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Roles of a hydrographic office and GIS/GPS - an outline survey
Coastal Zone Management
- Land and Sea Data: There is a need to establish linkages between Electronic Land maps and Electronic Navigational charts to exploit the full potential of both towards Coastal Zone management. A lead can be taken from the efforts under the aegis of the IHO, to harmonise the ENC with the Digital Navigation Chart (DNC) produced by the US. The latter used by the US Navy also incorporates land data essential for amphibious operations which is not necessary for navigation.
- Coastal Zone Regulations: A Hydrographic GIS would contribute to the HTL and LTL requirements for establishing zones for coastal regulation. It shall also contain the shoreline with mangroves and such sensitive ecosystems.
- Tourism: Tourism industry could benefit from the nature of coast that would figure in the Hydrographic Database. Details on small harbours, boat landing sites There is a possibility being looked at by HOs to produce coastal and sea tourism maps from their Hydrograhic GIS.
- Marine Boundaries and Outer Edge of the Continental Shelf: This is yet another important area of GIS application for Hydrographers. GIS has been found as the most appropriate tool to determine EEZ boundaries between opposite or adjacent coasts, according to the guidelines of the UNCLOS IV convention. The convention provides for extension of EEZ based on multiple geological and bathymetric criteria of the ocean floor. How best to exploit these criteria to maximize the EEZ for a coastal state is a geospatial problem for which a GIS solutions are being applied by the HO s round the world. We have been using the product called CARIS LOTS of a Canadian firm called CARIS.
General Implications of GIS Technology for Mapping/Charting Agencies
GIS is not inexpensive. If expenditure incurred in GIS technologies in the country has to reap the desired harvest for the nation all mapping agencies may need to consider the following issues :-
- Closer and long term Govt / Industry partnership.
- Careful attention to management of change
- Intra-agency reorganisation
- Inter-agency reorganisation
- Recognition of the need to initiate a process which successively integrates geospatial mapping functions.
- Framing of a Govt of India policy on exploitation of the potential of GIS technology for development.
Conclusion - Three Messages
- The convergence of the technologies of digital data collection at sea with computers, GPS and GIS is not only enabling Hydrographic Offices to enhance safety of marine transport by more effective and versatile products and services. It is also shifting the focus of hydrography to data processing ashore from data collection afloat. In addition to navigational safety , GIS has also enabled Hydrographic Offices to discharge their roles effectively in the fields of delineation of maritime boundaries, EEZ management, Coastal Zone Management. The concept of a Hydrographic Information System would enable integration of all activites of a Hydrographic Office on a single integrated digital platform. This could be further integrated to oceonographic and topographical databases. Before concluding the author wishes to underline three messages of this paper :-
- The ENC as Basemap for Oceanic/Coastal GIS Domain: The ENC provides an enabling tool for building a comprehensive GIS enabled database for the oceanic and coastal domain. It provides a base-map for the sea. Its data is in an international standard format for hydrographic data exchange called S57. Many COTS conversion software are available for this format.
- Hydrographic GIS: is an emerging utility which not only promises effectiveness and speed in providing hydrographic products and services but can provide much needed services to other emerging users of hydrographic and oceanographic data like administrators, scientists, engineers. This GIS could be a backbone for ocean related data in the larger National Geospatial Data Infrastructure.
- Hydrographic and Topographical Mapping in Coastal Zone- Linkages: This one area where of necessity several agencies are involved in mapping. Integration of electronic mapping by land mapping and hydrographic agencies will enable full potential of GIS for coastal Zone Managment. There is IHO/NATO initiative in harmonising the S57 format of ENC and DIGEST format of Digital Nautical Charts produced by the US Navy. The DNCs are meant for the military and contains additional data on land required for military operations. This could be the basis of a simir initiaitive in harmonising our ENCs and land electronic mapping efforts.
- Advent of GIS cries out for a review of the national organisation in which we collect process and map data on land sea and the atmosphere. Several countries in the West have responded to this voice. We have also to involve our home grown GIS industry in this review and develop a closer strategic and operational relationship with them. Quick fix short term solutions off the shelf solutions may not justify the huge cost involved. Off the shelf kernels may however be used for long term maintenance and development.
- The association of GIS with spatio-temporal information has even a philosophical implication. What is the human body but the result of spatial information with a time element. The children of Maya, the Indian seers, said Map is not the territory. Never made maps never held territory. Along came the colonists who said if you have the map you have the territory. And took all the territory. All the technology and knowledge systems of today in an ironic way leads us to the original conclusion though stated differently - Map is the only territory. We missed the Industrial revolution, perhaps also the Revolution in Military Affairs, but let us not miss the Information revolution. The world made of Nam and Rup ie Name and shape. Shape implies position and space , name implies a category. And both imply a GIS. The whole Universe is but Nam and Rup as the sages said waiting to be unfolded by the paradigm of GIS. Let us therefore convert our nodes into arcs and arcs into areas and areas into faces and build an integrated national GIS with full topology.
About the Author
Cdr Sudhir K Mittal graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi/National Defence Academy Khadakwasla, and post graduated from Madras University / Defence Services Staff College Wellington, Nilgiris India. He has undergone the IHO Cat A Long Hydrographic Course from the Naval Hydrographic School Goa. He is currently posted as a Deputy Director at the National Hydrographic Office after years of experience in field surveying onboard survey ships in different positions, and an earlier tenure at the National Hydrograpahic Office Dehradun.
Views expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author and do not in any way reflect the official policy of the National
Hydrographic Office.
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