February 01, 2007
If you want to take a glimpse into the future market
potential of geospatial technology growth, look toward Asia. In the 25
years since I was last in India - back when the Survey of India was
still doing everything with paper maps and satellite image processing
computers were locked behind government doors - the mindset of its
leaders has changed. What I saw this time was a market of enormous
potential for geospatial software, data and services, provided
government policy continues to evolve.
Let's be clear. The changing fortunes of India revolve around money and
economic development. India can't compete in a global economy without a
much better developed infrastructure: better roads, better utilities
and better schools. Geospatial technology can help the country get
there and the top leaders in the Indian government have articulated a
vision that supports the country's ambitious growth plans. If you
listen to my interview
with Sibal Kipal, the minister of Science and Technology and Earth
Science, you'll hear this view first-hand.
InfoTech: The largest GIS services company in the world?
India, and specifically the cities of Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune,
have a concentration of software and computer network support companies
setting up campuses for their workers. While in Hyderabad, I toured the
offices of InfoTech Enterprises
Limited at the invitation of Mr. N.J. Joseph, vice president of
Marketing. GITA Director Bob Samborski and I (at right) saw
first-hand where hundreds of workers (below) were supporting
projects including database updates for Tele Atlas and attribution of a
digital network for KPN Telecom, a
Dutch telecommunications company. InfoTech is ISO 9000 certified
and operates two eight-hour shifts, six days a week. InfoTech currently
employs 1,900 data management resources and 300 software resources
(consulting, application development, implementation services) trained
as civil or mechanical engineers, providing GIS support using systems
such as Smallworld, Intergraph and MapInfo. And this was only one of
InfoTech's buildings; the company is looking to expand its facilities
soon, as it takes on more work from companies outside of India.
InfoTech is only one Indian company expanding its GIS services. InfoSys Technologies Limited, one
of the largest IT outsourcing companies in the world, is also providing
GIS services, as are many smaller companies with headquarters in India.
Support for our publication, for example, is provided by GISbiz, a Tennessee-based company
that maintains a staff of 25 people in Chennai, India.
In his address before the Map World Forum in Hyderabad, InfoTech
Chairman B.V.R. Mohan Reddy said, 'The whole of GIS now centers around
an enterprise architecture. We also believe that the value is in data,
data accuracy and data completeness as we move forward. Enterprises
face a greater need to understand location. GIS is therefore no longer
a complex technology of domain specialists. GIS is now demonstrating
its value across the enterprise.' Reddy went on to discuss how Indian
telecommunication companies and utilities now use this technology
across their enterprises. At New Delhi Power, GIS is a backbone for the
ERP and billing systems. Reddy said that GIS is now the front end of
the company's enterprise.
Indian Transformation
In the past ten years, Hyderabad has been transformed into a 'high tech
town' which boasts the 'Cybercity' and 'Hitex' neighborhoods. As
enclaves for technology workers spring up among shanty towns, the
standard of living is raised among all citizens. Progress has been
supported because the labor pool is large and expenses are low, in
comparison to pay scales in more developed countries. A larger,
better-educated workforce raises taxes for infrastructure projects and
thus creates a need for GIS technology to manage the growth. It is a
scenario being repeated all over India.
However, there is a problem. The demand for educated GIS professionals
will far outstrip the supply. India is actually exporting its
brainpower to countries like Malaysia, and the Indian government
realizes it has a 'capacity building' problem. More training is
needed in geospatial technology to support a growing number of projects
inside the country. This was a recurring theme of the conference and
it's a theme being reiterated at conferences I've attended in the U.S.,
as well.
The enormous growth of GIS in India is the result of some relaxation of
government control of its data. Geospatial data, though not necessarily
widely available, are more accessible. Several private companies that
provide aerial surveying have complained that they cannot obtain
permission to fly. The government still controls the acquisition
of imagery and other data. That mindset may soon be changing. I spoke
with one person in the Indian government's Ministry of Communication
and Information Technology who is responsible for posting election
results on a map of India on a website. Though somewhat fearful that
other officials might step in to shut down the site, the department
pressed ahead; there were an enormous number of people hitting the site
for information. Success stories like that illustrate a demand for more
open and accessible digital geospatial data.
Dr. Krishnaswami Kasturirangan, a member of the upper house of the
Indian parliament, called GIS a 'public utility.' In his address, he
articulated a fundamental understanding of using GIS in helping to
improve the economic development process in his country. It's clear
that the vision is being developed from the top down in India. Some
government departments are affecting the way in which infrastructure
projects are planned and they are looking to democratize data as long
as certain security constraints are in place. Though these decision
makers are extremely tuned into the needs of the country, they are also
keenly aware of the limitations of their capacity to affect change.
Still, with such a large part of the country as yet underdeveloped, GIS
will play a major roll for years to come in helping this and other
countries build an economic foundation through more efficient use of
technology.
The Genie is Out of the Bottle
It may be more correct to say that geospatial technology, not just
geographic information system software, will capitalize on the need to
support a demand for location-based information. We are in transition
as a technology sector. We are growing rapidly from one which has been
supported by professionals to a broader, more informed user community
that will demand greater access to geospatial information through
different types of software solutions, Web services and consumer
products. And the growth potential for GIS in countries like China and
Russia is impossible to measure, given their similar needs for
infrastructure development. These countries have yet to fully open
their markets and unleash control of geospatial data.
But the genie is already out of the bottle. Satellites orbit the earth
collecting more data of higher spatial resolution. Who will use them?
How will they be used? We just can't measure the potential right now.
Even the Russians, through a government supported company like Sovzond, want to market satellite
data. The result will be a borderless market for information to a
global community. The world will benefit; GIS will benefit.
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| I may be out on a limb here but; Mapworld Forum et. al. properly identify an as yet unmet expectation emerging that all information someday will be easily accessed & used on-demand through simple net-centric visual data discovery. Whereas Messer’s Jones & Reddy are correct in their capture & analysis of this challenge some essential questions remain. Is GIS, with its layered approach Image, Vector, Weather, etc) appropriate for multi source (Geo-referenced Text, Audio, Video, xml, etc) data? Are they proposing another product or an innovative solution? Does NGA get it right when they posit: “A layered model, however, is inadequate. Multisource information does not easily resolve into layers; consequently, this information fits poorly with the existing GIS approach. For example, sensor webs provide data in real time that are spatially and temporally discontinuous, asynchronous, and often point-based. Human & signals intelligence may be in the form of textual reports with place name & other references. Data may also arrive as video, audio, web-based extensible mark-up language (XML), or any of a plethora of other media formats. The simple “data integration by spatial co-registration” standard that is the foundation of GIS needs to be superseded by the placement of data into a time-space framework, with data elements being able to take the form of objects or features rather than components of a static map or image. In such a system, attributes should be attached to objects, not to artefacts of the systems architecture that created them: images, map sheets, reports, or networks.” Simply put: Are there 'Geophysical Intelligence/Information Systems' emerging that are not intended to replace conventional systems but will empower their products? |
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| Your article is optimistic. Most of the growth in GIS in India you describe is servicing foreign projects. You assess that "A larger, better-educated workforce raises taxes for infrastructure projects and thus creates a need for GIS technology to manage the growth". Correct in the sense that there is a need for GIS technology, but will there be a concerted effort on part of city and municipal governments to actually use it to plan growth? Look at the urban chaos in even high-tech cities like Bangalore and Pune. There is an utter lack of awareness and respect for even the basic tenets of urban planning. GIS technology may be generating jobs for some urban Indians, but it is a shame that the same technology is not being used to improve the quality of life in Indian cities. Data availablity still remains a problem. Every year at an annual conference prominent scientists repeat the same high-minded speeches about GIS being a public utlity except that the same archaic laws on data availablity continue year after year. Despite high-level committee recommendations on the urgent need to release the government stranglehold on data, the day to day ground reality is that obtaining data is a frustrating experience. Change is coming though but slowly. The first government approved data clearinghouse is in business. Users can buy certain types of natural resources data at the Environment Information Centre http://www.eicinformation.org/. Be careful on how you use and publish it! The Genie is being squeezed out of the bottle but only slowly. Suvrat Kher |
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| I agree with Suvrat Kher's skepticism that GIS or any technology will transform India. "Keeping up with the Joneses and Technology" has been a proverbial part of the market system and imitational attitudes. If those will usher in development and transformation by themselves is rather doubtful. Recently, many state governments changed to computerization of records, registration, etc. The initial claim was that it would get rid of corrupt slow practices. Note that Corruption and slowness are perceived as related in India. The process of record keeping and registration has speeded up, no doubt. But the corruption has also done equally well. All this change is vendor driven, of course. Thus the equation with the market. The real issue is whether you map by hand or by the computer and GIS the honesty in the data is independent. Slowness, speed and accuracy of measurement may change due to technology. But it has not changed corrupt attitudes, has not increased concern for the citizen, has not made bureaucracy more sensitve to Civil Society, etc., etc. Can technology "Green" the society? That is the real question. |
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