--- "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > What is GIS? And why is India so secretive about > this field? ... > the Centre for Spatial > Database Management and Solutions (CSDMS), at Noida > just outside Delhi. > > But in a talent-rich, resource-poor country like > India, Gupta sees a > fascinating role for Geographical Information > Systems in ensure citizen's > access to information -- including scientific > information, and specially > geographic information. If only, the powers that be > would loosen their > decades-old outdated grip on this technology, and > realise how it could > benefit the very pressing problems of hundreds of > millions of citizens > today.
My gut-feeling is that it is not the Govt that is holding back GIS, but the Defence. If I am not mistaken, one is still not allowed to take photographs from the air in Indian airspace 'till today. Note their paranoia at maps of India produced abroad but sold in India are now stamped "the borders depicted are neither authentic nor correct" or something like that (earlier, the "censors" used to literally black the maps out with indelible ink). The UK, most of Europe and Australia have had excellent road atlases that you could literally measure the distance door-to-door to the nearest metre for over thirty years. The same unfortunately cannot be said for India. In 1998 or thereabouts, AutoRoute (in conjunction with the AA) was one of the first software products (DOS-based, as Windows was still considered a novelty then) that you could buy in the UK which would tell you the distance, calculate the time it would take (from a choice of three different car models), and display / print the route you could take (it gave you more than once choice of route). Besides, it could print out a "blow-by-blow" list of how far to go before turning left or right etc. Today, one gets detailed maps that you can download on a palm-pilot, and with the assistance of GIS satellites, tell your exact current position on the palm pilot (including, I believe, the position of the nearest speed camera!). Higher-priced cars such as BMW, Lexus and Mercs and even Nissan come fitted with satellite navigation. All this is based on GIS. Information on underground pipelines, telephone and electrical cables are now all stored in GIS systems. So if there is a leak or a failure, the technicians know where to point their bobcat or excavator; or if the road is being dug up for anything, the diggers can get accurate information as to where not to dig. There is software now in use in conjunction with GIS to store information on the ages of underground gas and water pipes, so that the same can be replaced in their due time before they rupture. The above are a few of the benefits (other than fiscal) of GIS that I have come across in real life. One day (if it hasn't already), GIS may come to the assistance of the blind as they venture outdoors. Cheers, Gabriel de Figueiredo. Melbourne - Australia. P.S. If I am not mistaken, ORACLE DBMS already comes with a Spatial module for use by GIS systems. Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com