What is exactly meant by 'Global Mapping'? Is it an all-out project of creating a geospatialy correct map or dataset of the world?
Global Map is a group of global digitial geographic datasets of verified quality with consistent specifications designed to be a common asset for mankind of high scientific quality for worldwide distribution at marginal costs. There are three basic concepts of Global Map and global mapping. These are a) global coverage of the world land mass; b) consistent specifications and c) world-wide open distribution. Global Map is produced by national mapping organizations from all over the world which participate voluntarily and make data available for use. Each mapping organization is responsible for providing the data on their own territory. ISCGM is thus building a global fundamental consistent database for research and decision-making.

Is Global Mapping a stepping stone to a global geospatial data infrastructure?
Global Map is, in fact, an operational global spatial data infrastructure and a framework on which other GSDI's can be built. It also provides a framework at the national level for an NSDI.

What level of detail do these datasets contain? Is there a commonly accepted standard (such as the WGS-84) that makes the data compatile to any geospatial management software?
The spatial resolution is 1 kilometre or 1:1 million. There are 8 layers, 4 vector and 4 raster. The vector layers are transportation, boundaries, drainage and population centres. The raster layers are elevation, vegetation, land cover and land use. Recently Global Map decided to allow and encourage any nation which wishes to submit information at 1: 250,000. This was in recognition of the fact that many small nations find the scale of 1: 1 million too small. Global Map has its own set of standards to which all participating nations adhere. We have recently established a working group to revise and expand these specifications to allow a greater degree of interoperability. The objective is to make the data compatible with as many management software systems as possible.

How is this data appended? Is it collected and submitted by partner or constituent organisations and/or governments, or are these mapped by ISCGM's own franchisees?
All data is prepared by the partner national mapping organizations. The initial building blocks were existing global datasets such as GTOPO30, DCW and GLCC. These were important starting point on which different nations could build. In many instances mistakes were found in these global databases which were corrected at the national level. Once a nation has completed its data it is sent to the ISCGM Secretariat for checking and quality control and mounted on the ISCGM Web site.

Has the ISCGM ever formulated or determined a decision support system or influenced policy through any of its constituent organisations or activities thereof?
Global Map is designed to help with environmental and sustainable development policy making and there are numerous examples of Global Map being used for decision making purposes at the national level. A number of these were demonstrated at Global Mapping Forum 2003 in Okinawa.

What are the future plans of ISCGM?
In Okinawa an important declaration was passed, a section of which reads as: “By having complete Global Map coverage by 2007 we will provide a spatial framework to facilitate the actions of the countries of the world, both individually and collectively, to conserve our fragile environment and make the development of our societies more viable and sustainable for future generations.”

Our plans include: the promotion of further participation in Global Map; the revision of our specifications; the upgrade of our global raster dataset coverage; the improvement of our Web site and the creation of a Web portal; and the creation of partnerships with other organizations and institutions.

In terms of coverage 18 countries covering 13% of the world's land coverage have released their data online. A further 42% of the world's land coverage including countries such as China and Brazil are in the final stages of release.Of the remaining land coverage 28% is being developed and only 17% has not yet been started.

International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM)

ISCGM was formed as an initiative of the Government of Japan. It consists of 20 members from 17 countries and eight advisors with a Secretariat in the Geographical Survey Institute of Japan. It aims at building a global fundamental consistent database. For more information: The International Steering Committee for Global Mapping Geographical Survey Institute, Kitasato 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0811 Japan http://www.iscgm.org