As per the minutes of the 17th meeting of NSDI Task Force, a presentation was given to Hon'ble Defence Minister of India where the views of NSDI Task Force were conveyed to the Minister. According to the minutes it was likely that the DST / SoI would be asked to formulate a suitable new map policy. It was surely an effort on the part of NSDI Task Force to convince Ministry of Defence to have a more liberal view on map restriction. This again takes us to the sensitive issues of security. I am sorry to be repetitive here with respect to what I stated in July issue of GIS@development last year. The Ministry of Defence has some genuine reasons and apprehensions regarding making spatial data available in public domain. Given the geo-political reality of the country and its vulnerability to terrorist attacks, people who are responsible for taking decisions in matters pertaining to defence and security are compelled to think twice and rightly so about the implications of any decisions, regarding the release of spatial data in public domain. However, there is a very strong perception that with the arrival of high-resolution imageries such as IKONOS and QuickBird, GPS and Internet, these restrictions are not in a position to address the security issues for which they are meant. The information which we try to hold to our chest is at times readily available outside the country.
The level of debate regarding policies pertaining to the availability of geographic data has gone up from 'what' and 'why' to 'how' and 'when'. If 'change in mindset' has been a pre-requisite to change in policy scenario, then recent statements made by some of the top policy makers indicate that the mindset is changing.
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However, the restriction policy and many other hurdles should not be used as a pretext for delay in launching NSDI in India. To start with, let us focus on spatial information that is not restricted and can go to public domain easily from the organizations who are willing to contribute positively in this initiative.
In this context, some very positive developments that took place last year at the workshop, "Survey of India: Towards a contemporary renaissance" held at Jim Corbett Park, Uttaranchal, India during November 11 -15. At a workshop SoI came out with a bold and ambitious vision statement. It says, "The SoI will take a leadership role in providing customer focused, cost effective and timely geo-spatial data, information and intelligence for meeting the needs of sustainable national development and new information markets." Not only that, in the following week, on November 20, 2002, the SoI released the first map in digital format on WGS 84 datum for civilian use. This was a significant step on the part of the SoI as it not only demonstrates the sea change of the attitude of the SoI but also its willingness to work in tune with new market needs.
The SoI plans to convert all SoI data from analogue to digital form on 1: 50,000 scale. SoI metadata and node are ready and placed on the web. The 3rd International NSDI workshop and OGC seminar will be held in Jodhpur from 11th to 13th November 2003. (Refer Minutes of 17th Meeting of NSDI Task Force held on June 5, 2003).
Looking ahead..
Apparently, in India there seems to be a commitment from the top most policy makers to develop NSDI. However, it will not be a bad idea to evolve a realistic time-frame for its implementation in a phased manner incorporating immediate, short term and long term actions and goals. Otherwise the initiative will keep on hopping from Delhi to Ooty to Jodhpur and to many other places and may even lose its steam if it does not get crystalised soon.
It may end up as an odyssey that has no end…
