS
Location: Saudi Arabia
Web Link: http://goo.gl/9XRPc
Installation and Operation of GIS
System
Category: GIS
Web Link: http://goo.gl/2Fgg9
Execution of Cadastral Survey
Category: Cadastre
Web Link: http://goo.gl/SeGBU
Maintenance and Operation of
Aerial Survey
Category: Surveying
Web Link: http://goo.gl/dn7ig
Tender Alert
For the latest geospatial tenders from across the globe, log on to:
http://geospatialworld.net/Tender/view.aspx
www.geospatialworldforum.org
> Learn to measure RoI from
geospatial implementation
> Strategies to unlock
the value latent within
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corporate data stores
using geospatial tools
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> Learn ways to ensure
sustainable funding for
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consistent, complete and
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frequently updated data
pp
> Maximise the value of
geospatial data in decision
making
g p
> Learn the best practices in
technology application
pp
> Understand geospatial
industry directions that
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can help your projects
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> Get technology updates
from domain experts
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TECHNOLOGY USERS
> Discover the business
directions of geospatial
industry
> Develop your business by
networking with new users
and industry peers
> Ideal platform for
marketing, promotion and
brand building to a global
audience
> Interact with users and
senior decision makers for
a better understanding of
their needs with a promise
of better service delivery
GEO COMPANIES
> Learn to evolve economic
spin-offs from land
administration practices
> Network with counterparts
from across the globe
and learn from their
experiences
> Understand industry and
user needs to extract
better services from
industry and deliver more
useful services to your
user segments
NATIONAL MAPPING AGENCIES
> Learn the industry
requirements to evolve
suitable curricula that
feeds into the business
growth
> Understand the technology
development process to
produce innovative and
applicable research
> Network with the industry
& users from around the
globe
ACADEMICIANS & RESEARCHERS
> Discover how policies can
enable the best utilisation
of spatial technologies
to achieve national
developmental goals
> Learn how national
governments can achieve
optimum returns from their
geospatial investments
> Explore how you can
create conducive policy
environment so that the
challenges faced by
technology providers and
users while implementing
geospatial projects are
minimised
POLICY MAKERS
JOIN US & TAKE AWAY A PLETHORA OF BENEFITS
13-16 MAY, 2013
Beurs-World Trade Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Monetising Geospatial Values and Practices
STAKEHOLDER
VALUE PROPOSITION FOR EACH

Geospatial World March 2013

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Geospatial World March 2013

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Vision to Reality

Transforming the way Heavy Civil Projects are Done

27 Geospatial World | March 2013

The Happening Places

L&T uses g-tech

41 | March 2013 Geospatial W or ldGeospatial W or d

GIS ties together

44 Geospatial W or ld| March 2013

47 Geospatial W or ld| March 2013

Once the 1:10,000

India | Tendering Process

Feature | Large Format Printers

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