The Centre is actively considering to bring in a ‘National Geospatial Data Authority Bill’, which will enable the users to facile access of requisite data and create the desired facilitative ecosystem for proliferating the applications of geospatial technologies more pervasively, according to Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Kapil Sibal.
Geospatial means data that identifies the geographic location and characteristics of natural or constructed features and boundaries on the earth, which is derived from remote sensing, mapping and surveying technologies.
“The opportunities for geospatial applications in the public domain are immense and require to be tapped. For this, we need to have an independent ‘regulator’ for geospatial affairs as we have for telecommunications or insurance or even the stock markets,” the minister said at the inaugural session of the four-day Map World Forum that kicked off in Hyderabad today.
Due to increased demand for geospatial data and participation by the private industry, “I feel a need has arisen now to have a ‘Geospatial Data Authority’ in the country, which will provide a level-playing field for both the government and non-government players,” he said.
Taking note of the recent launch of Windows live local service in the US, which provides a 45-degree bird’s eye view of six major cities captured by low-flying planes and then integrated with satellite-based and road maps to create 360 degree panoramas enabling people to experience in a 3D format of how it would appear, Sibal said the usages of such a service are limitless ranging from buying a house to insuring a property to just taking a vicarious vacation.
“My dream is to have such a service for six of India’s metropolis available in the next three years, starting with Hyderabad,” he added.
The minister said the country had been unable to keep pace in producing the professionals required in numbers and quality for the envisaged growth in the geospatial sector, basically due to the wide divide between academic teaching and the learning required of professionals in the industry including the government sector.
“Universities need to expand their course offerings to infuse geospatial knowledge in such specialisations as architecture, civil engineering and transportation. Our ministry has launched specialised courses at several universities in the field of geo-information science and technology so that students graduate from these varsities with adequate capabilities.”
“Hence, It is the right time for us (the government, students and the industry) to come together to create the requisite manpower at several levels,” Sibal said inviting the stakeholders to initiate proposals in this endeavour in a public-private mode with his ministry.
