Mapping GIS Milestones : 1980-1990

Time Line 1980 1980 First National level Symposium is organised by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing at DehraDun, since then it is being conducted regularly. ---- Rohini - 1 indigenous technology satellite is launched by Indian SLV-3. ---- The Botanical Survey of India (BSI) is established. ---- International Society for Photogrammetry changes its name to International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). 1981 The Census of India evolves 10,000 sq. km. grid for a new approach to urbanisation by placing the urban settlements of all classes and measures the urbanisation with reference to such grids for the entire country at 1:4.5 million scale as an experiment, for preparing the Census Atlas of India. ---- Rolta India is established. ---- APPLE, an experimental geostationary communication satellite gets launched in European Ariane vehicle. ---- Bhaskara-II is launched. ---- The use of automation and digital cartography starts in Naval Hydrographic Office (now National Hydrographic Office) with acquisition of new ships, modern automated equipments, automated data logging and plotting system, automated Cartographic & Printing system. ---- ESRI launches ARC / INFO. ---- JPL’s Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-A) launches the first synthetic imaging radar carried by NASA’s Space Shuttle Orbiter. 1982 Natural Resource Data Management System (NRDMS), a multi-disciplinary programme of the DST under the Goverment of India is launched in order to initiate and promote research and development cum demonstration in the field of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology and its application. ---- Survey of India (SOI) adopts automated cartography. ---- INSAT - 1A multipurpose satellite is launched. ---- An Environmental information System (ENVIS) is set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests as a decentralised information network for collection, storage, retrieval and dissemination of environmental information. ---- System Research Institute (SRI) starts GIS activities. 1983 Indian National Satellite System is established with the commissioning of INSAT-1B. ---- The government with the Department of Space, sets up National Natural Resource Management System (NNRMS) as a nodal agency for optimal utilisation of natural resources, using space-based remote sensing data in conjunction with conventional techniques. ---- Speck Systems Limited established ---- Digital mapping company, EKTAK is formed. 1984 The Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi promotes the use of Information Technology (IT) in the country. ---- Geological Information System is prepared using a training package called MAPS from Yale University, US. 1985 Survey of India initiates theDigital Mapping project to convert 1:50,000 toposheets into digital format for public use. ---- Department of Space initiates two projects National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Management System (NADAMS) and Crop Acreage and Production Estimation (CAPE) under the programme Remote Sensing Applications for Agricultural Applications for Department of Agricultural and Co-operation for monitoring of vegetation status using NOAA and AVHRR data. ---- The GPS (Global Positioning System) becomes operational. ---- Development of GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System), a raster based GIS programme, starts at the US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories. ---- Remote Sensing Instruments Pvt. Ltd., a GIS company is formed in Hyderabad 1986 Department of Space developes ISRO-GIS. ---- ‘Mapping Awareness’, the business-to-business magazine for geographic technology users and managers in the United Kingdom and Ireland is founded. ---- The first SPOT satellite Earth Observation System is launched and designed by Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in France and developed with the participation of Sweden and Belgium. ---- Mapinfo is founded. 1987 The Government of India announces a ‘Software Policy’, which gave the framework for certain industries to import softwares from abroad. ---- The International Journal of Geographical Information Analysis gets published. ---- Tydac releases SPANS GIS. ---- Ron Eastman starts the IDRISI Project at Clark University. 1988 Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) system is commissioned with the launch of IRS-1A. ---- The National Centre for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) is established in the USA. ---- ‘SMALLWORLD’ is established.  ---- Ezra Zubrow, State University of New York at Buffalo starts the GIS-L Internet list-server.  ---- The first public release of the US bureau of Census ‘TIGER’ (Topographically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) digital data products. ---- Founded as GIS World, the monthly magazine ‘GEO World’, the world’s first magazine for geographic technology gets published.  1989 The National Remote Sensing Agency prepares the first Wasteland Atlas.  ---- The ‘Association of Geographic Information’ (AGI) is formed in the UK.  ---- Intergraph launches MGE. ---- The desktop image processing software, ‘ER Mapper’ is launched.

SPOT Spot data has become essential to a wide spectrum of users who look to the continuation of the Spot family to prove just how reliable and operational the system has become. The Spot satellite Earth Observation System was designed by the CNES (Centre Nationale d’Etudes Spatiales), France and developed with the participation of Sweden and Belgium. The system comprises a series of spacecrafts plus ground facilities for satellite control and programming, image production and distribution. To meet the increasing demands for Spot Imagery, SPOT 1, 2 & 4 are still operational. Spot imagery for its unique features (high resolution, stereo imaging and revisit capability) enables it to collect data on areas of special interest for various applications. Since 1986 more than 5.5 million images have been archived to provide an unparallel record of our planet. MapInfo MapInfo was founded in 1986 by four students from the Renselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest engineering school in the United States. They pioneered the concept of using GIS for making business decisions and created the business mapping market in the early 1990s. MapInfo is also a publicly held company on Nasdaq (MAPS) with its software and data solutions available in 20 languages and distributed through a worldwide channel in 58 countries. MapInfo as "the Information Discovery Company" grew out of the database market, literally creating the software to visualise data in an easy-to-use PC based Windows application for the business decision makers. MapInfo has tried to develop new products for multi-user, multi-platform deployment in both client/server and Internet applications. GPS GPS, a space based positioning, navigation and timing system was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and emerged in late 60’s and early 70’s. GPS can be thought of as a satellite navigation and satellite positioning system, providing signals for geolocation and for the safe and efficient movement, measurement and tracking of people, vehicles, and other objects anywhere in the world. It is very reliable since it is affected neither by the atmospheric conditions, the topography of the ground nor by the various radioelectric interferences. The Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are extended GPS systems, providing accurate information for critical navigation applications. The NAVSTAR system, operated by U.S DoD, was the first GPS system to be widely available for civilian use. The Russian GPS system, GLONASS, is similar in operation and is proving complimentary to NAVSTAR system. The European Space Agency (ESA) is now funding the GalileoSat as a new parallel new GPS set-up known as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to be operational by 2008. Since the early years of its inception, GPS architecture was primarily designed for having a military advantage providing an upper hand to U.S and its military allies. In 1978, the DoD and the DoT co-operated together in publishing the biennial Federal Radionavigation Plan (FRP), which became the principle vehicle to set forth official government GPS policies. The FRP’s published in 1980 and 1982 reflected 500-meter accuracy for civil use and contained provisions for user registration and charges. Further the tragic incident in 1983 in which a Soviet pilot shot down a Korean civilian airliner, lead the Reagan Administration to offer GPS services to the world for the benefit of commercial aviation. Thus the policy of free access to GPS signals was first established in the FRP policy and later in the Federal Laws. During its implementation stages GPS was not a well known phenomenon and this perhaps was the reason for its success. However, with the rapid adoption of GPS in various spheres GPS has gained the popularity in the scientific community.