Kiran Karnik launching the first monthly issue of i4d.
The recently completed Map India 2004 was the largest and the 7th Annual International Conference and Exhibition in India, in the field of geographic information technologies like GIS, GPS, Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing. Responding to the needs of the industry, the research community and every individual’s right to geospatial information, Map India 2004 provided a platform for the convergence, sharing and use of technologies and experiences. The conference proved that people from India and the region have come to realize the need of geospatial technologies in their daily life. The three-day event, held on 28th – 30th January 2004 at Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi, was jointly organized by the Centre for Spatial Database Management and Solutions (CSDMS), GIS Development and Survey of India, Government of India.
Theme
In comprehension of the emerging truth that democracy in contemporary times need to acknowledge the concept of Information Democracy, Map India 2004 had a vital and bold theme of ‘Geospatial Democracy’.
Over 1,200 delegates attended the 3-day conference and were witness to important deliberations and discourses on the theme and many other seminars and technical sessions, each designed and conducted by domain specialists and experts. While most of them were from India, several overseas delegates also participated, representing 46 countries of the world.
Map India 2004 had a large Canadian delegation with government and industry representation. It reinstated the emerging Indo-Canadian strong ties in the domain of geospatial sciences and services. The conference witnessed the august presence of His Excellency Ms Lucie Edwards the High Commissioner of Canada and Mr Gar Knutson, the honourable Canadian Minister of State for New and Emerging Markets. As a token support, the Canadian High Commission hosted a warm reception for the delegates.
The inaugural session was presided over by Dr. M. P. Narayanan, President of Centre for Spatial Database Management and Solutions (CSDMS), Dr Prithvish Nag, Surveyor General of India, Kiran Karnik, President, National Association of Software Companies (NASSCOM) and Ravi Gupta, Director, CSDMS. The surprise of the session was a small film that opened the occasion. The film depicted the ‘Mapping the Neighbourhood’ project of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, where children are mapping and addressing local issues and developing on their own database for decision-making.
Dr. Narayanan’s welcome address touched upon the significance of the conference. He emphasized ‘geospatial democracy’ and interpreted it to be not only about the right to information but also about the freedom of expression and dissemination. This was followed by a noteworthy inaugural address by Kiran Karnik. The NASSCOM president admitted that geospatial sciences in NASSCOM’s realm fall under ‘IT enabled services’ which may not be the right connotation to the discipline. He said that about 100 billion USD export is attributed to this industry. He pointed out that government has been slow in many respects in the geospatial domain. Dr Nag followed with a keynote address after the lamp lighting ceremony. He discussed the initiatives of the Survey of India and the government in easing access to data for general public. The occasion ended with a vote of thanks by Ravi Gupta.
Plenary sessions
Geospatial Democracy
Kiran Karnik chaired this plenary that had three important talks by Amitabha Pande, Joint Secretary, DST, Ms Preetha Pulusani, President, Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions and Xavier Lopez, Director, Spatial Technologies, Oracle Inc.
The speech by Mr. Pande went into the depths of the words ‘democracy’ and ‘people’. It took up ‘state’ as an apparatus of dominance that subverts or dominates many aspects of democracy. He delved into the history of the development of an overdeveloped state in India. He went into various domains of putting democracy and the state against each other and pointing towards a situation where ‘market’ might be an emerging solution – ‘market’ that represents the people, the users and the commercial interests. The focus of his speech was his interpretation of the conference theme - “To strengthen the people by giving shape and life to facts about physical space on this earth”. He ended with pointers that depict the status of National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) in India and the Map Policy on the anvil.
Preetha Pulusani talked with a wider realm taking up cases from across the world. Cases of spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) being developed at various stages and levels. She mentioned cases of South Africa, UK, Philippines, India, Spain and New Zealand.
Xavier Lopez spoke on an alternative note. He raised the question – what is geospatial democracy not about? He elaborated that it is not about releasing secret data and not about holding spatial data assets hostage to cost recovery policies. Rather it is about the use of spatial data to advance a nation’s academic, scientific, environmental and economic policies. He took up to emerging market trends that need to be looked upon before understanding geospatial democracy.
He referred to US policies on information and also explained the case of Ordnance Survey, UK. Mr. Karnik summed up the session interestingly. He put across the ideas of Mr. Pande against Mr. Lopez, where the former hinted at enabling the market to realise geospatial democracy while the later talked of the government’s crucial role needed.
Changing Roles of National Mapping Organisations
This plenary had an important backdrop that addressed organizations in their core to relate to geospatial democracy. Four important presentations were made by Vanessa Lawrence, Director General and Chief Executive, Ordnance Survey, UK; Dr. Prithvish Nag, KK Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, Rolta India Ltd.; and Bob O’Neil, Acting Director General, Canada Center for Remote Sensing, Natural Resources, Canada. The session was chaired by Madhukar Gupta, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Government of India.
The key pointers that emerged were that geographic information producing organizations in this region of the world have concentrated on data generation, storage and maintenance, often neglecting distribution aspects. Security concerns definitely work over data dissemination issues, but instances where organizations curtail data dissemination to avoid dilution of value of these datasets are not alien. There is a need to re-think the roles, mandates and mechanisms of functioning of every National Mapping Organisation.
The presentation by the Surveyor General was well received and elaborated on various aspects of the premier mapping organization’s present quest for change on every front.
People First
This plenary was chaired by Amitabha Pande. It had two important presentations by Dr RR Navalgund, Director of the National Remote Sensing Agency, India and Dr. David J. Maguire, Director of Products, ESRI. Dr. Navalgund spoke on the evolution, growth and status of Indian Remote Sensing initiatives and programme that has altered over time to be now more people-centric from being technology-centric. Dr Maguire touched the basics and pointed out on aspects that people cannot be put first without initiatives and dedicated efforts. He spoke on coordination, Spatial Data Infrastructures and aspects to providing people with the right tools that the science has to offer.
Keynote Session: Technology Trends
The session was chaired by P Venkatram, Advisor, Jlets Technologies. The session was well attended with stimulating discourses. The three speakers spoke of emerging technologies. Brad Skelton, Vice President, Leica Geosystems discussed photogrammetry, aerial photography, LIDAR and Remote Sensing. He went into the basics of each first, putting one against the other and also briefly touching upon their evolution. He summed up with the statements that imageries and any survey generates data. The amount of data generated has increased over the years. The need today is of centralised data warehouses and systems that can handle massive amount of data. John Allen, Director, BAE Systems talked on technologies involved with photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. He emphasized the difference between satellite imagery and these subjects as technologies. The last presentation by Mr. Dhirendra Khurana from HP India emphasized on aspects of precision, exactness, durability and cost effective ways of production – all subject domains of HP.
Sessions and meets
Eighteen technical sessions took place in six halls during the event. The sessions provided speakers with the opportunity to present papers on varied fields of technical and social applications. The event also covered two seminars on Infrastructure Development and Educational and Curriculum Development. There were two user meets – one of which was amongst the users of the National Resource Development and Management System, Government of India and another amongst the alumni of ITC Netherlands.
Exhibition
The 750 sq m exhibition, was a huge success with 36 national and international organizations representing the government, the academia and the commercial private sectors displaying their services and products. The exhibition was coupled with technology shows, sponsored dinners, events and networking time periods. The exhibition attracted over 3000 visitors.
Valedictory
Dr M P Narayanan, chaired the valedictory session. Other panellists included Prof. Y K Alagh, Former Union Minister and Member of Parliament, Government of India, Dr. Milan Konecny, President, International Cartographic Association (ICA) and Mr Ravi Gupta.
The sessions raised crucial pointers for every stakeholder present. Professor Alagh spoke on the economic significance of spatial and non-spatial data for the nation in terms of its generation, maintenance and use. He touched on the positive aspects and existing strengths in the country in this domain. He also spoke of the realities that come forth as hindrances in the opening up and widening of information access. Dr Milan added an international perspective, drawing examples from his country Czech Republic and ICA. He emphasized expertise sharing, cooperation in data generation and defining the path to realization of geospatial democracy
The session ended with a brief and informative presentation by Ravi Gupta, about the basic statistics of Map India 2004 in comparison to the earlier years. He also presided over the award giving ceremony before inviting Dr Narayanan to close the conference. Awards were presented to best student and technical papers presented during the sessions, in addition to a best poster and exhibits.
Map India 2004 was able to provide a platform to share the needs, the supply, the latest developments and the concerns in the field of Geo-informatics It initiated discussions on ‘geographic information’ as a policy issue as well as a subject and in the process left significant pointers for it to evolve as mandated guidelines.
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