GIT Developments in central Europe: Hungary as a case study
Miklos K. Hoffmann László Csemniczky GITA Hungary M. Hoffmann Am Hang 11, D-24794 Borgstedt, Germany L. Csemniczky Bartók B. u. 24. H-1151 Budapest, Hungary Abstract Hungary sits at the crossroads of Western and Eastern Europe. From its central location, it can play a role in mobilizing GIT throughout the region. There is considerable need for geospatial data applications throughout this area. This presentation will be an overview of the successes, the challenges and the directions of geospatial technology in Hungary, concentrating on the main streams: Government, Utility and Environmental issues. We present the relevant projects of the National Spatial data Infrastructure, focusing on macroeconomic relationships, and investigate the impacts and benefits for the general administration and the private sector generated by investments in the spatial data infrastructure. Overview of GIS Development in Hungary The development of GIS in Hungary essentially began when the possibility of importing hardware equipment and software products into Hungary was extended. The so-called COCOM list is worth mentioning here, as it severely restricted the import of these equipments into Hungary. It is, however, important to say that the restriction only applied to modern IT devices and products. The skills of Hungarian IT professionals and their education were adequate, and Hungary boasted several internationally known and acknowledged IT experts, like János Neumann. A relaxation of the COCOM restrictions occurred in 1982, when the first interactive graphic system, the Contraves GRADIS-2000 workstation was installed (on a Digital PDP 11/44 computer), for the first time in Hungary at the Department of Land Surveying of the Technical University of Budapest. This system can be considered the forefather of object-oriented GIS systems. CAD systems began to spread around 1985-87. Then the first systems based on databases appeared in Hungary. The final result for the users was always a map that could be retrieved or changed at any time. These conditions lasted through the mid 1990s. By this time, five years after major political changes, hardware and software acquisition options were essentially the same in Hungary as in the Western European countries, but there was a big difference in the financial situation, and there still is. However, this allowed GIS to support certain activities, that is, to become businesslike. The architecture of the planned and more or less developed systems was determined by integration with a given activity (i.e., managing network losses of a public utility company and the related property records). The goal of companies that implemented GIS was not only the creation of a digital map, but also to change the operating environment of the respective organization. The development of system integration technology brought the management and the technical systems closer to each other. A good example of this is the combination of SCADA and GIS systems in large corporate environments. GIS Developments in the Field of Cadastral Map Data Services One of the fields involved in basic data is surveying. It has been a goal since the 1970s to automate real estate records. The first step in this direction was the implementation of a digital data processing system in 1974 (using Digital PDP 11/40 Aristogrid digitizing devices). A notable experiment was the digital processing of the land survey base map system of Szeged, a city with a population of about 150,000. However, the IT infrastructure at that time was unable to support the development of a flexible system that would ensure change management. The data recorded back then are still included in many databases. At almost the same time, the digital processing of the cadastral base map of Budapest began. The so-called “skeleton map set” created in the 1980s is still the basis for the real estate records of Budapest. The corner points of all ground-plots have been recorded unequivocally with coordinates, and a computerized record of the alphanumeric data was created. Of course, this skeleton map cannot be considered a digital cadastral base map, as it only records the boundary structure, not the internal map content (i.e., buildings and public domain content were not digitized). By 1984-85, the technology for the maintenance management of digital land survey base maps existed, and its practical application began on the aforementioned system in Szeged. In the 1990s, the appearance of workstations and PCs with ever more powerful performance, as well as the political changes that allowed the free flow of modern IT information and equipment, increased the capabilities of the land management base systems. The digital processing of the cadastral base maps for the entire country was initiated within the context of a European assistance program. The first of these systems, still operating admirably, is the INFOCAM system, installed at the Budapest Land Office with Swiss support. This system currently provides digital cadastral base map data for almost half of the 23 districts of Budapest, and data maintenance is ensured. Unfortunately, a lack of funds prevents faster development. Currently, the digitally processed districts are situated in different areas of the capital city. Therefore, the large public utility companies of the city cannot benefit from the use of the digital records, as they are not district-based, but can only manage the city as a whole. The National Cadastre Program, the largest land management project in the country, started in 1995. The poor financial situation at that time proved again to be an insurmountable barrier, so the program began with considerably less funding than planned, and could not therefore cover the entire country. Within this program, the modern digital cadastral base maps were created for the surface of chosen areas. Only those areas that were able to cover 40% of the production costs were included in this program, which is still underway. Due to lack of funds, digital cadastral base maps cover only 15% of the surface of the country. In Hungary, land management is under the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The real estate record centers are the land offices. The 19 counties and Budapest all have county land offices, with 115 district land offices under their authority. In 1995, concurrently with the National Cadastre Program, the program targeting the modernization of the 115 district land offices was launched, with assistance from the European Union. The installation of 115 computer bases was completed, but the rapid development of hardware made these systems obsolete just a few years after their installation. The modernization of the county land offices was initiated much later, and the National Cadastre Program could not provide the digital cadastral base map sets quickly. Therefore, the modernization of the land management system is progressing at a very slow pace. Thus, digital land survey base map sets are already available for a significant percentage of the surface of Hungary, but the situation is far from ideal. This fundamentally affects GIS projects for which the existence of digital base maps is a prerequisite. For the creation of municipal management or planning, or a public utility management system, a modern digital cadastral base map is essential. So these systems can only be developed in those areas where these digital data are available. Developments at Large Public Utility Companies Only a portion of GIS developments at public utility companies is based on digital cadastral base maps, and this is usually the less important of these projects. Public utility companies need integrated systems that handle three key types of information:
The first Hungarian utility to break into the field of GIS was the Budapest Electricity Works, which issued an invitation to tender in 1990 for the creation of the digital map of its low-voltage network. By the mid 1990s, this system covered the utility’s entire service area (over 4000 square km) and an upgraded version is still in use today. Water Works Budapest also initiated its “Network Information System” in the early 1990s, with the same objective: to support technical work processes (consumption data, dispatch service, network calculations). Additional GIS projects were initiated in 1993 at the Gas Company of Budapest, as well as at the Trans-Tisza and the Transdanubian gas companies. In 1995, the development of a technical information system for the Budapest District Heating Company started, which operates at more than 50 sites. The MATÁV (Hungarian Telecom), as well as several provincial electric companies, initiated large scale IT developments in 1996. During the second half of the 1990s, privatization of the large public utility companies affected GIS development. Several large telecom providers made their appearance in the marketplace with GIS development needs. This brief overview looks very positive, but it would be wrong to overlook the fact that the majority of the GIS developments in Hungarian public utility companies stopped at the pilot stage. Some public utility companies made several attempts with various GIS providers and in different software environments. Surely this is one of the most expensive ways to proceed, and one that offers the worst possible publicity for GIS applications. It is a well-known fact that the most expensive basic component of a GIS system is the DATA. Unfortunately, in most cases the largest obstacle standing in the way of development was the lack of good quality data, or that the costly and slow process of creating the basic data had to precede the development of the GIS. Hungary is in a good situation regarding basic data for public utility maps. In 1979, an executive decree was issued making the implementation of a unitary public utility record mandatory, and site maps were created using traditional methods over the subsequent two decades. Every public utility company uses these records and manages the changes in their field of competence. The scale of the traditional site maps is 1:500, which should represent a very good basis for digital processing. The problem is that these records are on mylar, and the cadastral base map used is different from the digital cadastral base maps created later. A solution could be the digitization of the technical contents and their integration with the existing digital cadastral base map, but, as experience shows, there are too many contradictions in the data. An even greater problem is the high cost involved to digitize thousands of 1:500 scale site maps. The public utility companies do not have the funds needed to support this process. Therefore, the aforementioned GIS developments must usually instead work with maps on a 1:2000 or a 1:4000 scale. GIS as an Instrument for the Management of Settlements During the second half of the 1980s, the municipality of Budapest elaborated the socalled “Regional Technical Database” concept. The basic infrastructure of this system has been developed, and a series of thorough studies were conducted involving the representatives of the individual subsystems. By the end of the decade, the concept based on the “cooperative autonomy” of the subsystems, as well as the system plan had been elaborated. After some political changes this concept was altered and ignored, but it played a role in the development of the General Urbanism Plan of Budapest. Under this concept, a 1:4000 scale digital base map set was created, which became the basis for the aforementioned public utility systems. This way, the proposed cooperative autonomy was partially implemented, based on the cooperation of the independent individual subsystems (i.e., public utility companies). In the meantime, the role and weight of the center of the capital city has changed within the system. Consequently, the central management of the development ceased, and the results were used by the public services. Besides the records on the public utility networks within the perimeters of urban centers, it is also very important to record the infrastructure networks on the outskirts of these urban areas. In addition to the supply networks (electricity, gas, oil, oil-based products etc.), these records should also include roads, railroads and waterways, for example. In Hungary, these records are kept by a designated institution (VÁTI), that is charged with digitizing the traditional, map-based records and creating a GIS. The map-based components of the records will be completed with the huge quantity of alphanumeric data collected from the individual subsystems, and could thus be used as the basis for regional developments. The smallest cells of urban management in Hungary are the building authorities and chief architect offices within the municipalities. These offices strongly support the introduction of GIS applications. They use the digital cadastral map bases and the digital data sets of the public utility records, and in this way they play an active role in town management. Unfortunately, funding is limited almost everywhere, as there are always more important fields of development than GIS for the municipalities. Many GIS systems currently operate within these municipalities. Many executives access maps through simple software products available for download on the Internet, but others are working in high-performance software environments. The main factors slowing down the propagation of GIS applications are the lack of funds, as well as a lack of data, both in terms of quantity and quality. Among the developments of the past couple of years, government developments deserve special attention, especially the creation of meta databases and, subsequently, the move toward e-government. Providers, Training, Conferences and Organizations The small companies created while the COCOM decrees that restricted the propagation of modern technologies in Hungary were still in effect, were insignificant. They represented certain technical fields, and IT was only a secondary activity. Geometria Co., established in 1985, is the exception and is still playing a major role in the GIS market. Most GIS companies began to appear in the domestic marketplace in 1991. Currently, there are about 40 major GIS providers in Hungary. The majority of these use well-known GIS software products used around the world, but there are a few domestic products, as well. The world’s leading GIS software developers, like Autodesk, Bentley, ESRI and Intergraph, are the major providers in the Hungarian market. GIS training is provided on a very large scale in Hungary today. There is a GIS Department at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, but other departments also provide GIS training related to their field of study (i.e., Land Surveying and GIS), and other universities have similar courses, as well. Postgraduate GIS training is also of major importance. The first symposium, entitled “GIS in Higher Education,” was held in 1992 at the Budapest University of Horticulture. This event has been held each year since with great success. In order to support the propagation of GIS in Hungary, the HUNGIS Foundation was created in 1991. HUNGIS is a professional forum, a body of experts that supports GIS training. Every two years the foundation issues a brochure that lists the leading Hungarian GIS providers entitled “Hungarian GIS Resource Book.” An English version is published occasionally. In December 1994, the Hungarian Association for Geo-Information (HUNAGI) was founded as the Hungarian organization of the EUROGI European GIS umbrella organization. It still serves as a bridge between European and Hungarian GIS professionals. One measure of the success of HUNAGI is that the 6th World conference on GIS, GSDI6 (Global Spatial Data Infrastructure 6), entitled “From Global to Local”, was held in 2002 in Budapest. HUNAGI has close to 60 member organizations. A series of GIS conferences have been held each year since 1991 in the city of Szolnok, on general GIS topics. Finally we would like to say a few words about the Hungarian Affiliate of GITA. The predecessor of the GITA Hungary, AM/FM-GIS Hungary, was officially established in 1993. For a number of years, the organization operated as a member of the AM/FM European Division, and organized annual conferences on GIS for public utilities. In 1999, it adopted its current name. The title of the GITA Hungary conferences is “Technical GIS.” That is, these conferences aim to provide solutions for the GIS problems experienced by public utility companies and municipalities. The conferences, similar to GITA events, are structured as training courses combined with exhibitions. The average number of participants is around 200, a high attendance within the Hungarian context. Members of the GITA Board of Directors attended the GITA Hungary conference in 2000, and participated actively in this event. | ||
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