Malaysia is aiming towards attaining the goals of national self-reliance and international excellence in the development and operational use of remote sensing, GIS and related technologies for sustainable development and strategic planning. In the present scenario there is a strong sense of optimism in the geoinformatics community. The country is witnessing a significant increase in the use of remote sensing data in all sectors.
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Keranamu Malaysia! It means 'because of you Malaysia'. We will say it another way. Thank you Malaysia, we are moving ahead! Malaysia has witnessed tremendous growth in all sectors in the last few decades, courtesy the political stability which has been provided under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Malaysia is a beautiful country. The 70 km trip from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Kuala Lumpur city, either by taxi or KLIA Express Rail itself is a wonderful experience. From Kuala Lumpur, if one goes by bus to Singapore, one would witness a beautiful 300 km stretch full of plantations on both sides of the road.
Kuala Lumpur is a happening city that demonstrates a well-built infrastructure which can compete with any international city. One can travel by taxi, by bus or by a well-established and very convenient train network. However, for an outsider travelling in the city might be very confusing given the maze of roads. Interestingly, the map culture on the streets is still to arrive. In hotels, one may get tourist guide maps, but on the Internet, to find a detailed interactive map of the city is a time consuming effort. We decided to have a close interaction with the geo-informatics community to discuss various topics, including the above. Once you start interacting with professionals in the geo-informatics community a very different picture emerges. There may be differences of opinions, but in general one can see a sense of satisfaction with the present scenario and a strong sense of optimism for the future.
JUPEM - the foundation
The backbone to geo-informatics in Malaysia - JUPEM (Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia), under the Ministry of Land and Co-operative Development, has a vision to provide efficient and high quality survey and mapping services. It acts as a technical adviser to the Government of Malaysia on all matters pertaining to survey and mapping. The origin of the department can be traced back to 1886 when the first attempt at triangulation survey was made using traditional surveying equipment such as theodolites for angle measurements and chains for baseline length determinations.
According to Dato' Hamid Ali, Director General of Survey and Mapping Malaysia, JUPEM, "this trigonometrical survey was the starting point for JUPEM as it laid the foundation for surveying and mapping activities". Since then a long journey has been undertaken. In August 2003, the department has launched the new Geocentric Datum of Malaysia (GDM 2000) as an effort towards fitting its mapping and survey products into the global geodetic framework. " JUPEM has a history, vision and life. It has kept itself abreast with new technologies to provide up-to-date and efficient services. It has invested in GIS, introduced GPS in 1987 itself and currently it is utilizing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to provide geospatial information as an alternative to traditional aerial photographs for creating topographical maps.
