Global Perspective of NGDI
The Global Map product
Global Map is a product of the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM)8 . The concept for the development of Global Map was originally presented by the Geographical Survey Institute of Japan as a result of the call for global data in Agenda 21, the document resulting from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro.
The plan is for a global database that consists of elevation, vegetation, land use, drainage systems, transportation, and administrative boundary layers. Each layer will be built to a common specification9 . The initial sources for these data include the Vector Map Level 0 (drainage, transportation, populated places, and administrative units), GTOPO30 (elevation), and the International Geosphere Biosphere Program’s global 1 km land characteristics data product (DISCover) which was produced from the 1 km AVHRR land cover data (vegetation, land cover, and land use).
The Global Map product is envisaged to be accessible online at no cost for non-commercial use.
An important characteristic of this project is the involvement of National Mapping Agencies and other interested organisations in the production and contribution of data sets and the validation of their accuracy (Estes 2000).
The full benefit of the Global Map product will only be derived when long-term data maintenance arrangements are in place with contributing countries. Desirably, the NGDI will be the primary and authoritative source of up-to-date geospatial data.
The APSDI
The Asia Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure10 (APSDI) is being constructed by the Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific11 (PCGIAP). The PCGIAP is managed through an executive board and its work program is implemented through several working groups12 .