Map World Forum: Geospatial Technology for Sustainable Planet Earth

The Map World Forum took place in Hyderabad, India from Feb. 10-13. This second biennial event drew an international audience of more than 2,000 people, with the theme, "Geospatial Technology for Sustainable Planet Earth". The theme was explored in many different sessions that drove home the power of geospatial technology for the stewardship of our planet, and Jane Goodall was on hand to give a rousing opening speech.

While the economic climate crept into some early discussions, and had an impact on the number of international attendees, the overwhelming sentiment of this conference was on the promise and potential of geospatial technology. India is at an exciting stage of GIS development, with strong support from the federal government, and in-country capacity that has been built through providing off-shore GIS data conversion capacity for the western world for a few decades.

While the theme focused on sustaining our planet, there was also a strong focus on what the technology could do for the average citizen. Vice President Mohammad Ansari opened the event speaking of tools that allow open and easy access to geospatial technology. He envisioned a time when the average citizen and farmer would make use of these tools in order to improve their lives.

Hope for the Future

Dr. Jane Goodall came to the realization that her preserve was under great pressure from the outside world one day when she was flying over the Gombe Preserve in Tanzania where she made her world-shaking discovery that man was not the only tool maker. Looking down on the small preserve from the airplane window, and seeing the deforestation pressures from the growing population around the preserve, awoke a new mission to spread the word on conservation both locally and worldwide. She now spends more than 300 days each year traveling and giving talks, and geospatial technology is becoming one of her communication tools.

In an intimate press briefing, Goodall shared that she had hesitated to attend her first GIS gathering (the 2005 ESRI User Conference), thinking she couldn’t relate to geeks that use language that she didn’t understand. But now, she says that this exposure has been great for her organization, mostly for the wonderful people that have terrific follow up.

Dr. Jane believes that there’s reason for hope because there’s still great power in children seeing nature with their own eyes. She’s also encouraged by the resilience of nature, and our ability to restore nature rather quickly where we have destroyed it in the past. There’s also promise because of the human brain and its ability to create tools and technology to apply toward preserving our planet. And finally, there’s hope because of the indomitable human spirit to tackle large projects and not give up until we see results.

The convention centre and accomodations for the Map World Forum in Hyderabad were world class, in a city that is rapidly modernizing.

Potential Geospatial Data Authority Bill

Among the threads of discussion by government policy makers was the need to regulate the use of geospatial technology for the greater good. This sentiment arises from the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, where it was discovered that the terrorists made use of Google Earth and GPS devices to coordinate their assault on the city.

Kapil Sibal, Minister of Science and Technology, has long been an advocate for the geospatial industry in India. His address emphasized the use of technology for economic development and infrastructure, and he holds the belief that geospatial technology will rise above the current slowdown because it is critical for societal advancement. The minister discussed the  advancement of the geospatial industry in India based on map policy legislation from five years ago, and pointed to a bill regarding the Survey of India and national mapping that are now being considered to foster a next wave of geospatial infrastructure development.

The minister sees a future where a national mapping authority will ensure user access and create an ecosystem that will proliferate the use of geospatial data in all sectors of society, with an emphasis on the greater understanding of natural processes. Sabal sees global warming as a driving force for greater geospatial adoption, with access to these tools giving ordinary citizens a much greater awareness of the role that they play in climate change so that we can all become good stewards of our planet.

 

Geospatial Fusion

In a session regarding future development and trends for geospatial technology, Preetha Pulusani, director of Rolta India, questioned why geospatial technology still has a reputation for being expensive, stating that it’s because the value proposition is not always clear to decision makers. To get beyond this perception, geospatial must become more of a strategic part of operations, and Pulusani feels that the route is through geospatial fusion.

Rolta is working on a product to enable geospatial fusion in an enterprise regardless of platform or language, with the vision of providing transparent services that can be accessed and updated by all. The idea of fusion takes advantage of all past development work that have stood up multiple databases and customized solutions, providing a conduit for each of these disparate systems to talk with each other. Pulling data and documents together through a configurable web services approach goes well beyond the web mapping paradigm, creating a rich web client that’s much more than just maps.

This vision gets beyond desktop and server models to deal with interaction between different enterprise environments. Much emphasis was placed on spatial data infrastructure at this event, and the geospatial fusion model may prove a viable alternative to the various vertical stovepipes of geospatial data within government.

Sustainability Equals Efficiency

When speaking of sustainability in the geospatial context, often the focus turns to the environment and conservation. The Map World Forum held two sessions where the focus was placed strongly upon development and infrastructure design and management, a fitting focus given India's rapid urban development.

Martin Nix, senior vice president of mining and agriculture at Leica Geosystems, spoke to the Map World Forum about increases in efficiency of mining that reduce the inputs of fuel, fertilizer and water for less of an impact on our planet. The application of geospatial technology toward sustainability goals becomes quite practical in the resource extraction sector. Positioning technology, coupled with communications, are moving toward machine control and location-aware machinery that dramatically increase safety and improve efficiency.

With the integration of precise positioning the mine operator can control all aspects of operation. The drill operator combines precise position with sensors on the drill that relate information about the diffrerent stata layers in the mine. The shovel operator has a full view of the location of trucks and other equipment through dashboard tools that also enable the user to view and manage their own performance. All told, the modern mine makes optimum use of the equipment through the integration and convergence of geospatial tools.

Stanley Trim, vice president of global delivery at CH2M Hill spoke about geospatial tools in the context of sustainable development, emphasizing our ability to ask questions that we were unable to ask before. He outlined his firm's work on the world's first zero emission city, Masdar City outside of Abu Dhabi. And he focused on the evolution of the geospatial toolset to optimize decisions in the construction process where we can have a fully functioning city with minimal impact on the environment.

Bryn Forsburgh, vp at Trimble spoke of the development of the Connected Site concept and tools at his company to dramatically improve the productivity of the construction sector. His company is combining the connectivity that workers have with cell phones on the job site with precise positioning technology and software that helps manage the workflow of all aspects of a job site. This move toward field and office information sharing will dramatically improve communications on the job to reduce rework, and the enhanced documentation on the job site minimizes costly litigation. The job site efficiencies also translate into positive gains for the environment with less fuel and fewer materials used.

Overall, the 2009 Map World Forum was a stimulating international event, with a foreward looking focus on the expansion of geospatial technology. In many ways, India is about a decade behind the widespread geospatial technology adoption that has occurred in the western world. This means that there are tremendous opportunities in this market for geospatial companies, and it is hoped that the country can learn from the successes and failures of other countries that have gone through this so that they might make rapid progress toward the geospatial ideal, with less of an investment.

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Read the following Blog posts for more detailed event coverage:

• Relating Diametrically Different First Impressions - Dramatic changes in Hyderabad from two years ago.
• Dr. Jane’s Hope for the Future - A personal vision that extols the promise of technology
  
• India Discusses Geospatial Regulation - Breaking news from the event that carried national press coverage
• The Compelling Need for Geospatial Fusion - Preetha Pulusani from Rolta discussing the promise of geospatial data for enterprise integration
  
• The Stature of GIS in India - a pre-conference note on strong government support
• The Dangerous Arrogance of Mircosoft - An account of an off-base presentation to serve as a reminder to check arrogance at the door
  
• The Tele Atlas Data Collection Network - Detail on the in-device data collection capabilities of the TomTom navigators
  
• Precise Position Improves Mine Safety and Efficiency - Practical application of positioning tools for increased productivity and efficiency