Ajay, A few years back SOI (Dept. of Science and Technology represented by Kapil Sibal) signed an MOU with Microsoft and if I am not wrong SOI gave the data to Microsoft.
Not sure what SOI/DST/Microsoft gained out of it but this shows that maps exchange hands if you are reasonably powerful/influential. Interestingly most of the city guide maps (Eicher etc..) derive their base data from the SOI maps and add some additional data on top and sell them packaged nicely since SOI allows some licensing for data improvement or such. On the other extreme I know of some efforts from SOI to hasten the process of map making but they too have been bit by the attrition bug. By the time the SOI officials finish their training in photogrammetry, surveying, digital cartography they are immediately poached by the private industry! So SOI is left with very little skilled manpower for such an enormous task at hand. So alongside the need for constant updation and release of maps into public domain SOI and allied institutions need to be strengthened so they they can train/groom/retain good talent by paying them well as well as providing them opportunities for growth. Another fact is that most of the city corporations/minicipalities have spent a fortune acquiring high resolution satellite data and extracting maps out of that for their administration and planning purposes. Unfortunately these maps are never released in the public domain even through the tax payers money has been used to create it. Instead it will just be used at times of publishing the city/town master plan. So along with DST/SOI once has to target the city/local governments too. - P On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 11:57 PM, Subhodip Biswas <subhodipbis...@gmail.com>wrote: > On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 6:45 PM, Ajay Shah<ajays...@mayin.org> wrote: > > I wrote a column which I intend to publish on the edit page of > > Financial Express. The text is ahead. Will be great if you guys could > > give me comments. > > > > > > > > > > > > What should government do? To economists, there is a technical answer: > > government should raise money through taxes, and spend it on the > > provision of `public goods'. A public good is "non-rival" (i.e. the > > use by one person does not preclude the use by another) and > > "non-excludable" (it is not possible to prevent an additional person > > from benefiting from the public good). > > > > While there are shades of gray in rivalness and excludability, public > > goods are the zone where government involvement in the economy is > > legitimate. Protection from war, for example, is a pure public > > good. When an army is setup which protects the population, it is > > non-rival (the safety of one person imposes no cost on another) and > > non-excludable (it is impossible to prevent a newborn child from > > benefiting from this safety). > > > > An important pure public good is map data. Maps are rival: when I am > > looking at a map, you can't simultaneously look at the same map. But > > map data is a public good. If that data is created once and released > > into the public domain, then myriad private players can use it to > > create maps, GPS based navigation systems, etc. The job of the > > government, then, is to run the Survey of India, which is funded by > > taxes, which creates high quality maps data, and releases databases on > > the website for free download. > > > > Unfortunately, in India, we do everything wrong. Survey of India maps > > are grossly outdated. On the website, they proudly say: "We know every > > inch of the Nation, because we map every inch of it". However, in good > > countries, 1:24,000 topo sheets are trustworthy, while Survey of India > > does not even have good quality 1:250,000 topo sheets. The weakest > > link about Survey of India is the rules of release. Survey of India is > > funded by taxpayer money. As a consequence, the information that they > > create should be freely released back into the public domain for > > unencumbered use. Instead, Survey of India thinks like a > > corporation. It has "licensing" restrictions which has effectively > > made their data unusable. > > > > The most important maps in India today are produced by google. Google > > maps and google earth are a remarkable combination of satellite > > imagery and maps, and they are available for free (!). Google has had > > to reconstruct maps of India from scratch, thanks to the legal > > problems (and low quality of work) of Survey of India. It is ironic > > that even though taxpayers are funding Survey of India, this work is > > useless for the people of India, who are flocking to google maps and > > google earth. Nokia has also created good maps of India, which are > > usable through some Nokia handsets (only). > > > > The only flaw with google maps and google earth is that the underlying > > databases are the private property of google. What would be most > > desirable is for maps data to be a public good, which can be used in > > all manner of ways by all individuals and companies. As an example, > > handheld GPS devices are now available for $100. If these are loaded > > with Indian map data, they can be immensely useful tools for > > navigation, exploration and business efficiency. Google does not give > > out their map database to the public, so such applications are > > infeasible. > > > > Until Survey of India gets its act together, the solution lies with a > > public domain initiative named `openstreetmap'. This uses > > Internet-scale collaboration to build maps. It involves volunteers, > > armed with handheld GPS devices, who are feeding in maps data into a > > central database. This database is a true public good. The licensing > > conditions of openstreetmap are quite open, though not as open as > > those used by the US government. Openstreetmap is doing what Survey of > > India should have done: accumulating high quality maps data and > > releasing it into the (mostly) public domain. > > > > Thus, three strategies are now in play in India: a high quality > > solution which is a public goods effort (openstreetmap), a good > > solution which is owned by a corporation (google) and a poor solution > > which acts like a corporation (Survey of India). The users of maps are > > flocking to google, Nokia and openstreetmap. > > > > From the viewpoint of the government, the first best strategy is to > > shift Survey of India into the mode of uncompromisingly releasing maps > > data into the public domain, matching the release strategy of the US > > government on openness. Through this, the government would continue to > > engage in taxpayer-funded efforts at creating maps databases, but the > > full benefits would come back to the people of India. In addition, > > Survey of India needs to get up to timely 1:24000 coverage of the full > > country. If these changes are infeasible, it is better to shut down > > Survey of India, and transfer its annual budget to openstreetmap, for > > the latter is producing public goods while the former is acting like > > an inefficient corporation. > > > > -- > > Ajay Shah > http://www.mayin.org/ajayshah > > ajays...@mayin.org > http://ajayshahblog.blogspot.com > > <*(:-? - wizard who doesn't know the answer. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Talk-in mailing list > > Talk-in@openstreetmap.org > > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-in > > > > Nice writeup.Hope some people will hear/listen/follow. > > > > -- > Regards > Subhodip Biswas > > > GPG key : FAEA34AB > Server : pgp.mit.edu > http://subhodipbiswas.wordpress.com > http:/www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/SubhodipBiswas > > _______________________________________________ > Talk-in mailing list > Talk-in@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-in >
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