PUBLIC ACCESS TO INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL DATA

SWOT analysis of geographic information:

The case of India
Ravi Gupta
Centre for Spatial Database Management and Solutions (CSDMS), A-13, Sector 22, Noida 201 301, India

information through spatial links has the ability to

Geographic information is today being extensively
used in decision making processes because it has be- greatly enhance decision making across a wide range of
come a fundamental element to provide better un- applications 1.
derstanding about one's surroundings. Sustainable Governments are spending billions of dollars on col-
development relies on the control of the conse- lection of geographic information knowingly or un-
quences of public decisions regarding natural re- knowingly. For example, US spends more than 4 billion
sources, people and the involved interrelationships. dollars per year on geographic data acquisition 2. In
More importantly, geographic information is a tool France, the public financing of geographic information
of democracy, which must be used in public debate projects represents 0.17% of public development aid 3.
as it enables visualization of the impact of planning Other countries are also spending huge amount of
decisions on society and to explain the rationale be- money for data generation, acquisition, documentation
hind a particular decision. Today, most of the coun-
and dissemination. Recent estimates show that the
tries are set to exploit the potential of mapping
technology. The present paper provides a SWOT worldwide investment in GIS technologies by govern-
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) ment and private sector ranges from US $3.3 billion 4 to
analysis of the Indian geographic information more than $8 billion 5,6 with annual growth rate reaching
situation using the international scenario as a back- nearly thirty per cent.
drop. And surely these investments are not without reasons.
A report by the Economic Studies and Strategies Unit
of Price Waterhouse on the economic benefits arising
1. Introduction from the acquisition and maintenance of the nation’s
land and geographic information has estimated that for
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) promises the period 1989–94 approximately $1 billion has been
greater efficiency in commerce, improvements in envi- spent in Australia on investment in geographic data.
ronment, health, safety, increased convenience for con- This investment produced benefits within the economy
sumers, more citizen participation in governance and in the order of $4.5 billion. The study also found that
improved public and private decision making in general. this investment has saved users approximately $5 bil-
But, legal regimes for protecting and managing compi- lion. This implies that there is a saving of $5 on the in-
lations of digital spatial data are underdeveloped and vestment of $1. The study concluded that the existing
unclear all over the world. The concepts of ownership infrastructure for supplying data had provided informa-
of digital spatial data, protection of privacy, access tion to users at low cost than alternative methods. If this
rights to spatial data compiled and held by govern- infrastructure had not been in place, and users had been
ments, and information liability are still evolving in the forced to meet their data requirements from other
context of GIS and spatial data. sources, their costs would have been 6 times higher; if
GIS may be defined as a tool that uses the location at the benefits are to continue, an additional investment of
which an object exists or an activity occurs as a unify- 30% of existing funding levels will be required to meet
ing concept across which information in a variety of the growing demand for data usage 7. Thus it is clear that
forms may be merged, referenced, sorted, and analysed. governments all over the world realize that geographic
Reality is represented by a set of mapped space where information is an important infrastructure for a nation’s
every attribute or event of concern has either a direct or development. The government is the biggest geographic
indirect locational element. GIS enable the planned sys- data generator. It happens to be the biggest consumer
tematic collection, maintenance, and management of also. In India, for example, out of Rs 14.30 crore reve-
location-based information and the automated process- nue of National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA)
ing of that information. The computerized integration of from sale of remote sensing imagery in 1998–99, 83%
revenue was from the government departments them-
e-mail: Ravi.Gupta@csdms.org selves 8.

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2. International trends in geographic data agencies to carry out certain tasks to implement the
collection and dissemination NSDI. The Executive Order created an environment
within which new partnerships were not only encour-
In the era of information revolution, information is aged, but required. More importantly, it raised the po-
playing the key role for the growth and development of litical visibility of geographic data collection,
a country. The international community sensed the management and use nationally and internationally. The
global shift in capital-intensive economy to knowledge- NSDI Executive Order mandated that federal agencies
based economy long back. In addition, many countries use all FGDC-adopted standards. A data clearinghouse
have realized the importance of geographic information was made operational. Achievements have been made in
for economic growth and environment sustainability formulation of standards and creation of clearinghouse
and its relationship with the knowledge-based economy. of metadata 10 .
Several countries which took the initiatives in develop-
ing their geographic information infrastructure include The objectives of NSDI initiative include the follow-
not only the developed ones such as US, UK, the Neth- ing 11 :
erlands, Canada, Australia, Japan but also Qatar, Korea, • To identify both users and providers of spatial
Portugal, Malaysia and Indonesia (Table 1). These data. Only in this way it is possible to create an
countries have varied kind of administrative set-ups. infrastructure which meets everybody’s needs.
Most either already have or are fast building up well- • To encourage the development of partnerships,
defined systems for geographical data collection, docu- and/or consortia for creating geographical data for
mentation and dissemination. For example, in US re- the various programmes in government, academic
sponsibilities related to geographic information have institutions and the private sector.
been delegated to over 80,000 separate state and local • To provide a forum for users to share their inter-
government agencies. In some countries with non- est. In this way, hopefully through consensus, an
federal systems of government, most of the geographic appropriate infrastructure can be established.
information is handled centrally. There is no economic • To promote information interchange through
similarity among these countries that prompted them to seminars. The task of undertaking such a devel-
take initiatives for geographic information. Some of the opment requires that there be a full understanding
countries are big in size like Canada, Australia and US of the needs of all parties.
while others are small like Qatar, the Netherlands, Por- • To encourage connections between federal state
tugal and Korea. Some of the countries are very rich and local governments, as well as the private and
and some are poor. Probably, the driving force pervad- educational sectors, etc.
ing all across the spectrum was the realization of the
potential of geographic information in development UK
planning and economic growth 9.
Let us discuss some of the initiatives. In 1995, the National Geospatial Data Framework
(NGDF) was designed in UK as a facilitator with a mis-
US sion ‘to develop an over-arching UK framework to fa-
cilitate and encourage efficient linking, combining and
In 1994, the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) widespread of geospatial data which is fit for the pur-
was signed by President Clinton, directing the federal pose’. The objectives of NGDF are to facilitate and en-
courage collaboration in the collection, provision and
use of geospatial data; and facilitate access to geo-
graphic data. NGDF will set a framework for defining
Table 1. The first generation of national geographic information
strategies 9 business-driven standards, best practice and specifica-
tions of data and services, drawing on existing national,
Australia Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure European and international work 10 .
Canada Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure
Indonesia National Geographic Information Systems
Japan National Spatial Data Infrastructure Australia
Korea National Geographic Information System
Malaysia National Infrastructure for Land Information
Systems The Australian Land Information Council was set up in
The Netherlands National Geographical Information Infrastructure 1986 by an agreement between the Australian Prime
Portugal National System for Geographic Information Minister and Heads of State Governments to coordinate
Qatar National Geographic Information System the collection and transfer of land-related information
United Kingdom National Geospatial Data Framework
United States National Spatial Data Infrastructure
between different levels of government and to promote
the use of that information in decision making. When
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PUBLIC ACCESS TO INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL DATA

New Zealand joined the council in 1991, the council diary sector of service or value-adding companies. This
was renamed as the Australia New Zealand Information intermediary sector is developing using the raw materi-
Council (ANZLIC). The ANZLIC is promoting actively als constituted by reference data, on the two-fold condi-
the concept of Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure tion that they exist and are accessible. A much more
(ASDI) to provide fundamental data needed to support open circulation policy – with a programme for the pro-
decision making. ANZLIC ASDI model comprises four duction on demand of maps originating in the Ordnance
linked core components – the institutional framework, Survey’s data bases by private companies under licence
fundamental data sets, technical standards and protocols – enables British companies to tackle new application
to ensure compatibility, and clearinghouse networks 7. sectors and to reach clients who are unknown to the
national agency 7.
Geographic information infrastructure makes sense
Europe
when the data documented are disseminated also. How-
ever, information dissemination strategies are different
EUROGI – the European Umbrella Organization for
in different countries. We can take the two extreme ex-
Geographic Information, was set up in November 1993,
amples. In US, most of the data generated by the gov-
with the aims of promoting, stimulating, encouraging
ernment agencies becomes part of the public domain
and supporting the development and use of geographic
whereas in UK, all the data generated by the govern-
information and technology at the European level; and
ment comes under Crown copyright and comes to public
representing the common interest of the geographic
domain only after the expiry of copyright. In US, the
community in Europe. The members of EUROGI are
data are available at the cost of dissemination or less
national associations for geographic information and
whereas the UK government insists on cost recovery
pan-European organizations working with geographic
from the end user (Tables 2 and 3). The data dissemina-
information. Many of its 17 national members are very
tion strategy in many other countries lies somewhere in
active in the development of their national spatial in-
between these two extremes 14 .
formation policies and infrastructures 12 .
The situation is fast changing in most of the European
countries. Norway is a country that has the jurisdiction 3 SWOT analysis
with a general freedom of information legislation. This
gives any member of the public the right to access the 3.1 Strengths
‘documents’ of a specific case, and by regulations this
right was in 1985 extended to computerized files, using 3.1.1 Good geographic information acquisition
an analogous document concept. In Germany, tradition- infrastructure
ally, public agencies have been unwilling to give free
access to geographic information for commercialization. India has a good institutional infrastructure for geo-
The situation has changed as private sector has realised graphic data collection. There is a network of institu-
the potential of geographic data and has brought pres- tions collecting information on every conceivable
sure on the government to make geographic information socially and scientifically relevant subject. The Survey
available. Also, government agencies themselves real- of India and the Indian Remote Sensing Satellites are
ized that geographic information may be a source of the most important generators of geographical data.
revenue. The Geological Institute of Hungary has initi-
ated a national programme for systematic generation of Survey of India. The Survey of India (SOI), which was
aerial data acquisition and utilization. The proposal has established 232 years back in 1767, is responsible for
been integrated as part of the modernization programme all topographical and development surveys in India.
of the government. The programme proposal empha- India, with an area of 32,87,263 km2, is covered by
sizes the need for a co-ordinated development of a na- both topographical maps and geographical maps. The
tional, integrated system for the distribution of topographical maps are on scales of 1:25,000,
databases, information sharing and a public service for
easy access to metadata through a data clearinghouse
Table 2. Departmental revenues from Crown Copyright in
service including efficient searching capabilities. In the 1996–97 (ref. 13)
Netherlands, the government regularly supplies data to
the private sector, while for geographic information the Type of revenue from information service Million £
revenue almost exclusively is generated from the Direct sales 128
sales 13 . Royalty 4
Licensing 25
As is clear from the above, the countries with the Data supply 40
most developed geographic information markets are Total 197
also those where there is a particularly strong interme-
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Table 3. Expenditure, revenue and % cost recovery for various UK government information providers in 1994–95 (ref. 10)

Expenditure (£m) Revenue (£m) % Cost recovery

Central Statistical Office 49.5 1.9 4

Office for Population Censuses and Surveys 70.0 38.0 54
Meteorological Office (includes research revenue) 141.0 57.0 40
British Geological Survey (includes research revenue) 40.0 24.0 60
Hydrographic Office 37.9 22.0 0
Ordnance survey 74.8 58.6 78
Registers of Scotland (cadastral organization) 29.6 31.5 106
Her Majesty’s Land Registry (cadastral organization) 197.4 235.6 119

1:50,000 and 1:250,000, which are ideally suited for the Management System (NNRMS) programme by the De-
professional work of geologists, geographers, foresters, partment of Space has played a key role in using the
engineers, planners, tourists, trekkers, mountaineers and capabilities of the Indian Remote Sensing satellites for
others. the benefit of the masses 16 .
India is covered by nearly 385 toposheets on
1:2,50,000 scale and these are also called as Degree Other institutions involved. Many other agencies and
Sheets. Each degree sheet has 16 toposheets of 1:50,000 initiatives of the government like Natural Resource
scale and at present the entire country is covered by Data Management Systems (NRDMS) and National At-
1:50,000 rigorous metric surveys in more than 5000 las and Thematic Mapping Organization (NATMO) un-
toposheets. This is undoubtedly an impressive record der the Department of Science and Technology,
for any country in the world. Each 1:50,000 scale sheet National Informatics Centre have played an important
contains four 1:25,000 scale sheets. More than 35% of role in geographic data generation in the country. Hosts
the country has also been covered on 1:25,000 scale. of other organizations under various central and state
Therefore, there is no dearth of modern toposheets15 . governments are also involved in geographical data ac-
quisition in the country. A summary of the main data
Indian remote sensing programme. The satellite based producers is provided in Table 4. Moderate estimate of
remote sensing was established in the country with the the total budget of the listed organizations in the table is
launch of the first operational Indian Remote Sensing more than Rs 2,000 crores per year, which is compara-
Satellite, IRS-1A in 1988 which was followed by the ble to spending done by Australia or US, if we take the
successful launch of IRS-1B in 1991. IRS-1A and 1B operating costs in these countries are nearly seven times
satellites provide imagery with spatial resolution of that of India.
72.5 m and 36.25 m respectively. These satellites have
been providing data for monitoring and management of
our natural resources and environment. IRS-1C and 3.1.2 Growing demand for GIS
IRS-1D launched in 1995 and 1997 respectively incor-
porate enhanced capabilities in terms of spatial resolu- The first system of geographic information appeared in
tion, spectral bands, stereoscopic imaging, Wide Field India perhaps in the late 1980s. By late nineties the de-
Coverage and revisit capability. They provide 5.8 m mand picked up and a market for GIS-related software,
spatial resolution in panchromatic mode. India also data and services came into existence.
launched Oceansat in 1999 with Ocean Colour Monitor The technological developments in computer hard-
(OCM) and a Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave ware and software contributed greatly to the growth of
Radiometer (MSMR) on its board. India plans to launch GIS market in the country, with the market really taking
Cartosat with 2.5 m panchromatic data resolution by the off with the development of powerful desktop PCs. This
year 2000. This satellite will have a cutting-edge tech- evolution was encouraged by political and administra-
nology in terms of sensor systems and provide state-of- tive decisions, like the Prime Minister’s Task Force on
the-art capabilities for digital terrain modelling, contour Information Technology, e-governance initiatives by
mapping (~5 m contour levels) and many specific needs many states of the country, decentralization initiatives,
of cartographic applications. The data provided by Car- etc.
tosat will be useful for giving cadastral level informa- According to International Data Corporation (IDC), a
tion. leading IT-related market research organization, the
The Indian Remote Sensing programme has been a GIS market in India is expected to grow from Rs 29.0
major factor for the growth of importance of geographic crore in 1996–97 to Rs 79.0 crore in 1999–2000. The
information in India. The National Natural Resource relative share of the GIS market in the design software
492 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 79, NO. 4, 25 AUGUST 2000
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Table 4. Status of data policy/practice indicators in data and data-generating agencies in India

Use of web site

Paper Digital Web for data
Data type Name of agencies involved Ministry of data data site dissemination

Meteorological data Indian Meteorological Division Science and Technology Y N N N

Environmental data Central Pollution Control Board Environment and Forests Y N N N
(CPCB)/National Environmental
Engineering Institute
(NEERI)/WWF/Forestry Survey
of India
Mapping data Survey of India Science and Technology Y N N N

Remote sensing data National Remote Sensing Space Y Y Y Y

Agency
Information on buildings (at Local Government Rural Areas and Employ- N N N N
national or local level) ment/Urban Affairs
Cadastral registers State Government Rural Areas and Employ- N N N N
ment/Urban Affairs
Geological data Geological Survey of India Mines Y N Y N
(GSI)
Botanical data Botanical Survey of India Agriculture Y N N N
Agricultural data National Bureau of Soil Survey, Agriculture Y N N N
All India Soil and Land Use
Survey
Thematic mapping National Atlas and Thematic Science and Technology Y N N N
Mapping Agency
Census data Census of India Home Y N Y Y
Watershed data Agriculture N N N N
Data on river basins Central Water Commission Water Resources Y N N N
Oceanographic data National Institute of Oceano- Ocean Development N N Y N
graphy
GI laws Defence Defence N N N N
Ground water data Central Ground Water Board Water Resources N N N N
Statistical data CSO (Central Statistics Organi- Planning and Implementa- Y Y Y Y
sation) tion
Information systems National Informatics Centre Planning Commission N N Y Y

market is expected to increase moderately from 16.1% in 4. Weakness

1996–97 to 19.1% in 1999–2000. According to NRSA,
the sale of its data products grew from 5.83 crores in 4.1 Data access to the public is not easy
1994–95 to 14.30 crore in 1998–99, an increase of more
than 100%. The industry projects the GIS industry In India, it is extremely difficult to access any govern-
growth at 35–40% during the next few years 17 . ment-generated data. Moreover, existing datasets have
Development of the geographic information market in been collected to different specification making it diffi-
the country has contributed to the creation of a new cult to integrate the data collected from different
group of companies dealing in software, value-added sources. Very often, the agencies collect and utilize
data, and services. The initiatives by NRSA and Space their own data as part of their institutional mandate and
Application Centre (SAC) in vendor development have therefore are less concerned with the problem of access
been creditable. More than 100 companies mainly in to public domain data and it is unlikely they provide
Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi are into this business. data to other major players. Most of data-generating
The GIS service industry is expanding at 10–15% per agencies do not have the mandate for data dissemina-
annum 18 . tion. This results in ad hoc arrangements that benefit
India is also fast emerging as a data conversion centre neither the government sector as a whole nor the private
for GIS. The GIS companies from USA, Europe, Japan, sector, which functions in a climate of extreme uncer-
Australia have either started operating directly or are tainty. As mentioned in Table 4, very few data generat-
subletting work to Indian companies. This has created ing agencies have websites and even fewer of them put
enormous employment opportunities in the sector, any worthwhile information on their sites. This reflects
which is leading to proliferation of this technology. the poor appreciation of these organizations about the
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Table 5. A comparison between India and international scenario

Parameters India International*

Mechanics of data access Paper data sale through SOI offices Clearinghouse nodes, websites, E-commerce,
etc.
Private sector involvement in data generation, Nil In most of the countries
dissemination
Digital data availability No Yes. Now vector data being also provided in
addition to the raster data
Public domain datasets (available for free) Nil Few in most of the countries. US is an
exception.
A strategy for national spatial data No Yes
Infrastructure
Metadata No Process going on in most of the countries.
Data clearinghouse No Yes in many of the countries
Data standards No Yes
Core data accessibility No Yes
Access to govt. information No Yes
Data dissemination policy No Yes
Data pricing policy No In some of the countries
Driving force for spatial data infrastructure No focussed programme Focussed initiatives for geographic informa-
One of the agendas of Indian Remote tion
Sensing Programme/IT Task Force
Information economy Poor Rich
Freedom of information No In some of the countries

*International: It refers to US, major European countries, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, Qatar, Indonesia, Malaysia.

importance of information dissemination. Most of the § Role of private sector, i.e. involvement of private
organizations are plagued with severe ‘vision crunch’ in sector in data generation, and dissemination: In gen-
terms of the importance of the data for the people out- eral, throughout the world, the private sector partici-
side their organization. pation has been envisaged for the growth of GIS
industry. In US, even small vendors get ample oppor-
tunity to flourish by getting at low or no price gov-
4.2 The geographic data
ernment data and by claiming their copyright after
doing value addition 2. In Canada, private sector
Coming specifically to the status of geographic data, the
works in partnership with government in data dis-
situation is worse. Maps of restricted areas are not eas-
semination. In UK, private sector can access the data,
ily accessible. Aerial photography is virtually banned.
after paying for it 14 . In India, data are not accessible
Digitization of Survey of India toposheets can be done
to private sector and surely not for commercial pur-
by only a few government agencies. Digital data are not
poses.
available with most of the data-producing agencies and
at times even analogue data are not accessible. To illustrate the difference between the opportuni-
The situation is grim compared to most of the devel- ties for private sector in India and abroad, we take
oped countries (Table 5). The differences between the case of US. Unlike SOI, the United States Geo-
India’s and others’ approach to geographic data are dis- logical Survey (USGS), 1:24,000 scale topographic
cussed below: maps are the basic scale maps for the USA and are
not protected by copyright. They comprise some
§ Mechanics of data access, i.e. the technical and or- 57,000 sheets. Projections for integrating and updat-
ganizational mechanisms through which spatial data ing them into coherent digital topographic database
are made available to the citizens: In India, except do not foresee completion until the early 21st cen-
for the selected paper data sale by few agencies like tury. It is technically and legally feasible for a low-
Survey of India (SOI), Geological Survey of India labour cost developing nation to purchase the maps
(GSI), National Atlas and Thematic Mapping and digital files at minimal cost, update them from
Organization (NATMO), etc. there does not exist any commercially available remotely-sensed imagery ac-
system for data accessibility. In most of the coun- cording to market priorities (there would be no need
tries, discussed in the section 2, there is a system, for them to deal with remote and sparsely populated
which is either well placed or taking place for data areas unless it was profitable), and resell the maps
accessibility. now claiming commercial copyright 19 . In India, such
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a situation is unimaginable. We have rules and regu- is operational 10 . Most of the countries are striving to
lations that discourage market forces. develop the metadata of their datasets. In India, there
is no such effort so far.
§ Digital data availability: It is important to have the
data in digital form as it can be circulated and ex- § Core data accessibility: There are some basic data
changed at high speed. It can be duplicated without which government provides either free or at cost.
deteriorating and combined with other information to There exists at least a strategy in several countries to
create new information, etc. Most of the countries make these data available. In India, even if these data
are introducing amendments to their existing legisla- are available, people are not aware of them and at
tions to incorporate the provision of the supply of times the custodians of these data themselves are un-
digital data. For example, in Norway, analogue data aware about their existence.
are exception and digital data is the rule 13 . In India,
digitization of maps can be done only by some of the § Access to government information: In US, govern-
government agencies and NGOs working with them. ment information is available at or less the cost of
Commercialization of digital data is not allowed. dissemination, free of cost or at the cost of dissemi-
nation. In UK, government information is available
§ Public domain data sets, i.e. digital spatial data sets at a price. Situation in other countries lies in between
that are available to anyone without licensing or in- UK and US. In India, government practices data se-
tellectual property restrictions at no cost or little crecy policy 14 . In fact, the fundamental issue that
cost: Anyone can take these data and use it and even needs to be addressed to deal with the issues related
customize it as per the requirement. In US, most of to data accessibility is freedom of information. It is
the government-generated data are in public domain important to have this as a fundamental right. The
and these data are available either free or at the cost Norwegians have enjoyed this right since long 13 . In
of dissemination. To the contrary, in UK, govern- India, such a proposal on Freedom of Information is
ment-generated data come to public domain only af- in pipeline. Some of the state governments, such as
ter the expiry of copyright. In India, huge amount of Rajasthan, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi are in the
valuable data sets have the potential to go to public process of implementing some form of right to in-
domain 20 . But at present, only few data are available formation.
in public domain. Some of the data may be available
at price but in general data are not available in public § Data pricing policy: Whether data should be priced
domain 21 . at all and if yes, which document and at what price,
needs to be defined. All these issues should be ad-
§ National geographic information infrastructure: dressed in a data pricing policy. The pricing structure
Several countries have been evolving a system for is essential for commercialization of geographic data.
their spatial data at their central/national level. These In India, there is no well-defined policy in existence.
systems envisage proper data collection, documenta-
tion and dissemination. For example, the uniqueness § Driving force for SDI, i.e. the dynamics of forces,
of the NSDI (in US) is based on the idea that it is which give the shape to spatial data infrastructure:
impossible for a federal committee to muster the re- These forces may be the government, private sector,
sources necessary to build a national data infrastruc- international pressures, etc. India after liberalization
ture by itself, and that it is necessary to bring in economic policy is feeling the pressure for SDI
together the appropriate organizations and the indi- development. The Indian Remote Sensing Pro-
viduals who generate, or use geographic information gramme and IT Task Force have played a positive
in order to expedite this onerous task 11 . In India, it is role in creating a conducive atmosphere for SDI in
understood that SOI is planning to evolve a central- India.
ized digital geographic information infrastructure.
Given the enormity of the work involved, probably it It is clear from the above that the major impediments
should involve other players in developing geo- to the widespread and successful use of geographic in-
graphic information infrastructure as it may not be formation in India are not technical, but political and
possible for a single agency to complete the task in organizational. There is a lack of concerted action and
the near future. political critical mass at both state and national level.
Attempts to develop a coherent information policy are
§ Metadata, i.e. information about what kind of data is likely to be opposed by sections advocating conflicting
available, where it is available and with whom it is goals. There is no national mandate on geographic in-
available: In US, a system of clearinghouse, from formation. This retards development of information
where various kinds of (spatial) data is disseminated, strategies and causes unnecessary costs, and stifles new

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goods and services. Worse, there is lack of awareness companies also dissuades foreign tie-ups in the domes-
among the decision-maker at all levels. Geographic in- tic market, which discourages import of new technol-
formation arena in India is still immature with broad set ogy 18 .
of issues yet to be resolved (as described in Table 6).
There is no cohesive geographic information commu- 3. The emerging market of geographic information
nity that can take up these problems with the top eche- opens up ample opportunities for the geographic in-
lons of the government. formation generating agencies such as SOI, NATMO,
India Meteorological Department to exploit the mar-
ket potential and earn revenue for their respective
5. Opportunities
departments. They can become self reliant by selling
the data after doing the value addition and making
India can benefit from a visionary policy on geographic
their data more user-oriented. As is clear from Tables
information. Let us look at the available and emerging
2 and 3, the UK experience shows that government
opportunities.
can earn its investment in data generation. This
model, if adopted in India, may motivate the data ac-
1. India has a well-developed software industry and
quisition agencies for development of more user-
skilled and well-trained software engineers. The GIS
targeted strategies for sale of data.
software industry can be used to reduce the cost of
public service and increase efficiency.
6. Threats
2. According to India's National Association of Soft-
ware and Service Companies (NASSCOM), IT-
If we don’t do it, someone else will
enabled services have emerged as the new ‘big’ op-
portunity for India after the Y2K services. These ser-
There is an urgency to act for the simple reason that if
vices are expected to generate over 1,000,000 new
we do not start providing services to our countrymen,
jobs and an export revenue of Rs 80,000 crores over
someone else will. For example, Microsoft has launched
the next 10 years. GIS is considered as one of the
MapPoint, a desktop map visualization and analysis
high ‘value add’ IT-enabled services. But, it has also
software at the cost of $109. And this includes US
to be realized that unless India moves quickly
demographic data for 1980, 1990, 1999 and 2003. The
enough, we may lose out this opportunity to other
data includes population, household sizes, household
low-cost service nations. According to an estimate,
income, and median population by age. By 2000 Map-
the total export market size of Indian geographic in-
Point for UK and by 2002 MapPoint for Europe will be
formation is around US $40–50 million, and it is
out. If the pace remains same, no doubt by 2005-
growing at a rate of over 40% 18 . Similarly, the open-
MapPoint for Asia (including India) may be in the mar-
ing up of the South Asian countries (Nepal, Bangla-
ket, provided the government does not come in the way.
desh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Pakistan) to a market
The revenue which SOI or any other agency may have
economy is giving rise to a high demand for geo-
earned, will then be earned by someone else.
graphic information. These countries are spending
millions of dollars in programmes financed by the
Reduced international and global competitiveness
big international funding agencies every year.
These markets represent essential political (extends
Yes, India does lose its global competitiveness by not
the Indian presence in various countries and helps
making available core set of data to public. Like elec-
in improvement of relationships) and economic
tricity, water, clean air, good human resource, informa-
stakes.
tion is also a vital factor for attracting investments,
The possibility for Indian companies and experts to increasing tourism, boosting trade and improving qual-
participate in these important programmes very much ity of life of the masses. So instead of finding n number
depends upon the exemplarity of the national model and of reasons to hide data, we should try to look for n + 1
the capacity of companies to promote and sell it. Due to reasons to share data.
the small domestic market for GIS, there is no training
ground for companies to experiment, learn from fail- Continuation of adopting costly ad hoc solutions
ures, take risks and innovate. Thus Indian companies
are unprepared to take on international competition. The In spite of the spending by India on geographic data
restrictive and unclear government regulations inhibit acquisition being comparable to any other developed
the growth of the domestic market, which in turn pre- nation, the benefits have been relatively low. This will
vents Indian companies from showcasing their skills in continue unless we develop synergy between various
the international arena. The lack of experience of Indian stakeholders.

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PUBLIC ACCESS TO INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL DATA
Table 6. Micro-level issues in geographic information scenario in India – an analysis

Implications of govern-
Possible solution Possible problems foreseen by The escape routes in ment not accepting the
Problem approach the government vogue solutions

Digitization of SOI Digitization may be Loss of control of data People forced to digitize SOI loses its moral right
topomaps not allowed allowed at least for non- SOI maps ‘illegally’. to be known as producer
restricted areas. A fee They don’t acknowledge of the data
may be charged for SOI name. Instead they
commercial applications acknowledge NRSA
data/NATMO maps as the
data source
No clear-cut policy on A clear-cut policy on Assumes that no maps are Users are getting the People lose faith in the
import of Indian maps import can make life available abroad required maps secretly system
from outside India easier for map user from abroad, which may
not be accurate
Restrictions on export Remove the restrictions Government feels that maps Digitization and export of Private agencies are
of maps exported will lead to increased maps through Internet making profits at gov-
security risks going on ernment’s expense
Maps of Restricted Ease restriction Access to restricted maps will Restricted maps being Indian scientists and
Areas increase security risk imported from abroad private companies suffer
because of restrictions
Geodetic Data Soften the restrictions Access to geodetic data will Scientists forced to get Hamper the S&T growth
Restricted keeping in mind the data increase security risk data from abroad in India
already available with
foreigners
No Right to Informa- Implement it No political motivation to Beg, borrow or steal prin- Government loses the
tion implement ciple for data access being revenue it would have
used generated by selling
data
Public loses a chance to
benefit from the infor-
mation collected by its
money
In all data dissemina- Public should be the Government runs the country. Beg, borrow or steal prin- Lack of public
tion activities only main consumer Not the NGOs or private sec- ciple for data access being participation in
government consid- tor. So no question of giving used government decision
ered as a consumer of them the access making
data
Mandate for data There should be man- Too busy in data generation to Selective data leakage Duplication of costly
dissemination date think of dissemination done by the government data generation efforts
depending on its comfort

We lose like Europe are available freely outside India. Is the same going to
happen to the updated large scale maps of whole of the
Although some of the European countries like UK and country? With the spy satellites hovering upon us and
France were the first to be covered by classic cartogra- monitoring each and every minute’s activity of the
phy which gave them a strong position on a technical, country, there is little left to hide. SPIN 2, the Russian
scientific or commercial level, the move towards digiti- satellite is already selling its 2 m resolution data on the
zation of information was slow and her position among web at www.terraserver.com. Indian Remote Sensing
competitors fell 7. Now the US companies have captured satellite with 5.8 m resolution and IKONOS satellite
80% of the European GIS market. The European com- with 1 m resolution are already in place. Thus it is very
panies have just 20% market share in European market difficult for countries to hide geographic information,
and 5% in the global GIS market 22 . By this, can we say and instead of being in a reactionary mode, we will
that nearly 100% Indian GIS product market is domi- have to adopt a pro-active approach regarding geo-
nated by foreigners? We do not seem to be having a graphic data availability. The control of information
strategy to change this situation. describing one’s own territory and the autonomy of deci-
sion models using this information are a major part of
Lack of control of information on one's own territory independent political decision making. India must endow
herself with the means to surpass and be more dynamic
Although the Indian citizens are denied access to any than the global trends. Accelerating the process of qual-
border area maps, many of the old maps of these areas ity digital data coverage of the territory and India’s con-

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 79, NO. 4, 25 AUGUST 2000 497

 SPECIAL SECTION:

trol of earth observation satellite technology are the participate in global projects. We should not forget how
primary means to guarantee autonomy in her choices. the patents of basmati, neem, turmeric, etc. by foreign-
ers caught us unaware. Could we find ourselves in a
Will the patent experience be repeated in case of situation where foreigners will sell us maps of Indian
maps? areas? The possibility must not be ignored.

Important projects exist today, which aim to build up

data bases of geographic information on South Asia, 1. Onsrud, H. J. and Robert I. Reis, NCGIA Initiative 16: Law,
Information Policy and Spatial Database (www.spatial.maine.
and also on the whole world. These are the Regional edu/1-16/papers).
Geographic Information Infrastructure (RGII) project of 2. Srikantia, S. V., GIS@development, March–April 1999, vol. 3.2,
UN, Earthmap projects of American institutional stake- p. 25–34.
holders, Japan's Global Mapping programme, etc. In 3. Lavakare, A., Map India '99, August 24–26 1999, New Delhi.
spite of the Indian technological leadership in Remote 4. Tosta, N., Geographic Information Research at the Millennium
GISDATA Final Conference, Le Bischenberg, France, 13–17
Sensing and software technology, Indian organizations September 1997 (www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/D-H/gis/tosta/
have been taking an increasingly limited part in interna- html).
tional bodies. Whether it be the UN’s specialized com- 5. French Geographic Information in the Information Society, Pre-
missions, international standardization organizations sent Situation and Proposals for Actions, version 3.0, May 1998
like ISO, India’s seat is empty or only symbolically (www.cnig.fr/lblangl.htm).
6. Dataquest, 1995. Market Figures for GIS Industry as reported in
occupied. However, an active presence within these Business Geographics. 4:1, GIS World, Fort Collins, 1995,
bodies means preventing them from taking options p. 12.
which are prejudicial to the interests of national compa- 7. Market Intelligence Corp, Total GIS Software and Services Mar-
nies and gaining recognition of expertise, which is a ket: Revenue Forecast (World), 1991–1996, Computing Canada,
first step towards intervention in the definition of the January 1992, pp. 23.
8. Lopez, X. R., NCGIA Initiative 16: Law, Information Policy and
major international projects. Indeed, the limited pres- Spatial Database (www.spatial.maine.edu/1-16/papers).
ence of national experts’ in the upstream phases of pro- 9. Commonwealth Position Paper on the ASDI (www.auslig.
jects would appear to be one of the causes of the limited gov.au).
performances of national companies in terms of turn- 10. News Remote Sensing, GIS@development, March–April 1999,
over. All the players must mobilize to ensure this pres- vol. 3.2, p. 10.
11. Masser, I., Policy and Organisational Framework for a GSDI,
ence and an organization, for instance the Department 17–19 November 1998, Canberra, Australia (www.gsdi.org/
of Science and Technology or Indian Space Research canberra/masser.html).
Organisation initially, must be in charge of making sure 12. Rhind, D., Geographic Information research at Millennium
that India is present effectively in all these bodies. GISDATA Final Conference, Le Bischenberg, France, 13–17
Our limited or no presence in international bodies can September 1997.
13. Barriers to the Use of Geomatics Data, by Inter-agency Commit-
be illustrated by the following example. The interna- tee on Geomatics, Working Group on Coordination and
tional body ISO/TC 211 is working in the field of stan- Cooperation, January 1996.
dardization of digital geographic information. In this 14. Masser, I., GIS@development, July–August 1999, vol. 3.4, pp.
organization the presence of India is only as an observ- 36–37.
ing member along with Bahrain, Brunei, Darussalam, 15. Bing, J., Commercialisation of Geographic Information in
Europe (www.eurogi.org)
Columbia, Cuba, Estonia, Hong Kong, Iceland, Mauri- 16. Lopez, X. R., NCGIA Initiative 16: Law, Information Policy and
tius, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tur- Spatial Database (www.spatial.maine.edu/1-16/papers)
key and Ukraine. The point to be noted is that India is 17. GIS@development, November.–December 1997, pp. 11–18.
not a participating member of the organization whereas 18. Verma, S., Dataquest, 31 August 1999, vol. XVII, p. 86–90.
countries not only like Australia, Canada, UK, US are 19. Rybaczuc, K. and Blaemore, M., Selling Government Informa-
tion: A Comparative Perspective on UK and US Developments.
the participating members, but also are countries like 20. Gupta, R., GIS@development, July–August 1999, vol. 3.4,
Iran, Jamaica, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, pp. 42–45.
Tanzania and Thailand. Do we need to be satisfied with 21. Survey of India’s response to GSDI Survey
the status of observer or we need to play more active www.umesve.maine.edu/harlan/gsdi/india.html
role in these organizations 23 ? 22. Harding, S. M. and Wilikinson, G. G., A Strategic View of GIS
Research and Technology Development for Europe, (tha-
In the background of these several international lassa.jrc.it/dg3gis/exppanel.htm), 1996.
initiatives, India cannot afford to be an isolated entity. 23. ISO/TC 211 Scope, Last updated 1999-03-11,
It is essential to speak a global language if we want to (www.statkart.no/isotc211/scope.htm).

498 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 79, NO. 4, 25 AUGUST 2000