Introduction
Survey of India, the premiere mapping agency of India, was raised during the era of the East India Company, by Lord Clive . Major James Rennel was commissioned to commence Bengal Surveys in 1767. This was the beginning of the topographical mapping in India. It was considered that the Great Trigonometrical Survey (GTS) is the foundation of the topographical surveys. Soon after the conquest of Mysore in 1799, the third Mysore surveys were cordered under Col Lambton. At that time, the detailed knowledge of earth’s size and shape are not known fully. Expeditions were undertaken from France to measure the length of a degree of latitude. One expedition in Ecuador on the equator and another in Lapland in the Arctic circle. Similarly, in 1802 AD, Colonel William Lambton wanted to measure the length of a latitude in the mid peninsula for the trigonometrical survey of peninsula in the vicinity of Madras (now Chennai). On April 10th in 1802, Lambton laid out his first base line at St. Thomas Mount in Madras.

Though Lambton initially planned a short arc, later on it turned out to be a mammoth exercise never undertaken earlier thus laying the strong foundations for scientific mapping of India. Thus the Great Arc of the Meridian, begun in 1800, was the longest measurement of the earth’s surface ever to have been attempted. Its 1600 miles of inch-perfect survey took nearly fifty years, cost more lives than most contemporary wars, and involved equations more complex than any in the pre-computer age. Rightly hailed as ‘one of the most stupendous works in the history of science’, it was also one of the most perilous. Through hill and jungle, flood and fever, an intrepid band of Indian and British surveyors carried the Arc from the southern tip of the Indian sub continent up into the frozen wastes of the Himalayas. William Lambton, an endearing genius, had conceived the idea; George Everest completed it. With instruments weighing half a ton, their observations had often to be conducted from flimsy platforms ninety feet above ground or from mountain peaks enveloped in blizzard. Malaria wiped out the whole survey parties, tigers and scorpions also took their toll. Subsequent technological achievements in the field of survey and mapping were banked on this foundation. The Royal Geographical Society considered GTS as the most significant contribution to the advancement of the science in the 19th century. SOI and DST planned a variety of activities to commemorate the bicentennial celebrations of the great arc during this year.

Survey of India (SOI) used to function under the QMG Branch for a long time and subsequently, till 1950, as a separate department under Ministry of Defence. SOI, right from the beginning, was far ahead of any other country in research and development of surveying and mapping discipline. So much so there was no parallel to SOI in the world till Independence.

After the independence in the year 1950, SOI was shifted from Ministry of Defence to Ministry of Agriculture mainly because of two reasons. Firstly since not only the incoming independent Govt of India but also the whole world has recognised the national and international importance and usefulness of SOI because of its research and development activity in many diverse fields such as astronomy, geodesy, geophysics (Gravity & Geomagnetism), seismo-tectonics, revenue, relief measures, socio-economic development and its paramount needs during war. As a matter of fact, it was recognised as one of the most important national agency during all times whether peace or war. Therefore, Govt of India thought it proper to exploit potential of survey and mapping for socio-economic developmental activities as the most important aspect considering its very poor economic conditions at the time of independence and transferred it most appropriately to Ministry of Agriculture. The second reason was to reduce the budget of the Defence. Subsequently, the department was shifted to various other ministries and since 1971 it is under the administrative control of Department of Science & Technology (DST).

SOI has been engaged in land surveying and preparation of topographical maps of the country, initially to fulfill the needs of the conquesting British army and subsequently for the developmental; needs. Thus it had been fluffing the needs of the rulers as well as developmental activities.

Computers, communication, satellite sensors and visualization techniques have advanced during the latter part of the last century. These developments in turn increased the user aspirations and forced to lead the mapping activity to un conventional arenas. The emphasis has gone into new tools such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), High resolution satellite data of sub metre pixel resolution and Laser profiling. Fusion of these technologies and successful integration of data generated by multiple sensors given rise to new kinds of data sets in quick time of weeks if not days leaving the contemporary technologies way behind in speed while at the same time maintaining the requisite accuracy levels.

Issues the need attention

1. Changes in technologies and user needs have also brought into the fore front a few issues which were on the side burner. One of the major issue is how to make maps available to users and reducing the updating cycle. Before the ink is dry on the map, it already become outdated. A combination of technologies have to be utilized to realise real time or near real time mapping. It should be possible in near future to seek a satellite imagery of the day and combine it with vector data to produce an image map.
2. Secondly, how to fund a mapping programme. Will it be purely on commercial terms or state funded and the role private sector in the mapping activities.
3. The mushrooming data producers also usher in less accurate data which is at time fraught with danger. There has to be accredited agencies to authenticate the data generated.
4. Lastly, it is a well known fact that the topographical data has some security implications. But there is a need to openly debate the real concerns and perceived concerns. With the availability of high resolution sensors, we can not keep data secure, we need to work on the spectral signature management and camouflaging our vital installations rather than keeping away the topographical data from development activities.

Maponomics is all about the economics of map and mapping activity. Although, the government has been selling map since long time, the mapping activity was considered more of a social concern and a duty rather than a commercial venture. However, in the recent times, due to the rapid advancements in the field of Information Technology and its effect permeating in to our society, information is the most sought after commodity and has become the mainstay of decision-making process in all levels. This is driving the government to initiate aggressive discussion on the issue of data sharing at the national level and evolve suitable policies that can satisfy the user’s need. The concept is still nascent and several complex issues like –(a) revenue generation through sales, copyright and royalty, (b) work out sourcing to meet the user needs / demand, (c) accuracy and timeliness of information are being taken in to consideration. However, in most of the cases while fixing the cost, either very little or no value is attached to the initial generation of data and its maintenance over the years. Further, the indirect gains the spatial information would generate through its application in developmental activities such as in directing public works, subsidies, credit distribution, infrastructure planning, watershed development etc. which have a direct bearing on the promotion of national growth should be given a more serious consideration while addressing this issue. Computation would become complex If these components are also taken into consideration. While, one section of the users, propose that the delivery price should include data conversion, maintenance, extraction and distribution costs, another group of users maintain that the charges for spatial information should be minimized as much as possible thereby creating a situation that encourages use and stimulates economic growth. In summery, the issue of map economics is a complex one, that requires a national debate considering the views expressed by a cross section of users.

Global Scenario
Different countries have adopted different strategies on this aspect. However, on a closer examination we come across two different policies with regard to the sharing of data generated and maintained by the government. In the US model, the information is in the public domain and the Geo-spatial data maintained by the federal agency is made available to the public free or at a very nominal cost. Here, the information is treated as a “public good” with open access, prices set to recover reproduction and distribution costs, no copyright and no restriction on data usage. The US government is convinced that greater access to data will result in economic activity that far exceeds the revenues generated from cost recovery through the sale of data.

In contrast, the Canadian government imposes a fee for supply of geo-spatial data. The policy stems from the concept of “Crown copyright” where government owns the work it produces and sells it to the user, sometimes within its own set up viz. between one department to another, as a means of producing revenue for the maintenance and protect integrity of data. The public opinion in Canada is not in favor of this policy and there are several groups working to convince the government to adopt the US model.

In the UK the Ordinance Survey has introduced the concept of “partnership” wherein the identified partner from outside the government is given a license for 3-5 years for distributing the OS data on agreed terms. In this setup it provides a degree of freedom but not independence. In order to provide timely data OS had also outsourced the job of data generation, keeping with itself the responsibility of ensuring the quality. OS encourages to use their maps in innovative ways and are keen to promote their use in new technological areas, however, unlike the US model, the OS offers a variety of copyright licenses to meet the needs of the business community, professionals and others. This is mainly to ensure that the government also benefits from any business venture such as value addition & publishing for commercial use.

In Australia, prices were set to recover dissemination costs and also data maintenance and upgradation. Recently, the government policy seems to be moving towards the US model, at least for the environmental data. In New Zealand, the scenario is just the reverse with the government favouring recovery of all current costs of maintaining the database. There is also a debate with regard to the treatment of the data as a “Capital” item. Since, 1996, the department of Survey and Land Information has been devided into two parts vested with specific responsibilities – viz. (i) data collection, production and distribution and (ii) marketing, administration and quality control. The first part, data production is being carried out by state owned enterprise and the second part is the responsibility of the government. In the coming years there is a move to make the data generation entirely a private venture.

The French government has adopted the practice of awarding 5 year contracts to secure revenue. Under the present contract the cost recovery is around 47 %, which is envisaged to go up to 51%. Here the policy is to cover the cost of reproduction, storage, printing, sales and some contribution towards map compilation. In the case of digital maps, a significant part of the income is to go for meeting the data capture cost.

In Germany, the cost of collection and maintenance of geo-spatial data being largely funded by taxpayer’s money, the cost of recovery is as low as 10%.

Indian Scenario
In India there is a general consensus that the delivery of spatial information is the responsibility of the State. So far the government has been playing a significant role in the formulation of policies, setting of standards, and providing maps of high quality like, topographic maps, cadastral maps and certain thematic maps like soil, geology, landuse, weather etc. With the increase in the awareness of GIS technology in varied sectors, there is a crying demand for spatial data of all possible types and the user community feels that these services should continue to be provided from the general taxation as it plays a major role in the foundation of national growth and the data sets should be treated as national assets to be made available, without much restriction, to the user society at a nominal cost. The GIS industry is ready to support the government in generating the required data and also pressurizing the government through several forums to speedily evolve a policy for data sharing between government and non-government agencies.

National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)
In addition to NATMO and SOI there are several other survey organizations generating and maintaining data sets of varied sectors – geology, soils, fauna and flora, climate etc. Two issues that keep popping up are lack of standardidation in data generated by various data providing agencies and non availability of metadata (data about data)/ Secondly, overlaying of these data sets is not possible as they are of different formats, different content, different scale, different temporality and different computer formats. This necessitated the need for data standatds, metadata standards and data exchange standards.

It has been realised that there is a need for standardising all these data sets to enable their integration by the user's as per their requirement, for drawing up quick and efficient decisions related to resource / infrastructural planning and use at the time of economic crisis and natural disasters. With this understanding the DST in collaboration with the DOS is spearheading the movement for the creation of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), that is capable of handling preliminary spatial analysis and queries related to the data access and search. As per the evolved understanding, NSDI would be a virtual organization interacting with the data generating agencies and the users for all types of transactions. Presently the constitutional, legal, technical and organizational strategies are being worked out. To make this a reality all the data generating and service providing agencies in the country should come together and support this endeavor. A uniform code for commercialization of all these data and the services is to be evolved for better co-operation between the agencies.

Vision of NSDI is to create a national infrastructure for the generation, availability of and access to organised spatial data and use of the infrastructure at community, local, state, regional and national requirements of spatial data for sustainable development

NSDI would enable the following
Synergy of information, technology and access. In the near term, technology development will continue to have profound effects on spatial information activities, as we are seeing it today – the changing demand of computing technology to understanding processes around us and its representation as maps. In the longer term, information needs will drive further technological developments – creating stringent demands for technology solutions for spatial data capture, integration and representation. The emergence of Spatial Business from the highly volatile and dynamic synergy of information, technology and access will see a truly Spatial Society.

Expanding information inter-dependence. The nationalisation of spatial information will be yet another imperative. Markets will define and drive the need and use of spatial information for individuals, society, nation and the world as a whole.

Increasing emphasis on sustainability. The fundamental aspect of sustainable development lies in the paradigm of scientific innovation and economic determinism within the physical limits imposed by ecological systems on economic activity. The need is for a full integration of environmental and developmental information for decision-making on economic, social, fiscal, exploitation and regeneration of natural resources and other policies.

Emergence of community based governance. Greater people’s involvement in developmental planning ant local level and the emergence of participatory planning will demand access to spatial information – basically integrating information from disparate sources. To an increasing degree, the use of spatial information will become commonly used tools for developmental alternatives and societal choices for decision-making.

The individual. Individuals demand for information – spatial and non-spatial will force the establishment of infrastructures, encompassing his immediate circle of family and society, the land that he tills, the water that he uses, the environment around him and to a larger extent the general awareness of the world.

NSDI objectives are:

• Develop and maintain standard digital collection of data
• Develop common solution for discovery, access, and use of
• Spatial data in response to he need of diverse user groups
• Build relationships among organisation to support the continuing development of NSDI
• Increase the awareness and understanding of the vision, concepts, and benefits of the NSDI

NSDI structure will aspire to ;

• be inclusive of all stakeholders
• add value
• build on, facilitate and support existing initiatives
• command respect and authority
• support sustainable development
• be flexible and adaptable to change
• facilitate new initiatives especially those relating to the use and sharing of data
• be as simple, transparent, open an democratic as possible
• enhance decision making processes
• engender partnerships

Conclusion
It has to be borne in mind that NSDI is not a panacea for all ills of geospatial data acquisition, maintenance and dissemination for spatial analysis and decision support issues. We have a long way to go in making NSDI a reality. It needs active participation and cooperation of all governmental, non governmental agencies, private industry and individual citizens in creating this infrastructure for national development.