AUGUST 2006 VOL 10 ISSUE 8

Governance

GPS

Theodolite

30 A COST EFFECTIVE GPS

LEVELING METHOD VERSUS
CONVENTIONAL LEVELING Total Station
METHODS FOR TYPICAL SURVEYING
APPLICATIONS
Dr. Metin Soycan

38 VECTORIZATION OF CONTOURS
FROM SCANNED TOPOGRAPHICAL Plane Table
MAPS
Dr. K. Ananthanarayanan,
Dr. Koshy Varghese

44 PERSPECTIVE: E-TOOLS IN
GOVERNANCE
Infrastructure
Yang Fengchun, Zhou Zhenlin

46 COMPARING E-GOVERNMENT
VS. E-GOVERNANCE
Thomas B. Riley
24 Land surveying in India:
www.gisdevelopment.net
Present status
Dr. Satyaprakash
 Serving the Nation with
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Base for generating various thematic maps/applications

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 CENSUS 2001
BASIC AND RELIABLE
INFORMATION FOR PLANNING
Available in Print, CD - ROMs at Census Office, New Delhi & all state capitals

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• Census and You-Basic Census 2001 highlights and • Village Directory Data on Infrastructure and
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or write to DATA DISSEMINATION WING, Office of the Registrar General, India
• Census Info India ver 2.0 (with data and maps) 2A Mansingh Road, New Delhi 110011 Tel: 011- 23070629
• Administrative Boundary Map (on paper) showing Email: rgoffice@censusindia.gov.in, rgoffice@censusindia.net

India, State, District, Sub-district, Town Reaching out for informed decision making...
• Sub-district map showing village boundary
 70

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Topographic (65%)

Cadastral (43%)

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NRM (14%)

Urban (35%)
24 Land surveying in India: Present status
Dr. Satyaprakash

D E PA RT M E N T S 46 COMPARING E-GOVERNMENT GIS DEVELOPMENT WEEKLY

VS. E-GOVERNANCE
EDITORIAL 07 NEWS 08
William Sheridan,
EVENTS 50 Thomas B. Riley Log on to
e-Governance is a broader www.gisdevelopment.net
30 A COST EFFECTIVE GPS topic that deals with the whole to subscribe to weekly ezines
LEVELING METHOD VERSUS spectrum of the relationship
CONVENTIONAL LEVELING and networks within...
METHODS FOR TYPICAL
SURVEYING APPLICATIONS GIS Development Asia Pacific is intended
extraction and vectorization of 46 for those interested and involved in GIS
Dr. Metin Soycan contour lines from a scanned related activities. It is hoped that it will
This study proposes a cost topographic map..... serve to foster a growing network by
keeping the community up to date on
effective GPS Leveling (GPSL) many activities in this wide and varied
methods based on multi-refer- field. Your involvement in providing rele-
ence kinematic GPS and precise 44 PERSPECTIVE: vant information is essential to the suc-
geoid model for typical surveying E-TOOLS IN GOVERNANCE cess ofthis endeavour.
application.... Yang Fengchun, Zhou Zhenlin
GIS Development Asia Pacific does not
necessarily subscribe to the views
38 VECTORIZATION OF expressed in the publication. All views
CONTOURS FROM SCANNED expressed in this issue are those of the
contributors. It is not responsible for any
TOPOGRAPHICAL MAPS
Upcoming Event loss to anyone due to the information

Map Asia 2006

Dr. K. Ananthanarayanan, provided.
Dr. Koshy Varghese
GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. Printed and Published by Sanjay Kumar.
The paper proposes to develop Press Yashi Media Works Pvt. Ltd. B-88, Okhla Industrial Area,
an automated scheme for the Phase - II, New Delhi - 110 020. India Publication Address P-82,
Sector-11, Gautambudh Nagar, Noida, India Editor Ravi Gupta

President M P Narayanan Editor in Chief Ravi Gupta Managing Editor Maneesh Prasad Publisher Sanjay Kumar Honorary Advisor Prof. Arup Dasgupta Sr. Associate
Editor (Honorary) Hrishikesh Samant Sr. Manager - HR and Administration Shivani Lal Marketing Co-ordinator Megha Datta Sr. Graphic Designer Deepak Kumar
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G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C | A U G U S T 2 0 0 6 Vo l . 1 0 I s s u e 0 8
From the Editor

Advisory Board
Amitabha Pande, IAS | Prof. Arup Das-
gupta, Distinguished Professor, BISAG,
India | Dr David Maguire, Director of Prod-
ucts, ESRI, USA | Kamal K Singh, Chairman
and Managing Director, Rolta India Ltd.
| Dato' Nik Nasruddin Mahmood, Direc-
tor, Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing
(MACRES), Malaysia | Prof Michael F
S urveyors have been measuring distances, direc-
tions, and angles between points and elevations of
points, lines, and contours on, above, and below
the earth’s surface. Surveying and mapping technicians assist the
professionals like cartographers and photogrammetrists in their duties by collecting
data in the field and using it to calculate mapmaking information for use in performing
computations and computer-aided drafting. Today there is much more to surveying and
cartography than meets the eye. The surveying aids from old times - Chains, transits,
Goodchild, University of California, USA theodolites, and plumb lines have given way to new age technology such as the GPS,
| Dr Milan Konecny, President, Internation-
laptops, and robotic total stations. GIS has also become an invaluable tool to both
al Cartographic Association | Dr M P
surveyors and cartographers.
Narayanan, President, CSDMS | Preetha
Pulusani, President, Intergraph Mapping As more of these new technologies emerge and are developed, we see a new type
and Geospatial Solutions | Prof Shunji of mapping scientist emerging from the older specialists in photogrammetry and
Murai ,General Secretary, Asian Association
cartography. This new age mapping scientist combines the functions of mapping
on Remote Sensing | Dr Suvit Vibulsresth,
Member, Board GISTDA, Thailand | Dr science and surveying into a broader field concerned with the collection and analysis of
Xavier Lopez, Director, Spatial and Location geographic data.
Technologies, Oracle Inc.
Growing opportunities in this realm have these new technologies as catalysts. Thus
the growth of the surveying industry is being watched closely today! Studies are being
Country Editors done to understand the intricacies of development in this sphere and such studies
India Dr R Siva Kumar, Head (NRDMS & create great value in bringing forth the correct perspective. A study done through
NSDI), Ministry of Science & Technology,
Government of India | Japan Prof
questionnaire survey by the Asia Pacific group of GIS Development analysed the
Hiromichi Fukui, Faculty of Policy Man- present status of land surveying in India and the results are encouraging.
agement, Keio University at Shonan
Keeping in mind the need for more such studies, GIS Development will continue to
Fujisawa | Malaysia Dr Abd Rashid Mohd
Shariff, Institute of Advanced Technology, make efforts to conduct and contribute more such studies to the surveying community
Universiti Putra Malaysia | Singapore
in the future.
Dr Chan Weng Tat, Associate Professor,
Centre for Transport Research, National
“”
University of Singapore | Thailand
Dr Phisan Santitamnont, Assistant Pro-
fessor, Survey Engineering Department,
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
| Vietnam Dr Tran Vinh Phuoc, Vice-Rec-
tor of the UIT, Vietnam
ravi.gupta@gisdevelopment.net

G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C | A U G U S T 2 0 0 6 Vo l . 1 0 I s s u e 0 8 7
 News
CHINA
China launches
oceanic environ-
ment survey
China launched its oceanic
environment survey on July
15 to probe the conditions of
its maritime space. The pro-
gramme, sponsored by the
National Bureau of Oceanog-
raphy, will last two years
and cover 1.02 million sq. km
of sea area off China's coasts.
The research findings are
expected to guide develop-
ment of the maritime econo-
my, tapping of oceanic
resources, maritime disaster
relief and prevention, and
oceanic environmental pro-
tection. Scientists will record
data on water depths, waves,
water levels, ocean currents,
water temperatures and col-
ors, mineral contents and
plankton in four seasons. The
programme is part of a com-
prehensive survey and eval-
uation project on China's
8 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
inshore ocean launched in
2003. The first summer
phase of the programme is
expected to take 1.5 months
and involve over 3,000 sur-
veyors who will begin
research from the northeast
coast down to the south
simultaneously, said Lei Bo,
Vice Director of the National
Bureau of Oceanography.
www.chinadaily.com.cn
SSTL delivers
Beijing-1 EO satellite
British satellite manufactur-
er Surrey Satellite Technolo-
gy Ltd (SSTL) has just com-
pleted a landmark commer-
cial satellite contract with
the Beijing Landview Map-
ping Information Technolo-
gy Co., Ltd (BLMIT) in order to
commercialise the data serv-
ices from Earth observation
(EO) satellites. At a ceremony
held in Beijing, BLMIT signed
the formal in-orbit accept-
ance of the high resolution
EO microsatellite (Beijing-1)
system built in cooperation
with BLMIT.
The 166 kg Beijing-1 is the
EO satellite, carrying two
payloads that provide high-
resolution multi-spectral
images with an ultra-wide
600km imaging swath. Bei-
jing-1 will provide the Chi-
nese government and com-
mercial users with informa-
tion on agriculture, water
resources, environment and
disaster monitoring through-
out China. The satellite will
be used extensively for mon-
itoring urban development
and pollution, especially in
the lead up to the 2008 Bei-
jing Olympics, and to gener-
ate digital maps of China
using the high-resolution
panchromatic imager. The
satellite is capable of contin-
uously imaging Chinese ter-
ritory even at the longest
landmass track (3000 km)
and transmit images to the
ground station in Beijing in
real-time at high speed
(40Mbps) with on-board pro-
grammable compression.
www.earsc.org
Hong Kong makes use
of GIS for improving
air quality
Improving air quality tops
our environmental agenda,
Chief Executive of the Hong
Kong Special Administrative
Region Donald Tsang says,
adding air cannot be cleaned
up quickly and sustained
efforts by Hong Kong and
Guangdong are necessary. In
a visit to the Environmental
Protection Department Mr
Tsang was briefed on the
regional air-quality monitor-
ing network developed with
Guangdong and efforts to
Improve regional air quality.
Mr Tsang saw how infor-
mation technology, includ-
ing a GIS allowed the centre's
staff to locate a problem area
on a digital map to take
immediate action. The Chief
Executive viewed a demon-
stration of a three-dimen-
sional environmental impact
assessment public engage-
ment tool that is developed
to put into practice the con-
tinuous public involvement
concept. Hong Kong is taking
the lead in introducing this
concept in the environmen-
tal impact assessment
process. With the tool, differ-
ent options for development
projects and their environ-
mental performances can be
presented in 3D models
through coloured illustra-
tions, graphics or multime-
dia images. "The use of such
tools would foster better
communication of environ-
mental impact assessment
issues and promote public
dialogue on major develop-
ment projects during project
planning and implementa-
tion," Mr Tsang said.
www.news.gov.hk
INDONESIA
Indonesian President
asks for speeding up of
tsunami early warning
project
Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono on July
20 asked for the speeding up
of the installation of a tsuna-
AUG UST 2006
mi early warning system,
mindful of the recent tsuna-
mi in Java`s southern coastal
regions. "Development of the
system is complicated and
costs much. It also takes a
process. Initially it was to be
completed by 2009 but now
we will speed it up to finish
it in the middle of 2008," he
said. He made the statement
after listening to presenta-
tions by Energy and Mineral
Resources Minister Poer-
nomo Yusgiantoro and
Transportation Mnister
Hatta Radjasa on the coun-
try`s geographic and geologi-
cal conditions and the earth-
quake information system of
the Meteorolgy and Geo-
physics Agency. The Presi-
dent would ask the Coordi-
nating Minister for People`s
Welfare and the Finance
Minister to discuss the allo-
cation of funds for the proj-
ect with the House of Repre-
sentatives. He said he would
seek the fulfillment of aid
commitments by certain
countries and international
donors at Tsunami Summit
in 2005. "We will also seek
foreign assistance to speed
up the project," he said.
www.antara.co.id
JAPAN
Tokyo Metropolitan
Government
implements GIS in
city planning
The Tokyo Metropolitan Gov-
ernment (TMG), a longtime
user of GIS, has implemented
a Web based system that
AUG UST 2006
promises broad new capabil-
ities and greatly expanded
use throughout the govern-
ment. The new Tokyo Metro-
politan Urban Planning GIS
is a Web-based system that
meets the security require-
ments of the Tokyo Metro-
politan Government Local
Area Network system. The
GIS was designed with mul-
tiple menus and functions
adapted to the various func-
tions and skills of the opera-
tors. Presently, TMG's Bureau
of Urban Development
enables all 1,500 bureau staff
members to use GIS to view
and edit a wide variety of
city planning information
from their PCs, which boosts
their productivity. In the
future, TMG anticipates that
the GIS will be available to
all TMG departments, allow-
ing instant on-line access to
more than 30,000 staff
members.
www.esri.com
Kobe center's
satellite to help
25 nations cope
with disasters
The Asian Disaster Reduc-
tion Center in Kobe, Japan
will in autumn be able to
access a system capable of
providing 3-D images of dis-
aster-stricken areas any-
where in Asia using a satel-
lite made available by the
Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency. The center hopes the
new system will help people
in disaster-stricken areas
deal with emergency situa-
tions more quickly, to pre-
vent damage. The center also
hopes to use the advanced
technology to learn lessons
from disasters, including
how water flows in floods,
and how sand and earth
move in landslides. The cen-
ter will use the agency's
Daichi advanced land-
observing satellite that was
launched in January. Daichi
is one of the world's largest
satellites and carries three
types of observational equip-
ment, including one that
uses a microwave sensor,
which enables it to take pic-
tures of locations at night or
if they are covered by clouds.
In February, the satellite
took images of Leyte Island
in the Philippines when a
landslide occurred there. The
images were then compared
with images taken by anoth-
er satellite. By comparing the
two images it was possible
to identify which areas had
been worst hit by the land-
slide. When a powerful
earthquake struck the main
island of Java, Indonesia, in
May, Daichi was used to
determine which buildings
on the island had suffered
damage. Daichi also can
identify flood-affected areas,
check the extent of lava
flows and determine the size
of landslides. When the sys-
tem is introduced, the center
will act as a liaison site for its
25 member countries in Asia.
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
The agency will analyze
images of disaster-stricken
areas taken by Daichi and
process the images by color-
ing them. The center will
send the images to its mem-
ber countries along with
information, including the
population of the areas.
www.yomiuri.co.jp
Personal
Earth-orbiter on
sale
A personal earth-orbiter,
MySat-1 - a 44-pound box,
less than ten inches on its
side - is now available for
purchase from Japan-based
Astro Research Corporation.
It can make space more
accessible to commercial
businesses, public institu-
tions and research communi-
ties. Among its potential
uses could be satellite com-
ponent testing, disaster
monitoring, Earth observa-
tion, Remote Sensing. Each
satellite can be customized
to the owner's needs and
equipped with additional
instruments depending on
the user's needs.
"MySat-1 itself can be
launched within a year-and-
a-half after an order is
placed," said Kio Murakawa,
a manager in the MySat Divi-
sion at Astro Research. Once
in low earth orbit, about 600
to 800 kilometers in space,
MySat-1 will circle the earth
about 14 times per day. Own-
ers can also tune in to their
satellite's radio signal on a
website to monitor its loca-
tion and listen to it as it pass-
es overhead. A four-cubic
9
 News
inch container called MyBox
is designed to hold any
MySat-1 payload weighing
up to 11 pounds. MySat-1 can
fly in low earth orbit for
more than 20 years, possibly
more than 30.
www.dsc.discovery.com
MALAYSIA
Malaysian state to
track leatherback
turtles by satellite
A Malaysian state is to con-
duct a million-dollar satellite
study of turtle migration,
focusing on the leatherback
which is close to extinction, a
report said. The coastal state
of Terengganu, famed for
exotic islands and beaches,
has allocated five million
Ringgit (1.35 million dollars)
for the exercise, the Star
newspaper said. Mohamad
Jidin Shafee, Terengganu
movements after laying
eggs. The study showed that
the turtles migrated to Viet-
nam, the Philippines and
Indonesia after laying eggs
in Terengganu, Mohamad
said. In the new study, offi-
cials will install transmitters
on turtles at the same place
chosen last year, Kemaman,
to see where the turtles go
this year, Mohamad added.
Last year only one
leatherback turtle -- the most
endangered of Malaysia's
turtles -- was sighted. And
for the first time in history,
neither of the other impor-
tant species -- Olive Ridley
and hawksbill turtles -- land-
ed at the traditional nesting
sites. The alarming develop-
ment raised fears that the
turtles may be lost forever
from the beaches, which are
a big draw for tourists who
come to watch the egg lay-
ing as well as the emergence
of hatchlings. Turtles are
hunted for their meat and
shell, and are also killed by
getting entangled in fishing
nets in the open seas. The
tourism industry boom has
contributed to the decline,
with hotels and bright lights
near the beachfront caused
ing with colleagues from
Punjab University and gov-
ernment agencies in Pak-
istan to help solve a critical
water problem. Over the
last 40 years, sediment has
been building up at the bot-
tom of the giant Malaga
Dam reservoir on the river
Jhelum. The research will
determine the major sources
of sediment by combining
erosion modeling, GIS,
Remote Sensing, geomor-
phology, hydrology and sedi-
ment source tracing.
Part of the Indus river basin
system, the Malaga Dam
was built in 1967 with a stor-
age capacity of 5.88 million
acre feet. Since its construc-
tion, a large quantity of sedi-
ment has been continuously
transported into the reser-
voir reducing its storage
capacity by 20 per cent. This
has had a major impact on
irrigation and electricity gen-
RUSSIA
Russia's
leadership in
space industry to
be fostered
Russia needs to make every
effort to keep its leadership
in the space industry, Prime
Minister Mikhail Fradkov
stated at a government
meeting convened to discuss
the strategy for this sector up
to 2015. In his opinion, to
retain its position, Russia
needs to provide additional
financing in this sphere,
organize things better, mod-
ernize its enterprises and
implement state-of-the-art
technologies.
The space industry is not
only about launches and
manned space operation, but
developing a wide range of
sectors on the basis of space
technologies, safeguarding
the country's defence capaci-
ty and security, furthering
communications and RS, and
manufacturing equipment
that can be used in all the
sectors of the economy, Frad-
kov said, believing that some
of these areas were being
neglected.
www.rbcnews.com

State Executive Councillor, turtles to shy away. eration.

said the study would cover www.physorg.com The research project also
several turtle species, partic- includes the Tarbela Dam in THAILAND
ularly leatherback sea turtles the Indus catchment area
that are on the verge of PAKISTAN which is also suffering from GIS developed for
extinction. "The exercise is a build up of sediment. The Thailand's
expected to be held this Sep- Charles Darwin construction of a further tourism industry
tember," he told the Star. researchers to make dam upstream will assist in The Software Industry Pro-
Terengganu conducted a use of GIS for solving reducing the problem but motion Agency (SIPA) has
similar study last year, water problem requires careful planning developed an infrastructure
attaching transmitters on Charles Darwin University and construction. for GIS, which contains infor-
four turtles to study their (CDU) researchers are work- www.cdu.edu.au mation on tourism and relat-

10 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C AUG UST 2006

ed services in five provinces,
for distribution to travel
websites free of charge. This
move is expected to not only
promote tourism in Thailand
but also open markets for
local software developers.
Panutat Tejasen, SIPA Chiang
Mai branch manager, said
the agency had developed
GIS for Thailand's Tourism
Collaborative Commerce
(TTCC) project to gather
information on tourism and
related services after pur-
chase of map engines from
local companies to make fur-
ther developments. The pro-
gramme itself comes with an
open application program
interface, in order to allow
webmasters to develop and
add more applications as
required. "To collect accurate
and up-to-date information,
we hired people to ride
motorcycles equipped with
GPS receivers to go around
Chiang Mai collecting loca-
tions and details of each
tourism destination for the
electronic base map," said
Panutat. Once the GIS for
Thailand's TTCC infrastruc-
ture has been completely
developed, it will be avail-
able for free download at
www.chiangmai.ttcc.org
www.nationmultimedia.com
VIETNAM
New state university
in Vietnam
The UIT is Vietnam's new
state university located in
Hochiminh City, Southern
Vietnam, founded by the
AUG UST 2006
Decision of Vietnamese
Prime Minister in June, 2006.
In state university system of
Vietnam, the UIT is at the
same level with the Univer-
sity of Technology, the lead-
err of the Center for IT and
GIS (DITAGIS) in the past.
The mission of the UIT is to
promote the education with
high quality, the research
and development of the
information technology
and computer science
including the GIS, Remote
sensing and space technolo-
gy in Vietnam.
It comprises 5 colleges such
as the college of computer
science, the college of com-
puter engineering, the col-
lege of networking and com-
munication, the college of
knowledge technology and
the college of the informa-
tion system.
The GIS, remote sensing
and space technology is part
of the college of the informa-
tion system. Each year, the
UIT plans to receive about
500-700 new 4-year bachelor
students, 100 new 2-year
master students and about
10 Ph.D students, including
the GIS, RS field.
The UIT is lead by three per-
sons, one Rector and two
Vice-Rectors. Hence forth the
Center for IT and GIS
(DITAGIS) will not exist. The
entire staff, experts, projects,
contracts, data, software,
products and comsumers of
the DITAGIS are transferred
to a private Company,
named TRANVINH Promot-
ing Technology Ltd.
www.ditagis.org
 News
Officials plan to
have income tax
map
Armed with data from the
Annual Information Return
(AIR), the Income Tax Depart-
ment is going to tighten its
surveillance on defaulters.
There are plans to map all
this information on GIS and
have an income tax map of
Pune city. ''This will enable
us to compare the standard
of living with the returns
filed,'' said J Suresh, Commis-
sioner of Income Tax, Central
Information Bureau. The
department is also in touch
with Pune Municipal Corpo-
ration, cellular companies,
Maharashtra State Electricity
Distribution Company Limit-
ed and various service
providers for data on users.
''Only 18,720 people have
reported their income above
Rs. 10 lakh in Pune, Thane,
Nashik and western Maha-
rashtra regions,'' said Shiv
Kumar Sharma, Chief Com-
missioner of Income Tax.
This figure is a pointer
towards the extent of under
reporting and tax evasion in
Pune region. Besides the
evaders, the department will
also keep a close watch on
the tax practitioners and
property valuators who help
12 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
people to evade the tax net.
www.cities.expressindia.com
Indian municipality
undertakes digital
camera survey for new
property tax system
The Municipal Corporation
of Hyderabad (MCH), India, is
planning to use digital cam-
eras for the classification of
residential and commercial
properties. The exercise, like-
ly to be launched early next
year, will be a precursor for
implementation of the new
area-based property tax sys-
tem from next financial year
beginning on April 1. Tenders
are to be opened to select the
agency for taking up the sur-
vey to record digital data
that will take about four
months time. This data will
be combined with spatial
data obtained through the
GIS to get a complete picture
of properties.
Additional Commissioner
(Finance and IT) B. Ramesh
Babu insists the new system
will only rationalise collec-
tion of property tax in the
sense that correct estimates
can be made of the plinth
area and the rental value of
properties. "We are not
thinking of increasing rates.
We are aiming at fair assess-
ment of properties, residen-
tial or commercial for which
physical verification is a
must," he said while explain-
ing the rationale of using
digital cameras. The munici-
pal corporation has
announced formation of 47
zones and 140 sub-zones
without tinkering with the
prevailing administrative
structure for the new tax sys-
tem. The divisions are based
on availability of civic
amenities, educational insti-
tutions, medicare, markets,
etc. The NRSA is preparing
base maps and 90 per cent of
the work has been complet-
ed. It will give complete data
of each area like roads, water
pipelines, drains, power
lines, buildings, etc.
www.thehindu.com
Property tax to be
integrated with
GIS in Indian city,
Bangalore
The BMP (Bangalore
Mahanagara Palike) in part-
nership with eGovernments
Foundation has chalked out
a scheme. To start with,
property tax would be inte-
grated with GIS, which
means, there would be no
lapses in declaring a citizen's
exact property dimensions.
Srikanth Nadhamuni, Man-
aging Trustee, eGovern-
ments Foundation, said the
entire exercise was a com-
pletely internet-driven
enterprise. "There will be
English and Kannada con-
tent. It will make for an
interactive site where a com-
plaint is filed online by a citi-
zen and tracked later. The
status is also monitored with
the complaint tracking sys-
tem." He added. The site
would be interactive and
transactional.
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Merger between RMSI,
RMS Inc.
Over the past few years, the
world has seen a spate of
natural disasters of the
"Super Catastrophe" catego-
ry, such as Tsunami, hurri-
canes, and endemics,
amongst others. To provide
more comprehensive solu-
tions to address the risks
stemming from these disas-
ters, the Daily Mail and Gen-
eral Trust Group have decid-
ed to merge two of their
portfolio companies, RMSI
and RMS Inc. This merger
will strengthen the synergy
between these organiza-
tions, compliment their core
domain skills and provide
higher quality solutions to
this industry. RMSI's geospa-
tial data and solutions will
help in accurately addressing
the needs of disaster risk
modeling. While the two
companies will work togeth-
er on opportunities in the
disaster risk management
space, RMSI will also contin-
ue to maintain leadership
and offer geospatial services
AUG UST 2006
to vertical markets other
than disaster management.
To catalyze this relationship,
RMSI has announced key
strategic changes to their
management structure.
Rajesh Kalra, one of the
founding members, has been
promoted as the Managing
Director of RMSI. Rajesh
started his professional
career in the construction
division of Larsen and
Toubro Ltd., and has also
worked for the Rail India
Technical & Economic Ser-
vices (RITES). Ajay Lavakare
has been elevated to the role
of Chairman of the company
and has relocated to Cali-
fornia. Ajay has also joined
the senior management
team at Risk Management
Solutions, Inc. (RMS), as
Senior Vice President and
Managing Director of a new
business unit called RMS
Data Solutions.
ISRO shows the way
for urban waste
management
The Indian Space Research
Organisation is coming to
the rescue of cities in solving
their challenge - waste dis-
posal. ISRO's expertise in
Remote Sensing is being
used in 'urban waste man-
agement'. "We are already
using Remote Sensing and
communication satellites
like Cartosat-1, Resourcesat-1
and the IRS series of satel-
lites to obtain a wide variety
of high resolution images
and data in spatial resolu-
tions," said P G Diwakar,
Head, Regional Remote Sens-
J U LY 2 0 0 6
ing Service Centre (RRSSC),
ISRO. He said that space
application gives them very
high resolution images. "The
2.5m high resolution data
obtained from Cartosat-1 can
be used in locating the
drainage map and the exact
area for the disposal of
waste. For earmarking
garbage dumps, ISRO has
prepared a three-dimension-
al model and this is used to
find garbage dumps so that
the wastes do not flow into
the water bodies in the low-
lying areas. Application of
Remote Sensing and GIS can
be used to facilitate site
selection for solid waste dis-
posal. The RRSSC of ISRO at
Jodhpur has developed a cus-
tomised geographical infor-
mation system package
called 'Package for Optimum
Routing, Interactive Resource
Allocation and facility Man-
agement' (Parikrama). This
helps in network-related
applications and can be cus-
tomised for efficient man-
agement of solid waste dis-
posal. The Ranchi Municipal-
ity in Jharkhand, which has
37 wards with an area of
177.19 sq km, is using cus-
tomised solutions of ISRO in
tracing suitable landfill sites,
the areas that generate the
highest amount of waste
and the shortest possible
route to transport them to
the landfill sites. "They have
initially implemented our
suggestions for the smaller
areas and are in the process
of implementing this in the
larger areas," said Diwakar.
www.business-standard.com
Remote Sensing
helps scientist in
study of ancient
Indian cities
An insight into 'cosmic cities'
described in the Indian epics
including Ramayana and
Mahabharata can be
obtained by analysing pic-
tures sent by an IRS satellite,
said P S Thakker, a senior sci-
entist of the Indian Space
Research Organisation
(ISRO). Though these sites are
known to people, it is not
possible to know the settle-
ment pattern from the sur-
face as they have been
destroyed with passage of
time and some have been
buried. However, by looking
at satellite pictures one can
see things that are not visi-
ble to the naked eye, he says.
Thakker said Remote Sens-
ing can play an important
role to correlate archeologi-
cal findings from ancient
sites, which are mentioned
in the scriptures of Hindu
religion. Thakker has worked
on a project called Remote
Sensing of Cosmic Cities in
Ancient India, studying
important historical and
ancient cities, and correlat-
ing them with RS data
obtained from satellite.
Some sites, which he has
studied, include Kausambi,
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
Ahichhatra, Lumbini,
Shravasti and Nalanda. He
said Remote Sensing data
can also successfully be used
for building up historical
records of changes that
might have taken place on
the surface of the earth. The
data may also be used in
updating ancient atlases.
www.rediff.com
GIS mapping helps
detect power theft
in India's capital
GIS mapping has helped
BSES teams unearth power
theft of 4300 KW. The penal-
ties imposed on the default-
ers amount to around Rs. 17
crore (USD 3.6 million). BSES
has started mapping all its
licensed areas and cus-
tomers. Their electricity con-
sumption and loads patterns
are being closely monitored.
Any deviation is immediate-
ly flagged at BSES end. "With
the help of GIS mapping
techniques, BRPL enforce-
ment teams swooped down
on GK Residency in South
Delhi and found it pilfering
power to the tune of over 95
KW," said the spokesperson.
www.thestatesman.net
13
 gives an idea of how produc-
tivity can be related to use of
the resources or trapping of
the resources available.
"Whether it's the actual
vegetation, the soils or the
nutrients in the soil." A total
of 33 properties have been
involved under a research
partnership funded by Meat
AUSTRALIA and Livestock Australia and
the respective state and terri-
VegMachine gives tory governments.
farmers in Australia an www.au.news.yahoo.com
eye in the sky
Landholders across the
northern rangelands of Aus- BRAZIL
tralia can now use satellite
monitoring to keep track of GE Energy provides
environmental changes on Smallworld technology
their properties. The new to Sabesp of Sao Paulo
system, which is called Veg- GE Energy has supplied Sabe-
sp - Companhia de Sanea-
mento Básico do Estado de
Sâo Paulo (Sabesp) of Sao
Paulo, Brazil with its Small-
world geospatial technology.
This technology forms the
core of the SIGNOS integrat-
ed water management sys-
tem, improving water deliv-
Machine, has been trialed ery to households and
across 80,000 square kilome- response time to service out-
tres in Western Australia, the ages. Sabesp is the largest
Northern Territory and water and wastewater com-
Queensland. NT Government pany in Latin America. The
researcher Luke Peel wants new GIS application has
to see the free computer soft- allowed Sabesp to standard-
ware program used more ize network information
widely. "It gives you a birds- graphically. The installation
eye view of the property," he of the system has also per-
said. "The idea is the mystery mitted data integration and
of satellite imagery, what it integrated analysis, which
can say and do is being has led to broader access and
exposed back. "It still hasn't more uniform data consis-
got to the point where we tency for the entire compa-
can actually work out kilo- ny. The Sabesp implementa-
grams per hectare on the tion covers 34 cities and
ground. "But, it certainly approximately 20 million
14 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
people as well as a 28,000-
kilometer water network, a
20,000-kilometer waste-
water network in a 1,600
square kilometer urban area.
Edinfor, a Logica CMG com-
pany, implemented the proj-
ect. Since the implementa-
tion of the SIGNOS system, a
number of benefits have
been realized. Calculation
time and data analysis time
have been decreased. Auto-
mated thematic maps, which
can identify features like
water pipelines, are also
being generated, defined and
executed monthly by system
end-users. They also allow
business results to be
checked and compared peri-
odically. Recently, the
Geospatial Information &
Technology Association
(GITA) presented Sabesp
with an Excellence Award at
its 2006 conference, recog-
nizing the implementation
of the SIGNOS GIS.
www.gepower.com
Brazil plans to develop
geostationary satellite
The Brazilian Space Agency’s
(AEB’s) Space Programme
includes a plan to develop a
geostationary satellite to fur-
nish basic meteorological
and communications servic-
es (such as television and
telephone transmissions).
Brazil currently acquires
these services by buying
space in satellites belonging
to foreign companies.
According to the president of
the AEB, Sérgio Gaudenzi, the
chief purpose of the Space
Programme is to observe the
Earth. The images generated
by the three Brazilian satel-
lites, he informed, are main-
ly used to control deforesta-
tion and burnings and to
help orient agricultural pro-
duction by providing data on
harvests. They are also used
in urban planning and ocean
control. According to Gau-
denzi, Brazil may have its
geostationary satellite by
2012. He explained that, in
spite of the high cost, pos-
sessing the technological is a
strategic matter for the
country.
www.internacional.radiobras.gov.br
CANADA
RADARSAT
International
changes name to
MDA Geospatial
Services Inc.
As a final step in the
rebranding process at MDA,
the legal name RADARSAT
International Inc. (a wholly
owned subsidiary of Mac-
Donald, Dettwiler and Asso-
ciates Ltd.) was changed to
MDA Geospatial Services
Inc., effective as of June 23,
2006. The company contin-
ues under the laws of the
Canada, and will continue to
operate from Richmond,
British Columbia, Canada.
New agri-environmental
portal utilizes GIS
Information data on land
use, soil, water, climate and
biodiversity collected from
different sources using GIS
technology is now available
AUG UST 2006
on the new bilingual Web
portal www.agr.gc.ca/nlwis-
snite, developed by the
National Land and Water
Information Service (NLWIS)
of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada (AAFC). The portal
offers easy access to agri-
environmental maps, data,
tools and expertise, all on
one Web site. It also intends
to provide expertise to help
decision makers interpret
the information.
www.agrinewsinteractive.com
ETHIOPIA
Satellite captures
creation of new
continental crust
A new sea is forming in the
desert of northeastern
Ethiopia. Millions of years
from now, the pulling apart
of the Arabian and Nubian
tectonic plates will allow
waters to rush in and widen
the Red Sea. And thanks to
the availability of satellite
imagery, scientists have
been able to get an unprece-
dented glimpse of the work-
Magma from adjacent volca-
noes filled in the bottom part
of the rift, creating new con-
tinental crust and a dyke of
roughly 2.5 cubic kilometers-
-twice as much material as
erupted from Mount St.
Helens--more than two kilo-
meters below the surface.
"A lot of ash was thrown up
in the air and a lot of cracks
appeared in the ground,
some of which were more
than a meter wide," says
team member Cindy Ebinger
of the University of London.
"The Afar region provides a
unique study area for conti-
nental breakup and forma-
tion of new ocean basins."
That is because it is one of
the few active rifts on land
rather than in the depths of
the old oceans. This spread-
ing of the continental crust
will continue along the rift,
stretching from Lebanon to
Tanzania, with the eastern
edge of Africa potentially fol-
lowing Madagascar out to
sea. A paper presenting the
research appeared in Nature
on 20th July.
www.sciam.com
as on the technical side. The
new interface, based on
AJAX technology, brings to
the web users new enriched
functionalities, dynamic con-
tents and a more rapid infor-
mation display. The new
www.maporama.com appli-
cations manage data and
requests in asynchronous
mode, in background, to
accelerate the display of the
web pages and information.
The website also offers func-
tionalities in BETA version.
Moreover www.maporama.
com includes a cartographic
view service to display in
one click the road traffic situ-
ation on street level maps.
These services are currently
available for the France
region.
www.maporama.com
Scientists from 60
countries to conduct
research during
International Polar Year
2007-2008
Thousands of scientists from
60 countries will be conduct-
ing research during Interna-
tional Polar Year 2007-2008
and will, for the first time
during an International Polar
Year, be armed with satellite
measurements offering com-
plete coverage of the polar
regions, which play a vital
role in the Earth's climate
and ecosystems. Having
access to near-continuous
satellite data of these regions
over long periods of time is
important for scientists to
identify and analyse long-
term climatic trends and
changes. ESA will provide

ings of stretching plates, the

rock crust moving across
Earth's surface at up to 12
centimeters per year.
Tim Wright of the Universi-
ty of Leeds and his interna-
tional team of colleagues col-
lected ground- and space-
based observations of a
widening rift in the Afar
Desert of Ethiopia. Between
September and October last
year, a 60-kilometer-long
stretch of rock spread by as
much as eight meters.
FRANCE
Maporama
launches upgrad-
ed website
Maporama International has
announced the release of its
new maps and itineraries
website www.maporama.
com and its entrance in the
Web 2.0 era. The website has
been totally redesigned, on
the ergonomic level as well

AUG UST 2006

 current and historical data,
dating back 15 years, from its
ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat
satellites as well as data col-
lected from a number of non-
ESA satellites. Dr. David Carl-
son, Director of the Interna-
tional Programme Office for
the Polar Year, said, " we will
use every form of satellite
data - passive visual, active
micro-wave, and even sensi-
tive gravity measurements -
to understand changes in the
global ice sheets." Interna-
tional Polar Year (IPY) 2007-
2008 aims to enhance inter-
national collaboration in
polar region research and
monitoring, link researchers
across different fields to
address questions and issues
lying beyond the scope of
State Office for Geo-Informa-
tion and Survey (LGV) of the
Free and Hanseatic City of
Hamburg and CyberCity,
Zurich to market and
improve the massive 3D
city model of Hamburg,
Germany. The city model
includes more than 300,000
buildings and will be offered
in three different Levels-
of-Detail: non-textured block
models, non-textured detail-
ed models and textured
detailed models. The city
center will consist of over
2,000 buildings and will
include approximately
40,000 façade images.
Textures will be semi-auto-
matically applied from
oblique aerial imagery using
CyberCity-Modeler's textur-
architects, urban planners
and other agencies who may
use CAD renderings to
demonstrate project alterna-
tives and communicate proj-
ect plans. 3D city models are
also being used in some car
navigation systems.
www.cybercity.tv
RWANDA
GIS center offers
weather updates
based on satellite
images
The Center for Geographical
Information Systems (CGIS)
at the National University of
Rwanda (NUR) is to use its
new Meteosat (MSG) Satel-
lite Technology to relay daily
one on our computers can
easily know the weather
changes all over Africa, the
most affected areas with soil
erosion, area affected by fire
in addition to providing use-
ful data, like maps and
images that can be use for
educational reasons," Lasry
explained. "The use of this
Meteosat satellite technolo-
gy is of great importance, its
use would help us in control-
ling and monitoring the level
of River Nile, a river that is so
important to many African
countries," Frank Habineza,
the National Co-coordinator
of Nile Basin Discourse
Forum in Rwanda who was
one of the participants, com-
mented.
www.allafrica.com

individual disciplines, ensure ing tool that is used to create
data collected under the IPY a more realistic environ-
are made available in an ment. The final deliverable
open and timely manner and will be available to the
intensify the recovery of rel- public via the Internet
evant historical data and (www.cybercity.tv) in Octo-
ensure these also are made ber 2006. Applications
openly available. include tourism, safety, secu-
www.esa.int rity, architecture and urban
city planning and car
navigation. The deliverable
GERMANY also includes a Digital
Terrain Model (DTM) and a
CyberCity digital Orthophoto. LGV and
offers 3D city CyberCity will co-market the
model of Hamburg 3D data. LGV will distribute
commercially the data within the munici-
A collaborative agreement pal agencies and organiza-
has been signed between the tions and CyberCity will
market exclusively to all
other interested parties.
Additional applications/cus-
tomers for Hamburg's 3D
City Model include mission
and safety planning for fire
and police departments,
weather updates to Rwanda
television for its viewers, dis-
closed Florent Lasry, an
expert at NUR's CGIS. Lasry
said that the Meteosat's sec-
ond generation is a satellite
system that captures images
from all over Africa and are
received at the CGIS center at
Butare by powerful and ultra
capacity computers. He
explained that images sent
by the MSG satellite can then
be used to monitor meteoro-
logical changes like tempera-
ture, rainfall, wind, water
resource management, soil
erosion management, lake
and river level monitoring,
agriculture and crop man-
agement, in addition to mon-
itoring fire in game parks
and forests.
"Meteosat satellite records
images automatically in
every after 15 minutes, some-
SOUTH AFRICA
2005 population
estimates for South
Africa now available
SAtoZ, which aims to provide
the marketing and research
communities with regular
updates of relevant and
accurate information, has
released its first dataset for
2006 - an update of the 2001
Census population estimates
for the country, generated at
various spatial levels, includ-
ing enumeration areas,
municipalities and
provinces. The data is also
available in tabular format.
The 2005 estimates at an
enumeration area level con-
tain statistics on the type of
area (e.g. farm, smallholding,
formal urban, tribal), admin-

16 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C AUG UST 2006

istrative boundaries, gender,
population group, age
groups, total population and
population density. Prof. DJ
Stoker, in collaboration with
the Human Sciences
Research Council (HSRC),
generated the 2005 demo-
graphic estimates during the
past four months of 2006
using benchmark weighting
techniques and the mid-year
estimates for 2005 from Sta-
tistics South Africa. SAtoZ is
working with strategic part-
ners such as GeoTerraImage
on the update of detailed
counts of dwellings in the
major metropolitan areas
using satellite imagery taken
during 2005. This informa-
tion will be further used to
fine-tune the estimates in
metropolitan areas where
there has been densification
of settlements and new
areas have been developed.
SAtoZ and its partners are
also planning to generate
estimates of the population
at an enumeration area and
municipality level on an
annual basis. All of the infor-
mation is in a GIS format,
which means that it can be
integrated with other layers
of information and new vari-
ables can be created. On
request, SAtoZ can aggregate
the 2005 demographic esti-
mates to other spatial layers
of information, for example,
sales regions of businesses.
This information is invalu-
able for market size calcula-
tions, research purposes and
in the design of samples and
the implementation of mar-
ket research surveys. Other
J U LY 2 0 0 6
geo-information at SAtoZ's
disposal includes Living
Standard Measures (LSM),
poverty, mindset and eco-
nomic statistics.
www.bizcommunity.com
SPAIN
Geokosmos completes
3D mapping project in
Andalusia, Spain
Geokosmos, Moscow based
air survey company, has
completed a 3D mapping
project in Andalusia,
autonomous region of Spain
for various Municipal
authorities. Using the aerial
laser scanning technology,
Geokosmos conducted a sur-
vey of the Guadalquivir
River, which is one of the
longest rivers on the territo-
ry of Spain with a length of
3144 km with a rather com-
plicated surface, aiming to
create 3D Digital Terrain
Model. The total volume of
work reached approximately
700 sq. km. The survey was
conducted with up-to-date
LiDAR equipment - ALTM
3100 (produced by Optech
Inc.) - and by medium format
digital camera Rollei AIC
modular LS. The high preci-
sion 3D Digital Elevation
Models of the river's channel
supplied to the customer
allow to: forecast the poten-
tial flood locations, plan pre-
ventive measures in case of
flood, conduct shore protec-
tion and create GIS for water
resources management.
www.geokosmos.com
UNITED KINGDOM
Simon Cox bags OGC's
Gardels Award
At the June meeting of the
Open Geospatial Consor-
tium, Inc. (OGC) in Edin-
burgh, Scotland, Simon Cox
received OGC's eighth annu-
al Kenneth D. Gardels
Award. The Gardels Award, a
gold medallion, is awarded
to individuals who have
made an outstanding contri-
bution to advance OGC's
vision of geospatial informa-
tion fully integrated into the
world's information systems.
The award is given annually
in memory of Kenneth
Gardels, one of the founding
directors of OGC and OGC's
former director of academic
programs.
Simon Cox is a Research Sci-
entist, Commonwealth Sci-
entific and Industrial
Research Organisation
(CSIRO), Exploration and
Mining, Perth, Australia. He
has been associated with
OGC Technical Committee
for many years, where he
has made significant contri-
butions to the OpenGIS
Geography Markup Lan-
guage (GML) and Web Fea-
ture Service (WFS) Imple-
mentation Specifications as
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
well as the Sensor Web
Enablement effort. His work
in ISO has been of great
value in helping OGC stan-
dards receive ISO standing,
and he has been a strong
advocate of OGC in Australia
for a decade.
www.opengeospatial.org
100 year old aerial pho-
tographs of Stonehenge
to be displayed
Aerial views of Stonehenge
taken 100 years ago are
among dozens of historic
and modern aerial photos
and illustrations that are on
display at Stonehenge next
month.
It explores the world of aer-
ial photography in Victorian,
Edwardian and wartime
Britain, and looks specifically
at the contribution that the
last 100 years of aerial pho-
tography has made to our
understanding of 6,000
years of British history and
pre-history. The events have
been organised to commem-
orate the first aerial photo-
graphs of Stonehenge and
indeed of a British archaeo-
logical site taken in 1906 by
Lieutenant Philip Henry
Sharpe of the Royal Engi-
neers' Balloon Section, who
was based in the Sappers'
Balloon Section located only
17
 a mile from Stonehenge. This Lord Sainsbury also signed a obtained from space. The demonstrate the direction
was where military balloon- Memorandum of Under- images show temperature and flow of potential and
ing and then fixed wing avi- standing with a member of increases and increased pol- actual sewer flooding. Lidar
ation developed, prior to the the Algerian space sciences lution for every region in the height data has a vertical
formation of the Royal Flying delegation, promising co- UK." The images show the accuracy of +/- 15cm, offering
Corps in 1912. Six years later, operation between the stark differences in land surveyors and planners valu-
the RAF was formed. British National Space Centre temperatures and nitrogen able information which is
The exhibition, entitled and its Algerian counterpart. dioxide between 15 and 18 likely to reduce the need for
"100 Years of Discovery" is Britain and Algeria are July when most of the UK initial ground surveys. Lidar
from August 1 to 7 and tells already co-operating in a experienced heatwave con- height data also shows the
the story of those first photo- satellite-based Remote Sens- ditions. Researchers at the topography of the land. This,
graphs. The 1906 photos ing project. University of Leicester, who together with detailed
demonstrated the clarity www.bsn.org.uk released the images, said the knowledge of underground
with which even slight data could offer some insight assets, allows Northumbrian
earthworks could be picked Satellite images show into the future. “These Water to create hydraulic
out from above and more sharp rise in UK’s extremes of temperature and models of its underground
easily understood. Dave temperatures and air of pollution are likely to networks to determine how
Batchelor, chief Stonehenge pollution levels occur periodically through- they react during rainstorm
archaeologist at English Her- Sensors in space have record- out this summer as the pre- events. Overland flow path
itage, said: "Aerial photogra- ed the dramatic increases in vailing heatwave conditions are also calculated to deter-
phy is most useful in helping land temperatures and air maintain themselves," Earth mine the route of any flood-
us understand the human pollution as the UK swelters Observation Science's Dr ing caused by overloaded
use and development of the Gary Corlett said. “Moreover, sewers.
landscape around Stone- current climate change pre- www.infoterra.co.uk

henge. This detailed under- dictions for the UK suggest

standing is used daily in our that the frequency of the
management of the Stone- these extreme periods of USA
henge World Heritage Site high temperature and pollu-
and contributes to the enjoy- tion will increase." MDA receives
ment of the many thousands www.news.bbc.co.uk $3.4M order from
of visitors every year." US government
www.24dash.com in record-breaking July heat. Infoterra to supply MacDonald, Dettwiler and
The images show major height data to Associates Ltd. (MDA), a
UK signs space cities like London, Birming- Northumbrian Water provider of essential infor-
cooperation agree- ham and Liverpool experi- Infoterra Ltd, a provider of mation solutions, announ-
ment with Algeria encing the highest levels of geographic information ced that it has received an
The UK government signed the air pollutant nitrogen products and services, has order for US$3.4 million to
an agreement with Algeria dioxide (NO2). The images secured a contract to supply provide a US government
on co-operation in future were generated from data Northumbrian Water with agency with additional
space projects. The agree- gathered by the European lidar height data, allowing RADARSAT-1 information
ment to share expertise and Space Agency's Envisat and sophisticated flood model- products to be delivered over
experience came on day NASA's Aura satellites. John ling and accurate topological a 12-month period. The order
three of the biennial Farn- Remedios, Head of Earth analysis to be carried out was issued under an existing
borough International Air Observation Science at the across the North East of Eng- Indefinite Delivery/ Indefi-
Show, the aerospace trade University of Leicester, said: land. Northumbrian Water nite Quantity (IDIQ) contract.
fairs, held this week on a for- "The latest satellite data will use the lidar* height IDIQ Contracts are utilized by
mer military airfield near shows a perspective of the data to enable highly accu- US Executive Branch federal
London. The UK's Minister environment in which we rate flood risk models to be agencies to procure certain
for Science and Innovation, live that can only be generated, which will recurring services from pre-

18 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C AUG UST 2006

established suppliers. The US
Government uses space
borne wide-area surveillance
information to monitor loca-
tions around the world. Con-
tinued market demand from
key users underscores the
value of radar satellite data
as a dependable source of
information crucial to gov-
ernment operations.
MDA's RADARSAT-2 mis-
sion, the follow-on mission
to RADARSAT-1, will provide
a broader suite of higher-res-
olution data products once
operational next year, which
are expected to provide addi-
tional value in addressing
the monitoring and surveil-
lance needs of government
and commercial customers
around the world.
www.mdacorporation.com
Global coral reef
assessment built
on NASA images
A survey of how well the
world's coral reefs are being
protected was made possible
by a unique collection of
NASA views from space. A
team of international
researchers using NASA
satellite images compiled an
updated inventory of all
"marine protected areas"
containing coral reefs and
compared it with the most
detailed and comprehensive
satellite inventory of coral
reefs. The global satellite
mapping effort is called the
Millennium Coral Reef Map-
ping Project and was funded
by NASA. The study was
reported on recently in the
journal Science. The assess-
AUG UST 2006
ment found that less than
two percent of coral reefs are
within areas designated to
limit human activities that
can harm the reefs and the
sea life living in and around
them. Countries around the
world have created these
protected ocean and coastal
zones where human activi-
ties such as shipping, fishing,
recreation and scientific
research are restricted to
varying degrees. To achieve
worldwide views of the
small and widely scattered
reefs, the Millennium Project
team analyzed nearly 1700
images taken by the Landsat
7 spacecraft over four years.
Computer processing of
these data resulted in the
coral reef inventory and
maps that revealed detailed
information about the struc-
ture of individual reefs.
www.nasa.gov
Market research study
on LBS, telematics and
navigation systems
released
C.J. Driscoll & Associates has
released a nationally pro-
jectable marketing research
study on consumer interest
in a wide range of GPS-based
applications and wireless
services. This study was par-
tially funded by eleven com-
panies, including leading
digital mapping companies,
cellular carriers, automotive
manufacturers, GPS naviga-
tion system suppliers, and
suppliers of LBS applications
and technology.
The study assesses interest
and willingness to pay
for vehicle-installed and
portable navigation systems,
traffic information and other
telematic services, and loca-
tion-based services delivered
to cell phones. It also quanti-
fies consumer use and satis-
faction with navigation sys-
tems and telematic services,
and provides feedback from
early adopters of LBS. In
addition, the study assesses
consumer opinions regard-
ing location-based advertis-
ing and the potential impact
of location-based services on
privacy. The 2006 LBS,
Telematics and Navigation
Systems Study assesses con-
sumer intent to purchase
installed, portable or cell
phone based navigation sys-
tems and services, as well as
awareness and preference by
brand. It also evaluates con-
sumer interest and willing-
ness to pay for traffic infor-
mation services and other
telematic services. The study
covers interest of cellular
subscribers in a wide range
of location-based services.
www.cjdriscoll.com
Tracking progress of
wildfires with help of
maps now possible
The joint effort of NASA, the
U.S. Forest Service, the Uni-
versity of Maryland and the
National Interagency Fire
Center has made it possible
to track the progress of wild-
fires in the USS with maps
updated several times a day
and posted online for public.
MODIS (Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer)
imaging devices mounted on
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
two NASA satellites monitor
the Earth and can pinpoint a
fire within a 500-meter dis-
tance. The instruments
return data that is then
turned into maps, which
shows the location of past
and actively burning fires.
www.news.com.com
Jack Dangermond
honoured with honorary
doctorate
ESRI founder and President
Jack Dangermond received
an honorary doctorate from
Loma Linda University (LLU)
Adventist Health Sciences
Center during the Universi-
ty's School of Public Health
(SPH) commencement cere-
mony in Loma Linda, Califor-
nia. The highest academic
honour awarded by the uni-
versity, the honorary Doctor
of Humane Letters recog-
nizes outstanding contribu-
tions to the welfare and
enrichment of others. Since
founding ESRI in 1969, Dan-
germond has worked to cre-
ate GIS software that links
geographic information with
descriptive data as a means
toward achieving cutting-
edge analysis and insight in
a wide range of disciplines,
including health fields.
www.esri.com
19
 iSMART 5.1 provides even
deeper support for Oracle
functionality, including inte-
gration with Oracle 10g
Mapviewer. This facility
enables use of this Oracle
application server compo-
nent for visualising spatial
data. It allows data rendered
by Mapviewer to be com-
eSpatial announces bined with other data man-
launch of iSMART 5.1 aged by iSMART such as
eSpatial, an Enterprise from Open Geospatial Con-
Geospatial software and sortium (OGC) web services,
technology company, live / tracking data feeds,
announced the latest version image stores, and custom
of its geospatial iSMART data sources, for display,
product suite, iSMART 5.1. analysis and editing, and
iSMART 5.1 provides new fea- provides iSMART's "out of
tures including advanced the box" powerful end user
metadata management, fur- tools for data management,
ther Oracle integration, and visualisation (GeoPortal),
increased use of Web 2.0 and Editing to Oracle
technologies such as AJAX Mapviewer. It also increases
and the enhancement of the the range of data types that
iSMART GeoPortal and devel- may be viewed using
opment environment to iSMART tools and custom
match emerging web map- applications (including 10g
ping interface standards GeoRaster GRID, and Net-
from companies such as work Data).
Google and Microsoft. www.espatial.com
A key updated feature in
iSMART 5.1 is the treatment NAVTEQ releases
of Metadata: iSMART 5.1 can full coverage map
easily Configure, Enter, View of South Africa
and Search metadata; this NAVTEQ has announced a
capability enables iSMART full coverage map for South
users to easily find useful Africa. Included in the data
spatial data sets and add set is over 450,000 km of
them into maps for viewing, roads, enabling customers
editing, and analysing across using the NAVTEQ digital
an organisation or the inter- map for South Africa to cre-
net. This is also an essential ate navigation solutions for
capability for Spatial Data the entire country. The map
Infrastructures (SDI) and includes over 25,000 points
complies with industry of interest including high
metadata standards such as value listings such as
ISO 19115 and ISO 15836 approximately 3,900 restau-
("Dublin Core") rants and 2,100 hotels. Cus-
20 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
tomers integrating the map
into consumer and business
applications will have access
to data representing over
4,955 named places in the
country. The NAVTEQ data-
base now includes virtually
all navigable and named
roads in South Africa, with
full verification of all func-
tional class one through four
roads. These functional class-
es range from high volume,
controlled access roads con-
necting urban areas to roads
connecting major business
streets with residential
roads. NAVTEQ has also
made a commitment to pro-
vide expanded coverage to
support navigation needs
during FIFA World Cup to be
held in South Africa in 2010,
enabling navigation
between venues and provid-
ing detailed destination
information.
www.navteq.com
Avenza announces
MAPublisher 7.0 for
Adobe Illustrator
Avenza Systems Inc., produc-
ers of MAPublisher carto-
graphic software for Adobe
Illustrator and Geographic
Imager spatial tools for
Adobe Photoshop announced
the release of MAPublisher
7.0 for Adobe Illustrator.
MAPublisher 7.0 is the latest
version of the mapmaking
software used to produce
maps from GIS data. Devel-
oped as a suite of plug-ins for
Adobe Illustrator, MAPub-
lisher leverages the superior
graphics capabilities of this
graphics design software.
New functionality in
MAPublisher 7.0 includes a
labeling engine, grid, gratic-
ules and scalebar generators,
improved MAP attributes
engine with expression
builder, advanced selection
filters and support for dou-
ble-byte character sets. Elec-
tronic versions are immedi-
ately available for purchase
and download. Boxed copies
will be available the week of
July 24th.
www.avenza.com
Spatial Network
Solutions releas-
es NuMap 2.0
NuMap 2.0 is now available
and features a MultiSpeak
v3.0 interface to Milsoft's
WindMil engineering analy-
sis product, plus a config-
urable numbering module
used to generate custom
facility ID/location numbers
Spatial Network Solutions'
NuMap brings AutoCAD's
drafting tools and engineer-
ing accuracy to the small and
mid sized utility mapping
space. NuMap is an automat-
ed mapping and facilities
management system built
on the 2007 releases of Auto-
CAD and Autodesk Map 3D.
This product provides a utili-
ty context and excellent
mapping tools on this plat-
form. Functionality includes:
electric network connectivity
management, data integrity
verification, context sensi-
tive data entry and domain
specific queries. NuMap is
the replacement for GenMap
and was created for mapping
professionals, utility design-
AUG UST 2006
ers and engineers whose
needs are closely aligned
with digital representations
of their distribution system.
www.emediawire.com
ESRI releases
2006/2011
demographic data
ESRI's 2006 demographic
data estimates and 2011 pro-
jections have been released
and are available as down-
loadable reports and maps
from Business Analyst
Online, ESRI's on-demand
reporting and mapping serv-
ice. The 2006/2011 data is
available in more than 50
reports and maps such as the
Demographic and Income
Profile, Market Profile, and
Age by Race Profile. Over the
past year, ESRI's data devel-
opment team completely
revised its update models to
develop a new methodology
that achieves a higher level
of accuracy previously unat-
tainable from any data
provider. This methodology
blends ESRI's 2006/2011
demographic data and GIS
technology with data from
other leading data providers
to produce extremely accu-
rate results, unique in
today's marketplace.
www.esri.com
Leica Geosystems
presents Leica GPS900
Leica Geosystems has intro-
duced Leica GPS900, a mid-
range RTK GPS system that
delivers productivity for a
wide variety of tasks. The
new Leica GPS900 uses Leica
Geosystems' proven GPS
AUG UST 2006
technology. Consisting of a
Leica RX900 Controller and a
Leica ATX900 GPS Antenna
the all-on-the-pole GPS900
RTK rover is ideal for one-
person stakeout and topo-
graphic tasks. With its flexi-
ble, easy-to-use onboard
software, Leica GPS900 is the
solution for a wide range of
jobs including foundation
and drainage work, align-
ment stakeout, topographic
and as-built surveys. For the
one-man-team, Leica
GPS900 is easy to setup and
use: the RTK reference and
rover fit easily into a single
rugged case. The GPS900
rover is lightweight and opti-
mised to reduce operator
fatigue. The icon-based,
graphical onboard software
can be easily operated using
the VGA touchscreen.
Import and export function-
ality allows the instrument
to be compatible with Leica
TPS400, Leica TPS800 and
System 1200 TPS and GPS.
www.leica-geosystems.com
GeoServer 1.3.2
released
The GeoServer Project has
announced the release of
version 1.3.2. Improvements
for this release include an
upgrade to GeoTools 2.2.x,
and some performance tun-
ing on the toolkit, with users
reporting at least a 60-70%
speed increase against Post-
GIS. There are also user con-
tributed fixes to create PDF
maps from WMS and to
adjust headers to allow
caching, which can optimize
GeoServer for tiling web
mapping clients like Google
Maps or OpenLayers.
The other improvements
were supported by Google, in
order to leverage GeoServer's
data reading and map pro-
ducing capabilities to allow
anyone to make their exist-
ing data available on Google
Earth. The bulk of the work
was to create KML/KMZ out-
put from the open WMS
standard, which is compati-
ble with Google's network
link. Also funded was a basic
SLD creation wizard, so that
basic map styles can be cre-
ated through the web
administration GUI. There is
also a built in KML reflector,
making it very easy to con-
nect GeoServer to Google
Earth.
GeoServer supports Post-
GIS, ArcSDE, Oracle Spatial,
DB2, and Shapefiles and
recent improvements with
GeoTools 2.2.x pass the
majority of the spatial pro-
cessing back to the database.
There is also a KMScore opti-
mization, which has
GeoServer render the fea-
tures as a raster to be used as
a Ground Overlay, for situa-
tions when there are too
many features for Google
Earth to efficiently portray.
www.docs.codehaus.org
TatukGIS
launches GIS Editor
1.7.2 Version
TatukGIS has announced the
version 1.7.2 update of its GIS
Editor product, adding sup-
port for the following fea-
tures: KML data format:
Open, create, edit, and save
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
KML files as used by Google
Earth. Convert map data
from just about any GIS or
CAD data format into the
KML format or from KML
into other common file for-
mats, e.g., SHP, MIF, DXF,
GML, GPX, DLG, or SQL data-
base layers. GPX data format:
Open, edit, create, and save
GPX files and exchange GPS
data (waypoints, tracks, etc.)
with GPS devices.
GPX data exported from
third-party GPS software can
be opened as a map layer in
the Editor without the need
for any format conversion.
When required, the Editor
can be used to convert the
GPX data into other formats,
such as SHP, DXF, KML, etc.
ECWP protocol: In addition to
the viewing ECW images
loaded on the local computer
hard drive, view ECW images
running on a remote server.
The ECW image running on
the remote server can be
opened as a map layer with
other data layers within the
context of a GIS project.
www.tatukgis.com
Thales' MobileMapper
CE upgraded
Thales' MobileMapper CE,
handheld GPS receiver for
GIS applications, now offers
differential corrections via
NTRIP and direct IP. The
functionality will be avail-
able for delivery and via
upgrade for current
MobileMapper CE owners
starting August 2006. Thales
will offer current owners of
MobileMapper CE a free
firmware update at the
21
 Thales FTP site. The Mobile Tele Atlas adds speed
Mapper CE GPS receiver camera data to digital
offers an impressive array of maps covering seven
features, including real-time, European countries
sub-meter GPS positioning, Tele Atlas has announced
embedded Microsoft Win- that speed camera informa-
dows CE .NET, Bluetooth tion from RoadPilot Limited,
wireless technology, remov- the UK based provider of
able SD card memory and an technology for safer driving,
all-day removable battery is now available in its digital
that make it attractive for a maps covering Belgium,
wide variety of demanding France, the Netherlands, Nor-
GIS data collection and map- way, Spain, Sweden and the
ping applications. United Kingdom. Weekly
www.thalesnavigation.com updates ensure that Tele
Atlas customers developing
Mapping software in-car and portable naviga-
transforms online tion applications have the
ticket buying most up-to-date information
Adeso Technologies in US to alert drivers to the loca-
announced on July 10 the tion of nearby speed cam-
release of VisualBoxOffice eras. “Because the informa-
(VBO), a mapping software tion is constantly refreshed,
that transforms the way con- our maps can even include
sumers buy online tickets. temporary speed restrictions
The software uses interac- at roadworks,” said Jack
tive 3D maps that simultane- Reinelt, Tele Atlas’ Managing
ously show ticket-buyers the Director and Chief Operating
location and price of avail- Officer of Europe. “And
able seats and a section because the data uses a Tele
view, and allows them to Atlas map as its foundation,
buy tickets on the same the speed camera is posi-
screen. tioned in its precise place,
"VBO puts consumers in the even indicating which side
tional European countries
will be added to the cata-
logue in the coming months.
www.teleatlas.com
Google live traffic maps
on cell phones
On 25 July 2006 Google said
it is offering mobile phone
users to view highway maps
with live traffic data. Avail-
able initially in 30 U.S. cities,
Google Maps for mobile will
show traffic, with road con-
ditions highlighted in three
colors: red means congested,
yellow & orange means
slowdowns and green for
open traffic. The service com-
bines satellite imagery,
directions, and traffic data --
completely free. One can
check out the service by
going to http://google.com/
gmm on mobile phone. Cur-
rently, it's only available in
the U.S. market. Live traffic
information for more than
30 cities in the United States
will be as close as a com-
muter's mobile phone via the
Google Maps for Mobile serv-
ice. Presently, Google offers
several Maps services for
through a Reuters report on
the latest addition to its
Maps for Mobiles lineup of
services. Live traffic data
allows users to see conges-
tion areas and estimate
delays. The service will
launch with coverage for
over 30 metropolitan areas
in the US. Traffic display
information noted by
Reuters will be color-coded.
Red means congestion, yel-
low for delays, and green
indicates normal traffic flow
for a route. Google has not
yet revealed the source of its
traffic information for the
new Maps service. The color
system looks similar to that
offered by Traffic.com, which
currently provides traffic
data to Microsoft's online
service, Windows Live Local.
Traffic.com lists available
traffic information for 50
cities on its website. Mobile
users with Java-enabled
(J2ME) handsets from Cingu-
lar or Sprint, or color Black-
Berry devices from any carri-
er, can access Google Maps
for Mobile services.
www.laptoplogic.com

driver's seat," said Valeno of a dual carriageway the mobile handset users.
Valentino, CEO of Adeso cameras are monitoring….” Searching for local business- MWH Soft ships
Technologies. "They can see Reinelt added that road sta- es returns integrated results urban hydrologic
where they want to go tistics show speed cameras featuring location and con- modeling textbook
and buy their tickets in one encourage European drivers tact information to the MWH Soft, a provider of
click." to moderate their speed. “In phone. Google Maps can environmental and water
The average time to buy the opinion of the regulatory deliver draggable, zoomable resources applications soft-
tickets with VisualBoxOffice authorities, providing this maps to those phones, and ware, has announced the
is approximately 45-60 sec- information is a positive con- provide satellite imagery of a release of ‘Comprehensive
onds. VBO also allows con- tribution to making the location. Users who need Urban Hydrologic Modeling
sumers to easily compare roads safer.” The new service walking or driving directions Handbook for Engineers and
prices and seats; and to see is available today to applica- can retrieve those with step- Planners’ – a resource for
the view from certain sec- tion developers, with the by-step instructions from anyone involved in the
tions on selected maps. first consumer products Google Maps for Mobile as design, operation, protection,
www.adesotech.com expected this summer. Addi- well. The company disclosed and management of urban

22 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C AUG UST 2006

infrastructure systems. Writ-
ten by industry experts,
Comprehensive Urban
Hydrologic Modeling Hand-
book for Engineers and Plan-
ners is an advanced compre-
hensive reference on the var-
ious aspects of surface water
hydrology including hydro-
logic processes, analysis, and
design.
A working handbook for
engineers, hydrologists, stu-
dents, urban planners and
practitioners, it covers both
the practical and theoretical
aspects of urban hydrology,
hydraulics, and storm water
quality modeling. The book
brings together the princi-
ples and tools available for
evaluating the quantity and
quality of storm water, and
presents them in a manner
that can be easily under-
stood. Moreover, it provides
guidance on methods of
managing and controlling
storm water in the urban
environment.
150 solved problems place
special emphasis on the
application of these tools
and methods.
www.mwhsoft.com
geoVue releases
marketVue Portal
v.2.0
geoVue, a location intelli-
gence software provider, has
announced the release of
marketVue Portal v.2.0, the
latest version of its Web Ser-
vices-based platform for
market planning, site selec-
tion and sales forecasting.
Retail, franchise, and com-
mercial development clients
can access geoVue’s location
intelligence software appli-
cations iSITE (site selection
and trade area analysis) and
iPREDICT (sales forecasting),
through the marketVue Por-
tal. The marketVue Portal
can also be seamlessly inte-
grated with third-party data
and clients’ proprietary
applications. With Mar-
ketVue Portal v.2.0 users can
model trading areas, deter-
mine market capacity, and
estimate sales potential for
any location, at any time.
Maps, charts, graphs and
reports generated from this
analysis are highly config-
urable, and data can be
exported into a variety of
common formats, including
Excel, CSV and XML for fast,
easy sharing across the
enterprise. As a result, the
chain operation can quickly
screen prospective locations.
New features have been
added in this latest release,
some developing as a result
of geoVue’s new business
partnerships, including the
following: Integrating aerial
photography from GlobeX-
plorer and TerraServer-USA
to create powerful hybrid
maps that blend geoVue’s
modeled data with high res-
olution photography; Gener-
ating interactive, updated
drive time boundaries for
any location, directly from
the marketVue Portal. The
drive time extension is avail-
able through geoVue’s part-
nership with ESRI and can be
both viewed interactively
and incorporated into
geoVue’s automated site-
books.
www.prweb.com
 SURVEYING
LAND SURVEYING IN INDIA:
PRESENT STATUS
Surveying has been traditionally defined as the science and art of determining the
relative positions of points
Dr. Satyaprakash
B AC K S I G HT
Humans have pondered over the ‘shape of the earth’ for
more than a millenia. This led to some systematic processes
and measurements which were later baptized as ‘Geodetic
Surveying’.
Surveying has been traditionally defined as the science and art
of determining the relative positions of points above, on, or
beneath the surface of the earth, or establishing such points.
The purpose of which is to research the form and size of the
earth and the geometrical shape and spatial position of the
objects on the surface of the ground.
In other words, it is the science to collect, analyze, integrate,
manage and apply the geographical data about above and
under the ground surface or in the water with features of spatial
contribution with all kinds of appropriate approaches and
instruments, which aims to make the natural appearances
known to the people.
Historically, it was as early as 1400BC that the Egyptians first
used surveying to accurately divide land into plots for the pur-
pose of taxation and sometime in 120BC the Greeks developed
the science of geometry and used it for precise land division and
also standardized the procedures for conducting surveys. They
were also the first to develop an instrument (Diopter) for con-
ducting surveys.
However, in 1800AD, during the industrial revolution, survey-
ing became an important aspect for development of public
24 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
infrastructure, in terms of railroads, canals and roads. This led to
the development of more sophisticated instruments and this
was the time when science of Geodetic and Plane surveying was
developed.
Today, surveying has become a part of our lives and irrespec-
tive of whether we realize it or not, it is affecting our daily lives.
Whether it is the development or realignment of our neighbour-
hood road, development of a new shopping mall in the vicinity,
the development of a new amusement park, the laying down of
the optical fibre cables for more telecommunication lines or the
development of a new line for metro rail in our neighbourhood,
without surveying, all these would not have been possible.
Some of the common surveying applications have been,
• to map the earth above and below the sea,
• prepare navigational maps (land, air, sea),
• establish boundaries of public and private lands,
• develop data bases for natural resource management,
• development of engineering data for
- bridge construction,
- roads,
- buildings and
- land development etc.
The methods of surveying can be classified under major two
headings, viz., Geodetic and Plane. Geodetic is one where the
spherical shape of the earth is taken into account and it covers
large areas and has high accuracy. Plane surveying is concen-
trated into smaller areas where accuracy requirement is not
AUG UST 2006
that stringent and this method considers
region as flat, instead of spherical. This is
commonly used for most of the work,
whereas geodetic surveying is employed
for determining shape and size of earth
and establishing control points.
Surveying has broadly been classified
into the following categories (after
http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~asm215/
topics/history.html), depending upon the
purpose for which they are being used,
• Control surveys
• Topographic surveys
• Land, Boundary and Cadastral surveys
• Hydrographic or Marine surveys
• Route surveys
• Construction, Urban Planning or
Engineering surveys
• Mine surveys
Surveying can also be classified depend-
ing upon the instruments used, the type
of measurement and depending upon the
platform, from where surveying is done.
S TAKE O UT
With development taking place in the
field of surveying world over and also in
India, we thought of conducting a study
through questionnaire survey, to study
the present status of land surveying in
India. A questionnaire was designed
where it was decided to study the differ-
ent activities of companies engaged in
the surveying field, their geographical
reach, core land surveying companies vis-
à-vis GIS companies where surveying is
an associated task. The study was also
intended to look into the different instru-
ments being used and their feedback in-
terms of usability, user-friendliness,
availability in their region, after-sales
service and overall satisfaction level. The
questionnaire also asked about the usage
of GPS in the surveying work and also the
Return on Investment.
Before the questionnaire was sent, a
consent letter was sent to around 200
companies, the data for which was
AUG UST 2006
obtained from our internal resources,
web-search and websites of the compa-
nies. Once the consent was obtained, the
questionnaire was sent to the concerned
department or concerned person and/ or
the CEO of companies, spread all over the
country, engaged in surveying and GIS
work. It was also sent to some free-
lancers/ retired professional, either who
are currently engaged in surveying tasks
or were engaged previously.
response was overwhelming and we are
thankful to all those, who took their time
and responded to the questionnaire.
T R IAN G U L ATI O N
The questionnaires were analysed on the
basis of the location of the surveying
company vis-à-vis the geographic area
they carter to, their annual turnover as a
percentage to their total business. The
kind of instruments being used by these
companies were also studied and also
from where they are purchased. One
important motive of this survey was to
assess whether GPS was being used in
land surveying or not, and if yes, its pene-
tration. The Return on Investment for the
surveying projects was also studied. All
these were in addition to the different
kinds of surveying, the companies are
engaged in.
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Topographic (65%)
Cadastral (43%)
Fig. 1 Bar diagram showing the different surveying activities, companies are engaged in
P LOT TI N G
The entire analysis of the questionnaire
was divided into two sections. First sec-
tion (Pole A) covered the type of survey
and the instruments being used in India
by different companies, their locations
vis-à-vis their turnover and Return on
Investment. In the second section (Pole B),
satisfaction level of different instruments
was studied along with the service and
The support the vendors offer to them.
P OLE -A
The companies who participated in the
survey, 43% of them were from South of
India, with their head offices in Banga-
lore, Hyderabad or Chennai. There were
only 14% response from the western part
and almost similar response of approxi-
mately 22% from East and North. There
was only one response from the NE
region, catering to almost all the eight NE
states.
The different activities, companies are
engaged in, could be listed as,
• Topographic survey
• Cadastral survey
• Utility survey
• Engineering survey
• Natural Resource Management (NRM)
• Urban Mapping
Utility (57%)
Engineering (29%)
NRM (14%)
Urban (35%)
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C 25
38 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C AUG UST 2006
J U LY 2 0 0 6 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C 27
 Plane Table ( 21%)
GPS and DGPS ( 92%)
Total Station ( 65%)
Fig. 2 Usage of instruments for surveying tasks
The percentages of these activities
could be shown by Figure 1.
The instruments being used by differ-
ent companies for conducting the above
survey are,
• Plane Table
• Auto Level
• Theodolite
• Total Station
• GPS and DGPS
The distribution of these instruments in
percentage is shown in Figure 2.
It could be seen from Figure 2, that most
of the companies (more than 90%) have
started using GPS and/ or DGPS for their
survey work. For conventional surveying,
still Total Station is a preferred choice
with 65% users opting for this and 35%
uses Auto Level. Other instruments are
used almost uniformly. However, there
have been few companies who have
started using Laser Range Finders and
also laser based levels, but the most
important fact emerged was, a couple of
companies have started LIDAR surveying
as one of their important activities, viz.,
Genesys International of Bangalore and
Geofiny Technologies of Chennai.
In almost all the cases, the instruments
have been obtained through the local
vendors and in exceptional cases, when it
28 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
Auto Level ( 35%)
Topcon
Theodolite ( 21%)
Nikon
Fig. 3 Distribution of make of surveying instruments (except GPS)
is very specialized one, it has been
ordered/ imported directly from the man-
ufacturer. Also all the companies prefer to
obtain the instruments locally through
their local vendors because of their sup-
port and service, but how much do they
get, is a concern. More on this is in the
next section.
The use of GPS has really penetrated the
land surveying arena, although 37% of
the respondents still use hand-held GPS
and mapping type, Geodetic type and
DGPS are almost equally distributed.
Another important aspect is that 80% of
these companies, own the GPS they use
and even some of them rent it out. There
are only 20% such surveying companies,
who rent the GPS instruments. Although
most of them own the GPS instrument,
but for specialized jobs, they hire. Anoth-
er important conclusion arrived at was
the use of post-processing software for
better accuracy. Almost 85% of the com-
panies using GPS survey, use some or the
other GPS post-processing software.
However, all are system specific, the most
common being Leica Ski-Pro.
Although, no company gives an esti-
mate of their earnings, still we tried to
look at their Return on Investment (ROI).
It was found that the ROI for most of
them (about 85%), in the range of 10-30%
Sokkia
Leica
Trimble
profit and the rest between a profit mar-
gin of 30-50%.
P OLE -B
This section of the survey was the tricki-
est one where it was intended to get an
idea about the satisfaction level in the
usage of instrument being used by differ-
ent companies and also the satisfaction
level with the local vendors. Since almost
all of the companies preferred to pur-
chase the instrument from the local ven-
dors, due to their availability for support
and service, it was to be seen, how much
they satisfy their customers.
The main make of instruments being
used were Leica and Trimble, with some
of them preferring Topcon, Sokkia
and Nikon instruments. As per the
respondents, 33% are using Leica survey-
ing products, 22% are using Trimble
instruments and 17% each are using
Nikon and Topcon. In this section, the sur-
prise to me was the Sokkia surveying
products which only 11% of respondents
use. Surveying market share could be
shown in Figure 3.
In the GPS section, Leica was the leader
with 45% of the respondents using their
products, followed by Garmin with
35% and Trimble with the rest of 20%.
Trimble might have lagged Garmin in
AUG UST 2006

Garmin
Leica
Trimble
Fig. 4 Market share of GPS instruments
the GPS section, because most of the com-
panies are using hand-held instruments.
But if we compare Leica and Trimble,
there is a wide gap of 25% in the market
share. GPS market share could be shown
in Figure 4.
In the instrument satisfaction level
(ease of use and navigation) a scale of 10
was used with 1 being the least satisfied
and 10, the most. In this part, Topcon
scored the highest with 7.3 points while
Trimble and Leica were neck to neck with
6.75 and 6.5, followed by Nikon with 5
points. However, in the service and sup-
port category, Leica scored 6.7 and 6.5
respectively whereas others scored in the
range of 2-3 points, in both the categories,
where a lot to be desired form the local
vendors of these companies. Dr Sharma
from EnGeo consultancy says, that the
Leica has a very modern service centre
and their service is prompt (considering
the fact that his company is in the NE)
and the support is good. Sunil Kokare of
Monarch Surveyors, Pune has very bad
experience with the local Trimble vendor
and has rated them as poor in both serv-
ice and support and has even rated Nikon
local vendor to be very poor in terms of
service and support. Comparison of the
instrument satisfaction and service sup-
port are shown Figure 5.
AUG UST 2006
8
5
4
1
0 Service
Leica
Trimble
Fig. 5 Make of the instruments vis-à-vis satisfaction level
The instrument satisfaction level for
almost all make is the same but it is the
service and support of the local vendors
which decide companies to purchase
which brand of the instrument.
The satisfaction level for the GPS of both
Trimble and Leica are the same at 7.5
points but in service and support again,
Leica has scored 8 and 7.75 over Trimble's
score of 5 in both service and support. The
satisfaction level of Garmin in this sec-
tion of the product is much below.
F O R E S I G HT
This is one of its kinds of study for the
Indian market and users. An attempt was
made through the present study to get an
idea about the different applications, the
companies are engaged into and the dif-
ferent instruments being used by them.
Attempt was also made towards study-
ing the market share of the different ven-
dors, the satisfaction level of the instru-
ments and service and support of the
local vendors. Although the response of
the companies was overwhelming, detail
survey is needed to come to a definite
conclusion.
Most of the respondents have voiced
their opinion of better service and sup-
port from the local vendors. Another
aspect highlighted was the lack of trained
Satisfaction
Sokkia
Topcon
Nikon
Support
staff and good training institutes. From
the use of GPS point of view, the com-
patability with Galileo and the prohibi-
tive import duty was few of the concerns
of the respondents.
There have been few responses, which I
would like to quote verbatim:
“Surveying is the foundation of any infrastruc-
ture project so accuracy & integrity is the most
important factor in surveying. There should be
some registration on national level to this
industry.”
- Sunil Kokare, Director of Monarch Surveys
and Contractors Ltd., Pune.
“Its time we had a national grid of GPS
differential stations available for common use
at no cost.”
- Col J Jacob VSM (Retd.) of Genesys
International, Bangalore.
“Import duty continues to be high. Some of the
vendors do not have trained staff for aftersales
support. Lack of awareness does not allow us
to go for it. None of the vendors has taken
initiative to provide free training with the
instruments to non-users.”
- Dinesh Sharma, Topcon Surveying, Faridabad.
I thank all those who took part in the
survey and provided their valuable
inputs for the article.
Dr. Satyaprakash
GIS Development
satya@gisdevelopment.net
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C 29
 SURVEYING
A COST EFFECTIVE GPS
LEVELING METHOD VERSUS
Conventional Leveling Methods for
Typical Surveying Applications
This study proposes a cost effective GPS Leveling (GPSL) methods based on
multi-reference kinematic GPS and precise geoid model for typical surveying
application.
Dr. Metin Soycan
S
ince 1980s GPS have been used for
the purposes of studying and mon-
itoring the earth, locally, regional-
ly or as a whole; exploring its unknown aspects, engi-
neering studies, and many areas of our daily lives.
Studies aiming to make this system a multipurpose global mon-
itoring system that can be used easily are made for collection
and processing of GPS data in conformance to certain standards,
and for delivering such data groups to users in several commu-
nication technologies with different methods.
In determination of orthometric heights with GPS, the accura-
cy of vertical positioning changes depending on the application
type and quality of the project. The efforts and the attempts for
using the system practically and rentable especially engineer-
ing aimed geodetic application have been increased for the last
decades [1,2,12,13]. It is known that the surveyor especially to
30 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
constitute and densification of the vertical geodetic net-
works, traversing and similar applications use several
methods and technique. To achieve cm height accuracy,
surveyors have been examined alternative methods
instead of static GPS surveying methods with long session
duration and professionally processing and analyzing of the
collected data for long years. As the result of the develop-
ment in fast static, stop and go, kinematic and other survey-
ing methods, GPS receivers, IGS and other regional and local
permanent GPS networks, it can be seen that it is possible to
obtain desired accuracy in very short time interval by using
single GPS receiver [5,10,14,17,18,19,24].
To the extent that, many countries throughout the world
can make use of active RTK networks that have been devel-
oped in recent years for this purpose and resolve the vertical
positioning problem very economically, cheaply and practi-
cally by means of multi-reference RTK approach [6,9,19,27].
GPS derived ellipsoidal heights have geometric meanings in
practical engineering survey, geophysics and in other appli-
cations, and they bear no physical meanings. However, in
many surveying and engineering applications, orthometric
heights are required. To have ellipsoidal heights converted
into orthometric heights, precise geoid heights are required.
The most effective technique used in practice particularly
AUG UST 2006
for the determination of orthometric (Figure 1b).
heights is the GPS-leveling technique.
With the GPS-leveling method, it is possi- Geometric Lev-
ble to determine orthometric heights eling measure-
with cm accuracy. Besides, this method is ments
one that is accepted and applied by the In GL measure-
whole world due to its measurement, ments, Wild-NAK2
ease of computation and its economic precise leveling
application[3,7,8,11,15, 16,23,26,28]. instrument and
The purposes of this study are the deter- millimeter-parti-
mination of GPS ellipsoidal heights based tioned miras were
on post-processing multi-reference kine- used. A total of 5
matic technique with cm level accuracy, routes were
by using appropriate geoid model trans- formed with the 6 Figure 1. Network configuration for conventional and proposed leveling
methods in test area
formation of this heights into orthomet- adjacent IGNA
ric type and examination of its accuracy, point, the height
productivity, efficiency and practicabili- of 87 points on the
ty. Strategies of the proposed model are profile have been
given, and it has been applied in a test determined with
area and compared with the other con- the forward and
ventional leveling methods. For this pur- reverse GL meas-
poses, geometrical leveling (GL), trigono- urements. In the
metrically leveling as unidirectional study area, there
(UTL), leap-frog (LFTL) and simultaneous- was no possibility
ly-reciprocally (SRTL) and GPS observa- observing or
tion were performed on 87 test points obtaining the
between 16km length Beykoz and Riva gravity values due
highway of Istanbul. to some restric-
tion. But as the Figure 2. Trigonometric leveling measurements
TEST STU DY FOR COM PAR I- result of the sever-
SON OF PROP OSE D M ETHOD al approximate
WITH CONVE NTIONAL formulas (D.Clark-B.Dubuisson, Jordan- series zenith angle observed for each
LEVE LLI NG M ETHODS Eggert, Naebauer) the orthometric correc- method. Geodimeter-520 totalstation
In application of conventional leveling tions that might be made in the heights were used for unidirectional and leap-
methods a test network given in figure 1a measured with GL are negligible, more- frog observations easily. For the simulta-
was established. Leveling measurements over, it is seen that the lengths of leveling neously and reciprocal type of trigono-
were performed on 5 leveling route routes and heights differences are not too metric leveling two Wild-T2 theodolites
which changes between 2.7 and 6.1km. large, so orthometric corrections have were used. Using observation signs
There are 6 Istanbul GPS Network (IGNA) been undervalued and the heights whose zenith angle series have been
stations with known ellipsoidal and obtained as a result of raw leveling meas- developed by us and mounted to the
orthometric heights. 1 rover, 1 local refer- urements have been taken as orthomet- Wild-T2 theodolites, it has been simulta-
ence (34082) and 2 permanent GPS sta- ric heights. neously and reciprocally measured as 2
tions (ISTA and TUBI) in Istanbul were full series.
used for GPS campaigns. 34082, ISTA and Trigonometric Leveling Index error of each theodolite and total-
TUBI considered as multi-reference so, measurements station has been determined under labo-
positions of the rover on 87 test points Three different trigonometric leveling ratory conditions and has been brought
was obtained by the adjustment of the methods were considered as the unidirec- as correction to zenith angle measure-
post-processed baseline vector compo- tional, leap-frog and simultaneous recip- ments. Distance measurements have
nents from 3 different reference stations rocal zenith angle observations. 2 full been made with the Geodimeter-520

AUG UST 2006 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C 31


Figure 3. Comparison of the TL and GPSL. derived orthometric heights
with GL (units are m.)
totalstation and in slope form and neces-
sary corrections have been made. As
shown in figure 2, measured zenith
angles Z, iA and iB heights of the instru-
ments or targets, S slope distance meas-
ured using the totalstation, equations
1,2,3 respectively UTL,LFTL,SRTL was used
for the height difference between A and B
points. Height difference between two
adjacent points for 5 leveling routes has
been computed as the sum of the several
single height differences obtained from
each settlement by using equations 1,2,3
[20,21,22,25].
The height differences are affected by
several systematic errors such as influ-
ence of deviation of vertical, earth curva-
ture and refraction. According to Tilk-
Thies for a sight length of 1km an error of
3km for the mean radius will disturb the
height differences with 0.03mm. On the
other hand, in length of sight shorter
than 500 meters, one may accept that the
effect of deviation of vertical on height is
negligibly small. So, the raw height differ-
(1)
ences from reciprocal trigonometric level-
ing will lead to the same value as GL.(2)
In
this regard, in this study TL measure-
(3)
ments are made with 100-150m average
32 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
lengths of sight
and no corrections
have been made
in the measured
zenith angles due
to deviations of
vertical. Therefore
the most impor-
tant remaining
effect is the refrac-
tion effect, by
choosing the
length of sights
between points
short, and by making simultaneous and
reciprocal zenith angle observations in
favorable meteorological conditions; this
effect has been targeted to be reduced to
a great extent for SRTL. To minimize
refraction effect on LFTL sight length was
chosen equally so only the difference of
the coefficients of refraction effects the
results [25]. Finally, for UTL a refraction
coefficient was used as 0.13.
In standard deviation computation for 1
km GL line, differences between forward
and reverse measurements and misclo-
sure values between known and comput-
ed heights are used. For GL accuracy has
been computed from misclosure and has
been computed from difference between
forward and reverse measurements.
Similar to GL differences between for-
ward and reverse measurements and
misclosure values between known and
computed heights are used for a 1 km TL
line, standard deviation has been com-
puted as from misclosure and as from
difference between forward and reverse
measurements for SRTL. from misclosure
and as from difference between forward
and reverse measurements for LFTL.
from misclosure and as from difference
between forward and reverse measure-
ments for UTL
GPS leveling measurements
GPS receivers used in study are Ashtech
Z-surveyor dual frequency, multi channel
geodetic receivers. ISTA and TUBI perma-
nent GPS stations have Ashtech Z-XII3
receivers.
Each of the 87 points has been posi-
tioned from three reference stations with
3-5 minute double sessions in different
satellite geometry using the post-pro-
cessing kinematic method. Elevation
mask is 150, epoch interval is 5 second
were selected during the observations.
Standard troposphere model, use of L1L2
observation and broadcast ephemerides
are sufficient for the observing ellipsoidal
heights in cm level.
Ashtech Solution 2.6 GPS post process-
ing software were used for processing of
the achieved GPS data. First of all, pro-
cessing was performed based on 34082
reference station. Then, ISTA and TUBI
permanent GPS station were included the
processing as second and third reference
station so achieved ellipsoidal height
accuracy was improved between percent
20 to 50. As it seen in table 2 the best
result were obtained by usage of the
three reference (ISTA+TUBI+34082) sta-
tion. Ellipsoidal height accuracy of the
test points obtained by in this way is
under cm level and consistence of the
ellipsoidal heights obtained by first and
second kinematic GPS campaigns is 1cm.
To transformation of ellipsoidal heights
into orthometric heights three different
geoid model given their details in below
were considered.
IGNA geoid model
To determine "cm" accuracy geoid by GPS
and GL data, within the borders of Istan-
bul municipality, 458 geoid base points
covering the said region has been taken
in an area of 65´160km. IGNA geoid mod-
el has been determined using the multi
parameter regression method for practi-
cal use. Geoid heights, calculated from
GPS and GL measurements, are modeled
as two-parameter surface polynomial,
which is in fifth order. The accuracy of the
model is tested via independent leveling
AUG UST 2006
AUG UST 2006 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C 33
 the gravimetric geoid heights belonging
to the same points, they have been deter-
mined using the minimum curvature
interpolation method with 6 parameters
trend surface. As a basic data, the study
used the difference between gravimetric
geoid height and GPS-Leveling geoid
height. During the evaluation stage, 1
point was removed due to inconsistency,
and 196 points were used. The inner accu-
racy of model is achieved in ±5cm from
the difference between interpolated and
measured geoid heights for 196 points.
Furthermore, the accuracy of the model is
tested in 122 independent points through-
out Turkey, and the outer geoid height
accuracy has been found to be ±10 cm. It
is possible to obtain values with relative-
ly higher accuracy values [26].

Local geoid model

and GPS measurements different parts of
Istanbul. As a result of studies made for
the accuracy of the model, model consis-
tency has been found to be about ±4 cm.
As for relative accuracy, it may be
obtained higher than this value [8].
TG-99A geoid model
As for the TG-99A geoid model, it has
been computed at the 3'´3'grid frequency
through modeling of differences on GPS-
Leveling points of long wavelength
effects in the Turkish Gravimetric Geoid
(TG-91) computed in 1991. GPS coordi-
nates (j,l,h) and orthometric heights(H) of
197 points and the 3'´3'grid value used in
TG-91 has been used. GPS-Leveling geoid
heights were obtained from the differ-
ence between the GPS ellipsoidal heights
and the orthometric height values. As for
7 control points covering the test region
has been taken in an area of 15´15km.
Local geoid model has been determined
using the radial basis function (multi-
quadratic) method for better fitting. After
Multi-quadratic surfacing, there are any
residuals in control points and distribu-
tion of control points does not affect
results. In this method, depending on
known control points, a trend surface is
determined by using simple planar or
quadratic surface. After this operation,
residuals in control points are used for
surfacing and all surface coefficients are
calculated. All surface area is described

Standard deviation of first Standard deviation of second Differences between first and
campaign campaign second campaign

Reference Max. Min. Mean. Max. Min. Mean. Max. Min. RMS.
TUBI 50.8 15.6 30.1 44.5 21.1 30.0 45.2 -61.7 37.4
ISTA 38.3 15.7 26.4 31.8 12.6 23.1 59.1 -54.2 22.7

ISTA+TUBI 38.8 10.0 24.8 19.5 7.6 13.5 46.2 -41.8 21.4

34082+TUBI 31.0 8.0 19.8 17.5 6.5 11.8 51.1 -47.8 15.0

34082 24.7 9.5 16.0 26.9 13.8 19.7 26.5 -29.2 11.3

34082+ISTA 17.5 3.8 10.6 22.2 9.8 15.8 24.9 -38.1 12.6

ISTA+TUBI+34082 12.8 4.6 7.9 13.1 6.0 9.9 24.9 -20.9 10.1

34 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C AUG UST 2006

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R ESU LTS
In comparison it was thought that exam-
ination of the consistence of the TL and
GPSL with GL that considered is more
accurately than the other methods. SRTL,
LTFL,UTL and GPSL. derived orthometric
Method Accuracy
GL
SRTL
LFTL
UTL
GPSL
36 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
heights were geoid model use homogeny control
compared with GL points group by a flexible surfacing
derived orthomet- methods in the test area for only this
ric heights. study so better accuracy can be available
Obtained differ- from this geoid model.
ence and their sta-
tistical informa- CONCLUSION
tion were shown As the result of the observation, measure-
both numerically ment and evaluations, it can be said that
and visually in GL and SRTL are the most accurately lev-
figure 3. eling techniques among the all of them.
Although But these techniques require more sur-
TG99A is a veyor, instruments and time. Although
national geoid LFTL and UTL more practicability than the
model, when the GL and SRTL, they have systematical
distributions of effects due to refraction and precision of
the GPSL control instruments used in research. Conse-
points are consid- quently these methods offer lower accu-
ered; two control racy. Aforesaid situation was appeared
points were dis- with the comparison of the derived
covered in the test orthometric heights of 87 test points. It
region. Conse- can be easily seen that the accuracy of the
quently, the better accuracy could be proposed method are depend on accuracy
available in this area. When the distribu- of the geoid model. Use of local geoid
tion of the control points used in the model instead of national or regional can
IGNA geoid model will be examined, supply an accuracy improvement
scarcity of the number of points and used between percentages 40 to 50. Orthomet-
surface model in test area affect the ric heights obtained from 3 reference GPS
results. It can be seen 3-4cm systematical and local geoid model consist with the GL
effect on IGNA derived orthometric 2.0cm, consist with SRTL 2.7cm. Moreover
height from comparison. Moreover, TG- these methods have better consistency
99A is not only a gravimetric geoid mod- than the LTFL and UTL.
el, and it is based on GPS-leveling data Both inner accuracy and consistency
with gravity. From this point of view, the with other leveling techniques of the pro-
consistency of orthometric heights posed methods can be satisfy expecta-
obtained from GPS_GL with TG-99A has tions for routine surveying applications.
been found to be better than IGNA. Local On the other hand, proposed method can
be performed by only one surveyor eco-
Consisten- nomically and practicability versus other
Persons Instruments Production
cy With GL
conventional leveling methods when
1km/2 considered the surveying team, instru-
- 4 1 Lev.Ins+2 Miras
Hours
ments and expenses.
1km/2
10mm 4 2 Theodolites
Hours
Dr. Metin Soycan
1 Totalstation+2 1km/1
23mm 3 Assistant Professor
Reflector Hours Yildiz Technical University
Civil Engineering Faculty
1 Totalstation+2 1km/1 Geodesy and Photogrametry
37mm 2
Reflector Hours Engineering Division
ISTANBUL
1km/0.7
20mm 1 2 GPS Receiver soycan@yildiz.edu.tr
Hours
AUG UST 2006
 VECTORIZATION

VECTORIZATION OF
CONTOURS
From Scanned
Topographical Maps
The paper proposes to develop an automated scheme for the extraction and
vectorization of contour lines from a scanned topographic map.

Dr. K. Ananthanarayanan, Dr Koshy Varghese

G eneration of Digital Ele-

vation Models and selec-
tion of optimal route for cross country transmis-
sion line projects is a long standing demand of the
Construction Industry. The Geographical Informa-
tion System is really helpful to find a visually intu-
itive and efficient solution.

For effective real time use of Geographical Information Sys-

tem for such applications, it is essential for the data to be
available in vector format rather than raster format. Vector-
ization is the process of converting raster data into vector
form. The most widespread source of height (elevation) data

38 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C AUG UST 2006

for digital elevation model generation is
the contour lines in the topographical
maps. One of the preliminary processes in
Transmission Line Routing is the prepara-
tion of optimal routes and feasibility
reports using a GIS. This is carried out by
map digitization, preparation of digital
elevation model for GIS and selection of
the optimal route.
The following limitations exist in the
present process
• A GIS cannot extract information about
the different topographical features (data
layers like contours, river systems, exist-
ing power lines etc.) Using scanned topo-
graphical maps in their raster form.
• The scanned topographical maps being
utilized at present are in the form of raster
images, which need to be vectorized
before the GIS can use them. This activity,
carried out manually using AUTOCAD,
which is a time consuming process.
• The size of the raster bitmap file is huge
which requires large amounts of comput-
er memory storage capacity. Vectorization
is a good alternative that can reduce the
topo map files size, while maintaining data
integrity.
The above limitations can be overcome
by the use of Image Processing tech-
niques to convert the raster Bit Maps into
a Vector Format. The vectorized topo-
graphical map can then be input through
the GIS and using computer run algo-
rithms, an optimal transmission line
route may be finalized.
The specific
problem of the
interpretation of
the contour
lines out of a
scanned map is
difficult to
resolve.
AUG UST 2006
SCAN N I NG
TH E MAP
S CANNER
P ARAMETER
Scanning is the
first step towards
obtaining a
raster image
before it is used
for vectorization.
The aim is to
have a raster
image which can
be converted to a Fig. A Scanned Survey of India Map
vector format
automatically
rather than manually. The parameters which the scanner assigns a value to a
like resolution, Bit depth, Threshold value pixel as a representation of the intensity
and Gamma correction of the scanner and color of the image. In color scanning
will influence the quality of the raster the output is a RGB image, which is a col-
output image. or model in which a three layered pixel
Resolution: resolution may be defined matrices are formed, one each for R, G,
as the density of a raster image. The num- and B channels
ber of pixels that are present in a given
unit region (inch) of the image which is C OLOUR TOPOGRAPHICAL MAPS
defined as dots/pixels per inch (dpi). The The specific problem of the interpretation
Survey of India maps (fig1) which are of the contour lines out of a scanned map
often drafted with 0.2 mm tip ink pens, is difficult to resolve not just because of
the actual colour lines are around 0.5 the nature of the raster data set, but
thick and the distance between adjacent because of global constraint due to their
contours is generally greater than the topology. Previous studies have shown
contour width itself. that the local geometry of the contour
However the contour line thickness also lines does not provide evidence for an
makes a difference. A resolution of 300 automatic reconstruction of the relief. To
dpi is sufficient to differentiate adjacent
contours, most cases the raster contour
line thickness varies from 3 to 8 pixels
Bit depth: Bit depth is a description of
the range of values in gray scale that can
be possibly assigned to one pixel. For
example, a bit depth of 8 bits/pixel,
would enable a single pixel to take 256(2 )
values from 0 to 255 on the grayscale (Fig
2). The more the bit depth, greater is the
color information stored in the image and Threshold
consequently higher is the image quality.
Thresholding: This is the key to raster
output. Thresholding is the process by Fig. 2 Sample Histogram
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C 39
 Image color reduction (Quantization)
Image Gamma Correction (Enhancement)
image filtering and sharpening
Raster Image Segmentation and
Thresholding for contour feature extraction
Image Binarization
Image Morphology and Skeletonization 2D
Contour reconstruction (interpolation)
Raster Image Vectorization,
CAD compatibility (generation of DXF/
ASCII file)
Fig. 3 Overview of conventional vectorization
methodology
Data source selection collection Phase
Raster Image pre-processing
Raster to vector conversion
Data Validation, error detection &
correction
Fig. 4 Methodology for the Vectorization
Process
40 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
overcome this most of the research works
concentrate involving the intervention of
an operator. The role of the human being
is to generally resolve the ambiguities
and/or to correct the result of the recon-
struction. Research in image processing,
computational geometry, image repre-
sentation and pattern recognition has let
to the development of wide variety of
algorithm for contour vectorization.
However the problem of contour extrac-
tion is complex and none of the existing
schemes claim to be the best solution for
the same.
Now days the colour topographical
maps are available and it is essential to
recognize all its features. Recent papers
deal scanned colour images using the
mean and variance of the hue channel for
discriminating soil types on a digitized
soil map or transforming the input RGB
colour space into another colour space
taking the chromaticity into account. A
majority of map analysis techniques
have concentrated on binary maps that
have thicker features which are spaced
far apart from each other. Only few
focused on colour images and thin closely
spaced linear features.
Dupont et al. used a water shed divide
algorithm in RGB space to assign a pure
map colour to each pixel. This algorithm
performs well for image scanned by high
resolution and quality scanners but not
for the image which contains alias and
false colour. Wu et al. used a multi-layer
Fig. 5a Scanned Image
neural network to extract characters and
lines from colour map images.
Their inputs include features that com-
prehend color intensities and gradients.
This approach does not figure out color
aliasing and false colors inherent in the
topographic maps. Hedly and Yan devel-
oped a gradient threshold method to
overcome the aliasing and false colour
problems. The final thinned raster image
often consists of broken lines. These lines
when vectorized and exported to stan-
dard CAD software like AutoCAD cause
huge problems to the GIS user, because
they have to identify and reconnect all
the open (hanging) contour lines.
Researches in the field of GIS have looked
at various methodologies to resolve this
problem.
I MAGE PROCESSING FOR CARTOGRAPHY :
A R EVIEW
Analytical and computer cartography
were used in the image processing appli-
cations earlier, but researchers start using
the recent developments in the new
areas like computational geometry and
neural network to solve image processing
problems. Conventional approaches split
the raster to vector conversion process in
the following four main steps - Raster
image pre-processing, Raster Image seg-
mentation and contour extraction, Raster
Image post processing and skeletoniza-
tion and Raster to Vector conversion
(Fig3). The outputs of the first three steps
Fig. 5b Multiple pixel intensity filter
AUG UST 2006
 Fig. 6a Scanned Image
are in the form of raster image and only
in the final step DXF file (vector format) is
generated.
ALGOR ITH M FOR
VECTOR I ZATION PROCESS
The following are the main features pro-
posed algorithm
• Data identification and extraction based
on colour (through user input).
• Raster pre-processing using proven and
relevant Imaging techniques.
• Resolving the character recognition
problem by prompting user to select the
colour of the characters and subsequent-
ly erasing those pixels.
• Interpolation between loose ends of the
contour trace.
• Saving the elevation data at all contour
lines.
• Prompt for user input wherever the logic
is unable to resolve the trace.
• Error detection and correction.
The methodology used in the proposed
algorithm for the Vectorization process is
shown in fig 4.
DATA COLLECTION PHASE
Geographic Information System (GIS) is a
very good information system to support
decision making by capturing, storing,
analyzing and displaying the spatial data.
Depending on the application, spatial
data can be represented by a raster for-
mat or vector format.
Data for GIS is widely available in raster
format. Acquisition of raster data is easier
AUG UST 2006
Fig. 6b Characters Removed
when compared to vector data since it is
the direct output of satellite imagery, aer-
ial photographs, scanned topographical
maps, etc.
However for most applications such as
terrain modeling, network analysis, etc.,
vector representation of data is essential.
Raster data can be converted in to vector
format. Acquisition of geospatial data
and its conversion in the vector format is
quite expensive.
Maps being economical, readily avail-
able and easy to interpret and vectoriza-
tion can be done. The following points are
very important while digitizing a topo-
graphical map.
• Clearly defined data that is required to
be extracted from the map.
• Scale of the topographical map.
• Scanner resolution and settings.
• Error detection during digitization.
• Minimization and elimination of any data
discrepancies during digitization.
Geographic Information
System (GIS) is a very good
information system to support
decision making by capturing,
storing, analyzing and displaying
the spatial data.
Fig. 6c Final - Image
RASTE R I MAG E
PR E-PROCESSI NG PHASE
Pre processing phase steps are
• Getting user input to identify the data
layer required to be extracted (in our case
it is Contour Elevation). The data identifi-
cation is to be resolved by colour (since all
contours on a given map have a unique
colour). It is proposed to employ some
kind of THRESHOLDING technique to
finally extract the required data.
• GRAYSCALING of image to convert it to
a BINARY Image or to one with 255 col-
ors on gray scale.
• FILTERING of spurious data and noise
pixels by segmentation or Hough Trans-
formation techniques.
• SKELETONIZATION (Thinning) and
EDGE DETECTION of the object bound-
aries by various std. imaging algorithms
RASTE R TO VECTOR
CONVE RSION FROM
CONTOU R MAPS
The contour Raster to Vector conversion
process consists of two phases' 2D con-
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C 41

Contour lines are the most
complex amongst all features
found on a topographical sheet
or maps. They may be closely
spaced (crowded) depending
up on the slope of the terrain
they represent.
tour reconstruction and vectorization
Contour Reconstruction
The final thinned raster image often
consists of broken lines. These lines when
vectorized and exported to standard CAD
software like AutoCAD cause huge prob-
lems to the GIS user, because they have to
identify and reconnect all the open
(hanging) contour lines. Researches in the
field of GIS have looked at various
methodologies to resolve this problem.
V E C TO R I ZATI O N
Vectorization is the process of making
explicit, information in the raster image,
by defining objects within the image
using lines, arcs, closed polygons, etc.
Vectorization of contours from a scanned
topographical map is a complex proce-
dure, requiring identification of features,
rigorous image classification strategies
and manipulation of spatial data struc-
tures like direction of line, boundaries
and nodes, polygon vertices chain, etc.
the automatic extraction of contour lines
from a scanned topographical map and
its subsequent vectorization is one of the
major research problems in computer
cartography and GIS.
The industry practice of manual vector-
ization using CAD software is time con-
suming and usage of automatic vector-
ization schemes is desirable. There are
42 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
many commercial software packages are
available to carryout automatic or semi-
automatic vectorization of maps. Howev-
er they are not custom made for contour
vectorization.
Developing a robust automatic contour
vectorization schemes is the research top-
ic that has been in focus. This is evident
from the volume of active research works
carried out in the past 30 years towards
designing an automatic scheme for trac-
ing contour lines.
Contour lines are the most complex
amongst all features found on a topo-
graphical sheet or maps. They may be
closely spaced (crowded) depending up
on the slope of the terrain they represent.
They may be broken in places where cliffs
are represented by vertical lines and they
are often overrun by word descriptions as
well as some symbols. Hence, in the
process of conversion of the raster image
to vector image, it becomes all the more
complex to define set algorithms to
extract all these contour lines correctly
and without loss of data.
An analysis of the contour extraction
issue and performance of commercial
raster to vector software reveals that
automated or semi automated systems
essentially carryout one kind of operation
by and follow discrete points along the
curve.
In the model developed the automation
problem is treated from a unified point of
view, leading to the creation of software
that is generic and is capable of extract-
ing contours from arrange of cartograph-
ic raster maps..
DATA VALI DATION,
E R ROR DETECTION & ITS
COR R ECTION
Data validation has been done for two
scanned colour images as shown in fig 5
and 6 and it can be seen that it is exactly
matching with the original map. Fig 5a,
Fig. 5b shows the scanned image and the
multiple pixel intensity filtered. Fig 6a, 6b
and 6c shows the scanned Image
characters removed and final image for
the second scanned image.
CONCLUSION
The proposed scheme uses colour space
transformation and subsequent thresh-
olding to extract contour pixels. Image
enhancement and quantification rules
were applied to negate effect of the large
variation in the image colour. Once colour
pixels were classified, a crop tool was
implemented to remove the elevation
descriptors (contour height) as these
were of the same hue as the contour lines
and could not be removed by simple
Thresholding. Finally, the binary, thinned
image was post processed (for noise fil-
tering) to get a clean thinned, binary
colour raster which is converted into vec-
tor image
Dr.K.Ananthanarayanan
Associate Professor
Department of Civil
Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology
Madras
kananth@iitm.ac.in
Dr Koshy Varghese
Professor
Department of Civil
Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology
Madras
koshy@iitm.ac.in
AUG UST 2006
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 Perspective
government officials begin to take action in urban construc-
tions. Currently, GPS/GIS/RS technology is widely used in these
areas. Therefore, the effective use of technology is directly
related to urban management and specific figures of urban
construction. In the governance field, with the rapid develop-
ment of computer technology and the deepening of GIS appli-
cations, urban management is utilizing GIS technology to deal

e-Tools in with more routine processing of documents, information

enquiries and decision support. Urban managers have under-
stood that the basic framework is very important and urgent.
Beijing Dongcheng District established a "10,000 meters grid"

Governance system, which means every 10,000 square meters is a unit. The
city officials integrate mobile communications networks and
urban GIS. Currently, the system has been completed and put
into use, which offers new solutions for urban management. At
the same time, the GIS is playing an important role in humani-
ties, economics and even in emergency management.

O TH E R TE C H N O LO GY I N G OVE R NAN C E O F C H I NA
In addition to these technologies, Chinese government also
Yang Fengchun, Zhou Zhenlin
uses other technological governance, such as Internet, Mobile
Networks, City Wireless Networks, and Broadcast Network.

G
In Beijing, Vehicles Positioning System is making use of GPS,
while city management and tourism, and other large urban
areas are using GIS. Remote sensing is applied in the digital
city's model buildings. At the same time, Data transmission is
overnance refers to the act, process, using the Internet, mobile nets, city wireless networks, and
or power of governing. Effective gov- even broadcast networks.
ernance helps to strengthen the public security and Particularly, with rapid economic development, urban trans-
social cohesion, promotes economic prosperity, and portation problems are becoming more and more serious. In
even assists to shorten the gap between the poor and order to solve this problem, the government had continued to
the rich. broaden the road, and increased urban public transportation
facilities, which have no obvious effects. Now, Beijing govern-
Effective governance is the most important task for the Chi- ment has started to develop ITS (Intelligent Transportation Sys-
nese government to do, because our state is a developing coun- tems). Now the growing urban traffic conditions has been
try with a huge population and confront some problems such improved. In China, most cities have started to use mobile net-
as income disparities and the gap between urban and rural works and RFID technology to take care of street lamps and
areas. In this situation, it is necessary to lay greater emphasis covers (such as covers of urban sewage pipelines and commu-
on e-governance in China. nications cable channels). In Beijing, the mobile Government
Lab has been built, in
E -G OVE R NAN C E BAS E D O N G IS which experts in
Yang Fengchun
Urban informationization is a long-term, comprehensive mobile technology Dean, Associate Professor;
process. China's Ministry of Construction has announced "The have done a lot of Academy of e-Government;
Peking University
Digital Project of Urban Planning, Construction, Management research in e-gover- fchyang@263.net
and Services" (short for Digital City Project) as a major scientific nance and some
and technological project. Among the 668 large and medium related fields. These
cities, and 30,000 small towns in China, nearly 40 cities have research studies Zhou Zhenlin
Researcher,
started Digital City Project. "Digital Beijing", "Digital Haidian", offer valuable Academy of e-Government;
"Digital Shenzhen", "Digital Guangzhou" and other terms with advices for the gov- Peking University

various slogans can be seen everywhere. In China, all levels of ernment.

44 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C AUG UST 2006

 e-Governance

Comparing
e-Government Vs.
e-Governance
e-Governance is a broader topic that deals with the whole spectrum of the relationship
and networks within government regarding the usage and application of ICTs.

e
William Sheridan, Thomas B. Riley

Government and e-governance can

be defined as two very distinct
terms. e-Governance is a broader topic that deals
with the whole spectrum of the relationship and
networks within government regarding the
usage and application of ICTs.

e-Government is actually a narrower discipline dealing

with the development of online services to the citizen,
more the e on any particular government service - such as
e-tax, e-transportation or e-health. e-Governance is a
wider concept that defines and assesses the impacts tech-
nologies are having on the practice and administration of
governments and the relationships between public ser-
vants and the wider society, such as dealings with the
elected bodies or outside groups such as not for profits
organizations, ngos or private sector corporate entities. e-
Governance encompasses a series of necessary steps for
government agencies to develop and administer to ensure
successful implementation of e-government services to

46 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C AUG UST 2006

the public at large. The differences
between these two important constructs
are explored further in this essay.
T H E B AS I S O F TH E S E R VI C E
e-Government is an institutional
approach to jurisdictional political opera-
tions. e-Governance is a procedural
approach to co-operative administrative
relations, i.e. the encompassing of basic
and standard procedures within the con-
fines of public administration. It is the
latter that acts as the lynchpin that will
ensure success of the delivery of e-servic-
es.
The "E" part of both e-government and
e-governance stands for the electronic
platform or infrastructure that enables
and supports the networking of public
policy development and deployment. It
is by now widely acknowledged that the
original impetus for acquiring and using
electronic apparatus in government and
governance arose from the earlier suc-
cesses with the same kind of strategy in
commerce. E-Commerce had previously
rested on credit and debit card processing
for purchases, and on faxing of bulk
orders and subsequent invoices in busi-
ness-to-business transactions. In Canada,
the United States and the United King-
dom, for example, the emergence of e-
commerce by the private sector helped to
stimulate and drive the evolution of e-
government within departments and
agencies.
At the political leadership level it was
clear that e-commerce was reflecting the
enormous changes taking place in the
economies of countries in the developed
world. The evolution and growing impor-
tance of e-Commerce in the economies of
nations stimulated the need for govern-
ment to move to the Internet to deliver e-
government programs and services at
every level of society. This has been an
evolution over the past ten years with
most developed countries now having
extensive e-government programs and
AUG UST 2006
e-Government is an institutional
approach to jurisdictional political
operations. e-Governance is a pro-
cedural approach to co-operative
administrative relations, i.e. the
encompassing of basic and
standard procedures within the
confines of public administration.
significant website presences now being
used by hundreds of millions of citizens
world wide. For example, in Canada the
latest statistics indicate that 75.6% of citi-
zens have access to the Internet and the
worldwide web either at home or from an
outside source such as the work place or
an educational institution. In Canada,
52% of Canadians online go to govern-
ment web sites at either the national,
provincial or local governments. Access
figures are similar in most developed
countries.
The transformation of the Internet from
an academic research network to a pub-
licly accessible information utility
prompted increasing numbers of busi-
nesses to create a "web presence". The
initial postings were mostly electronic
advertising brochures and product cata-
logues, with invitations to "order by
phone". As e-commerce came to the fore
it became apparent to governments that
customer expectations were moving in
the direction of greater speed and con-
venience for transactions; so direct order-
ing through the Internet was developed
and launched. The only issue, which still
inhibits the public from taking full
advantage of e-commerce, is the concern
with security of information and funds, a
challenge which is also reflected in e-gov-
ernment and e-governance. As noted, the
success of e-commerce drove govern-
ments to realize that citizens, now able to
undertake transactions online, capable of
using email as an important communica-
tions tool that sped up and changed the
way we communicated with each other.
The evolution of the worldwide web in
the early 1990s created expectations that
if businesses and the population at large
could engage in online commerce and
share knowledge and information in
ways never before conceived, then it was
incumbent on governments to provide
online services. This phenomenon was a
case of governments having to respond
to a cultural change in the way people
dealt with each other and with groups in
society on an international basis. The
high expectations of change resulted, by
the mid-1990's in rapid development of e-
government services.
In essence, because the public liked e-
commerce when it worked properly, they
began to want their governments to per-
form in the same way. In terms of servic-
es provided, e-government and
e-governance developed along the
same trajectory as had e-commerce pre-
viously. The internal operational aspects
of e-commerce included rationalizing
supply chains and business rules. This
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C 47

e-commerce is premised on
profitable transactions, whereas
e-government provides public
services, and e-governance
facilitates appropriate behavior.
So, in each case, the motivation
and the mandate will be distinct.
aspect was referred to as "back office"
requirements in government, and it
focused around rationalized workflow
and information sharing.
The external offerings of e-government
and e-governance started with making
policy documents available electronical-
ly. Both "stand-along" studies and on-
going series (newsletters, press releases,
etc.) were posted and could be printed out
as hard copies or stored electronically by
whoever in the public was accessing
them. The second phase of electronic
products and services consisted of on-line
electronic forms, either to exchange
information (census forms, etc.) or to con-
duct transactions (purchase documents,
pay user fees, submit tax returns, etc.).
The third phase, now just emerging,
involves consultation on issues of con-
cern, and participation in policy making
and regulatory administration.
The point of the above mini-history is to
demonstrate that, in terms of the elec-
tronic platform and its operations, there
are parallels between electronics for gov-
erning and e-commerce, and between
e-government and e-governance. The
computers, cables, software languages,
and communications protocols, are stan-
dardized products for any kind of elec-
tronic networking, regardless of its infor-
mation content or organizational con-
text. What differentiates e-commerce
48 G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C
from electronic governing, and e-govern-
ment from e-governance is the purpose
and functions that such networking sup-
ports. e-commerce is premised on prof-
itable transactions, whereas e-govern-
ment provides public services, and e-gov-
ernance facilitates appropriate behavior.
So, in each case, the motivation and the
mandate will be distinct.
e-G OVE R N M E NT AS B ET TE R
P U B L I C S E R VI C E
The observation has become widespread
amongst government analysts that the
public expects more and more in terms of
service coverage and customization,
while at the same time expecting to pay
less and less for such services in terms of
unit costs (and the aggregate tax bill).
This consideration is behind the decision
to put an increasing proportion of gov-
ernment documents on-line - electronic
distribution places the cost of paper and
printing on the consumer rather than the
supplier, and in the case of government
documents this accounts for the biggest
share of the price of making these docu-
ments available. It takes far less time and
person-hours to design and post an elec-
tronic document than to print and mail
out the same information.
Electronic forms are also premised on
lower costs and more convenience. Many
jurisdictions enable driver's licenses to be
applied for, or renewed on-line. Use of
such things as publicly provided recre-
ational facilities can also be booked
(reservations) and paid for (user fees) via
government Internet websites. Even
when some kinds of special reports are
made available on-line, access to them
may still be by subscription or single pay-
ment. Background budgetary docu-
ments, expert studies, or reports from
commissions of enquiry may all have
charges attached to them, depending on
the government's dissemination policy
and the costs of preparing the docu-
ments. When there is a price attached,
governments have set up e-commerce
arrangements for credit card payments
similar to what prevails in the market-
place. The exchange of information
between governments and various seg-
ments of the public similarly occurs
increasingly by way of electronic forms.
Businesses report many of their financial
and functional operations to their gov-
ernments via the Internet, as part of their
regulatory requirements. Data on the
kinds, volumes, and revenues of transac-
tions go to the government's statistical
repositories, to the finance departments
for taxation purposes, and to the particu-
lar departments that oversee the kind of
business being conducted (automobile
production figures go to the department
of transport, etc.). Those of the citizenry
who are recipients of welfare and social
assistance services (whether they be indi-
viduals or organizations) frequently use
government websites and e-mail to
exchange information and file claims. By
these means, governments check on eligi-
bility, inform claimants of the terms and
conditions of support arrangements, and
provide training or instructions on such
matters and job searches and income
management.
The "final frontier" of e-government is
the attempt at extending "e-democracy".
Voting has been conducted on-line, and
will likely be extended once the design of
AUG UST 2006
the user-interface has been rendered
more "user-friendly" and the security of
the information has achieved more credi-
bility. Consultation on issues of concern
has been widely practiced, but with
mixed results. The difficulty in this case
is with clarifying the terms of engage-
ment. There are three alternate formats
available: (1) "Tell us what you think/feel"
merely asks for public input without any
promise of either reporting what was
presented, or using the substance of the
suggestions; (2) "Share your views" car-
ries the promise to at least report back to
the public the transcript of what was pro-
vided as advice, with or without com-
ments as specified in advance; (3) "Let's
cooperate" involves the specific commit-
ment to not only report back, but to actu-
ally use what was presented or explain in
convincing terms why it was not used.
More e-government is still to come. The
driving forces behind all of these develop-
ments will continue, as will the digitizing
of governments.
e-G OVE R NAN C E AS C O O R D I NATE D
P R O P R I ET Y
The very concept of e-governance faces a
dilemma: on the one hand, infractions of
both legal requirements and good stan-
dards of behavior have prompted many
to ask for greater scrutiny and more strin-
gent enforcement; on the other hand,
over-controlling through draconian
statutes or proliferating regulations, has
a chilling effect on management deci-
sion-making and organizational innova-
tion. Good governance in general, and e-
governance in and between large institu-
tions and governments, is seen as a way
to avoid the aforementioned shortcom-
ings and still produce better outcomes.
Even the technical platform for some of
this coordination has proven to be prob-
lematic. Information sharing, knowledge
sharing, and jurisdictional cooperation
(horizontality), are the means to achieve
e-governance. The previous arrangement
AUG UST 2006
of jurisdictional "stovepipes" was (and is)
the problem, but overcoming this prob-
lem has not proven easy. Once informa-
tion, knowledge, and jurisdiction are
shared, the old notion of bureaucratic
control and accountability is jeopardized.
The only effective response to this chal-
lenge (if the cooperation is to succeed) is
to re-conceptualize the situation as "mul-
tiple contributions to common processes
and solutions".
Within governments, this e-governance
will take such forms as these: shared
databases of constituent particulars will
assure consistent profiles to be built and
used so that services can be customized
and repetitive data requests kept to a
minimum (constituents usually hate
being asked for the same data by each
department or branch). Where programs
or policies involve inputs from a variety
of departments or branches, a single
point of entry ("one-stop-shopping") can
be arranged by creating a joint website
that blends all of the requirements from
the multiple sources, and presents it to
the public as a unified program or policy.
In most cases, the users do not care where
the inputs come from or what jurisdic-
tional coordination was involved in pro-
ducing the services - they just want the
results to be convenient, high quality,
and low-cost.
Between levels of government (nation-
al, provincial, municipal, etc.) the
mechanics of cooperation and coordina-
tion are even more challenging. From the
public perception, a problem or issue as
they see it may involve policy responsi-
bilities and fiscal implications from two
or more jurisdictions. The planning,
financing, and maintenance or roads, the
provision of health or education services,
the regulation of land, water, and air use,
are all shared jurisdictions - but the pub-
lic wants workable answers rather than
excuses for persisting problems. Howev-
er, this desire by the public for efficacious
solutions does not alter the fact that
The "final
frontier" of
e-government is
the attempt at
extending
"e-democracy".
cooperative arrangements have to be
carefully thought out and diplomatically
negotiated. The machinery of govern-
ment does have hidden, long-term impli-
cations that may come back to haunt
those who act too precipitously under the
threat of public displeasure.
The e-governance solution to the han-
dling of these diverging expectations is,
ironically, both the most effective and the
most disquieting to many public officials.
Transparency is the one policy that
expanding government networks can
easily support. It can also shift the locus
of contention away from public officials
and onto disputing social factions. If con-
sultation and participation are made
transparent, the diverging values that
cause policy conflicts can be revealed as
in the public domain rather than in
machinery of government. But what this
clearly leads to is the sharing of power
with the public and other jurisdictions, to
reflect growing interdependence. As the
scale, scope, and complexity of situations
and circumstances increases, this trend in
e-governance will intensify.
William Sheridan
Research Fellow,
Commonwealth Centre for e-Governance,
Canada
Thomas B. Riley
Executive Director,
Commonwealth Centre for e-Governance
Canada
RTriley6@cs.com
G I S D E V E L O P M E N T : A S I A PA C I F I C 49
 Planner

SEPTEMBER 2006 14 - 18 October

Southwest Users Group
4 - 8 September Conference 2006
UN Regional Cartographic Flagstaff, USA
Conference for Asia and the www.swuggis.org
Pacific
Bangkok, Thailand
www.fig.net/events/events2006.htm NOVEMBER 2006
18 - 21 September 3 - 11 November
GORS-15th International GSDI-9: 9th International
Symposium & Exhibition on Conference on GSDI & El
Remote Sensing and Assisting Instituto Geográfico Militar,
AUGUST 2006 Systems. Santiago, Chile
Damascus, Syria. www.gsdi9.cl
7 - 8 August www.gors-sy.org.
3D GeoInfo'06 20 - 21 November
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 19 - 21 September Arab eGovernment Summit
www.gdmc.nl/zlatanova/3Dgeoinfo2006 International Symposium& Dubai, UAE
Exhibition on Geo information www.datamatixgroup.com
7 - 11 August Selangor, Malaysia.
Twenty-Sixth Annual ESRI www.isg06.org 23 - 25 November
International User Conference Joint Workshop on Ubiquitous,
San Diego, California, USA 20 - 23 September Pervasive and Internet
www.esri.com/events/uc/index.html GIScience 2006 Mapping ICA
University of Munster, University of Seoul, Seoul, Korea
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and Exhibition on GIScience
Legend Hotel, Hochiminh, Vietnam 25 - 26 September DECEMBER 2006
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Digital Earth Summit on Remote Sensing (ACRS2006) www.vpmthane.org
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28 - 29 October
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Map Asia 2006 LIESMARS,Wuhan University, Map World Forum
Bangkok, Thailand Wuhan , China Hyderabad, India
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