I
congratulate the Department of Science & Technology
(DST) for their historic achievement and evolving
a New National Mapping Policy and for making diverse
Spatial Data Bases available for use in an Integrated
manner but the mandate still rests with Survey
of India, one of the oldest scientifi c departments
of Government of India with a lot of old legacies
which are very hard to die, as I have first hand
experience while working as co-ordinator Survey
of India (SOI) Computerization program when digital
mapping /digital technology was adopted, and implementation
shall require a real push from DST.
The need of the hour is therefore immediate action
for implementation to fulfil the objectives of
New Mapping Policy on dissemination of maps &
spatial data on one side & formulation of
mechanisms of partnerships, be it for promotion
of geo-spatial knowledge or value addition of
available products, on the other.
While issue of two map series is a welcome move,
unless OSMs (Open Series Maps) are made available
quickly the very purpose shall get defeated. Since
the Onus of bringing OSM also lies exclusively
with SOI which involves redesigning the numbering
system, specifying the deletion of Civil &
Military Vulnerable areas and points etc., the
DST may kindly ensure their quick availability
for the whole upto international boundary.
The user community is eagerly awaiting issue of
detailed guidelines regarding all aspects of OSMs,
procedure for accessing them and value adding
them. I feel digital Mock-up of International
boundaries on various scales should be made available
to mapping agencies who want to print a map with
containing International boundaries, to avoid
verifi cation from SOI as these boundaries are
fixed, and a note to this affect shall suffice.
I presume that contents of City maps to be decided
by SOI in consultation with Ministry of Defense
(MOD) shall be one time actively and approved
contents shall be circulated and made available
as free for use and updating. Maintenance and
updating NTDB is going to be Herculian Task and
here public/private partnership with companies
having ISO Certification in ground Survey &
Digital Mapping should be invited and after registration
they could be assigned the task for better service
to the public. National Digital Elevation Model
could however be treated differently from Digital
line graphics for obvious reasons of security.
The procedure for registration of user agencies,
their selection, for specific tasks and agreement
contents require to be laid down for value
addition on SOI maps or for preparing value added
maps on their own.
The guidelines for sharing of information through
map Transaction registry are also required to
be laid down as it may involve issue of IPR for
data generated or value added by various agencies
other than Survey of India.
It shall not be out of place to mention that a
compiled pamphlet of MOD detail guidelines is
made available to general public on various aspects
of map access and use as they still continue to
hold good.
I feel the following should also be included in
ANNEXURE – IA
• Lakes, falls etc. as part of water features.
• Places of tourist interest
• Historical Places
• Heritage Sites
• Petrol Pumps
• Picnic Spots
The purpose of above observations is not to undermine
the above historic achievement but to request
for fast implementation and to give impetus to
Government of India’s desire for fast Infrastructure
development. In case it is found appropriate a
working group with public-private participation
could be constituted for Implementation of New
Mapping Policy in a pre-determined time frame
to ensure execution of the new policy. |
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