Singapore: Map Asia 2009 got to a head start at an elegant and solemn ceremony with dignitaries calling on all the stakeholders to come into a participative mode and raise the profile of geospatial industry globally.

The 2009 edition of Map Asia is being organised jointly by GIS Development and Singapore Land Authority at Suntec International Convention Centre here. The conference pledges to ‘Connecting Geospatial Communities and Creating New Dimensions’ as its theme this year.

Delivering the inaugural address, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, senior minister of state for law and home affairs, government of Singapore vouched that geospatial information is no longer a premier service but a fundamental one, as geospatial information is already an integral and central part of life in Singapore, as people are becoming more and more spatially savvy and as businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of spatial data and incorporating spatially enabled applications into their working. To meet the current day needs, he stressed, fundamental map data needs to be freely available. In this direction, Singapore government and Singapore Land Authority have taken several initiatives, he added.



He then listed out various initiatives like SG-SPACE, Intelligent Map and competitions for students like Spatial Challenge that help facilitate greater awareness and utility of geospatial information in the country. He said businesses have become more proficient in creating geospatial business value. He exhorted that industry should come forward take initiatives to harness the cutting edge geospatial technologies.

Prof Ho then cited a survey conducted by SLA with 65 agencies in Singapore. About 83% of public agencies responded that they rely on spatially-enabled data to support or enhance their operations. This clearly indicates that the public sector use of geospatial data is increasing progressively. He said government alone cannot gather all the data so industry should partner to create and harness the benefits of geospatial info to everyone. He concluded by saying the momentum has begun. The govt will continue to work with all the stakeholders to make Singapore a geospatially enabled nation and to use geospatial information effectively, extensively and efficiently.

Earlier, welcoming the gathering, Vincent Hoong, Chief Executive, SLA, vouched that Singapore and SLA are committed to the growth of geospatial industry and to the development of Singapore geospatial data infrastructure. With national SDI in place, he said, there will be effective information collection and sharing. This will later be enhanced with private sources to enrich the data. He said SLA is in the midst of formulating data framework that will enable availability of interoperable and timely data. He felt the theme of the conference highlights the importance of having cohesive geospatial communities of data owners and users. Hence, connecting geospatial communities t hrough consensus and partnerships is essential to take on the future challenges and for sustainable development. He ended wishing a productive and stimulating conference.

Introducing the Map Asia conference to the delegates, Sanjay Kumar, CEO, GIS Development, said the objective of the conference, which started in 2002, was to provide an international and comprehensive platform to bring the entire range of geospatial technologies and applications close to the stakeholder community.

Stressing the significance of latest technological developments in geospatial arena, Sanjay Kumar said integration and convergence of these technologies have enabled raising the awareness levels, creation of several new applications, both web-based and at enterprise level.

The economic slowdown notwithstanding, the Asian geospatial market is helping revive the world industry, he opined and added that several mergers and acquisitions indicate that the industry in an expansion and consolidation mode. The industry is more mature now, he said, and called upon the stakeholders to come together and work synergistically to raise the profile of geospatial industry and for a better tomorrow.

GEOSPATIAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS
The inaugural saw the presentation ceremony of Geospatial Excellence Awards. The winners include the PUB - The National Water Agency, Singapore for Geospatial Application for Utility, the Department of Surveying and Mapping, Malaysia, for the Development of Real Time Kinematics, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore, for Geospatial Application for Urban Planning, Australian Hydrographic Service for Geospatial Application for Hydrographic Surveying, Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure Project, Delhi Government, India for Spatial Data Infrastructure, UTOC Engineering Pte Ltd, Singapore, for Geospatial Application for Construction, Taiwan Joint Irrigation Association for Geospatial Application for Irrigation. The National Parks Board, Singapore, bagged the Geospatial Application for Environment award, Sarawak Energy Berhad bagged the Geospatial Application for Surveying and Bakosurtanal, Indonesia, bagged the Geospatial Application for Integrated Government.


The inaugural session ended with a note of thanks by Niraj, Regional Manager – Asia Pacific, GIS Development, who said the day marks the beginning of an initiative that will go a long way in propagating the use of geospatial technologies in Asia. He acknowledged the contribution of all the sponsors, supporting organisations knowledge and media partners in making the conference a successful start.

Source : By our special correspondent