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GII: Current Status And Future Initiatives


Dato' Dr. Abdul Kadir Taib
FISM, FRICS.
Deputy Director-General of Survey and Mapping
Malaysia


Geographic information infrastructure (GII) is a set of basic services needed for the efficient exploitation of geographic information in the society. In Malaysia, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) is responsible for the establishment of the national GII namely the Malaysian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (MyGDI). DATO’ ABDUL KADIR TAIB | Dy. DG of Survey and Mapping, Malaysia

JUPEM which is the national survey and mapping organization has played a key role in providing the key elements of geographic information infrastructure for the country. This paper is about the initiatives currently undertaken by JUPEM in support of MyGDI and its future focus.

National and regional governments across the world have taken the decision to lead rather than relying solely upon market forces to gain the economic and social advantages of the Information Age, in view of its increasing strategic importance. In this regard, the Malaysian government is also committed in implementing its own Information Age programmes including putting into place the necessary infrastructures that will enable e-government, e-business, and ecitizen concepts to become a reality. One of the common threads among these e-domains is the pervasive and influential presence of Geographic Information (GI). Among others, it comprises some of the core datasets that enable transparent and effective governance through creative exploitation of the wealth of information contained within land, property, land use, topography, environment, physical infrastructure and transportation data layers. As a direct consequence, GI and the infrastructure it relies upon is also riding on the government's Information Age wave. This is very apparent from clear indication of the government's dimension to the Malaysian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (MyGDI) initiatives which include a coordinating mechanism at the national and state levels; a data clearinghouse at the Malaysian Centre for Geospatial Data Infrastructure (MaCGDI); a core (reference) data strategy; and the promotion of standards.

The advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and society's readiness to adopt and exploit ICT to its advantage fuel the Information Age. Such advances open up new opportunities as well as bringing threats, which are the catalyst for cultural change.

CURRENT STATUS
As the national survey and mapping organization, JUPEM has played an important role in providing the key elements of geographic information infrastructure for the country. It helps to realize the MyGDI through its cadastral survey, mapping and geodetic initiatives. The driving force behind these initiatives is the continual demand for more timely, accurate and complete geospatial data, coupled with the need for greater accessibility to low cost survey and mapping products.

GEODETIC INFRASTRUCTURE
In general, Malaysia's geodetic infrastructure consists of an integrated combination of authoritative information on ground controls and Global Positioning System base stations to form a network of control upon which all other spatial data may be registered. The infrastructure enables users to determine position in relation to the nationally adopted datum.