Debate

Availability of Map Data in Digital Form

Digitisation of topographic maps for the purpose of creating machine readable maps has been a practice for long. Were it not so, the technology of Geomatics in general and Geographic Information Systems in particular would have been rendered a non-starter in India. Everybody did it, whether a government department, an NGO or an industrial house. There was a Map Policy which did not take cognisance of the digital form, much like the Wireless Act which was written when satellite communications was science fiction. This situation was not tenable and it was a matter of time before it was squarely addressed.

A Committee of Secretaries to the Government of India took up the issue and formed a Task Group on Map Data Policy, TG-MAP to address the issue. The TG-MAP report was finalised and submitted to the COS who approved it and forwarded it to the Ministry of Defence for vetting from the angle of National Security. The National Task Force on Information Technology urged the Ministry of Defence to expedite its notification. This was done on July 13, 1998 after a delay of six months.

The notified policy expands the list of authorised agencies who can digitise and distribute maps from the original one (Survey of India) to nine Government Agencies as far as unrestricted maps are concerned. It also has limited the content of these maps to nine major categories and the recepients to agencies 'registered with them for developmental activities for bonafide use on the basis of a MOU'. Restricted maps continue to be under the control of Survey of India and require Defence Clearance. Further such data cannot be disseminated on networks like NICNET due to security considerations.

Is this good, bad or indifferent? 'Not good', say Ravi Gupta and Sanjay Kumar, CSDMS in their article:

Rules on mapping technology in India: Heading Nowhere!

(Reproduced with the permission of the authors from the November-December, 1998 issue of GIS@Development. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Society. The article is reproduced here to stimulate debate and generate solutions for an important issue. Mail your opinion to the Society)

It's official now! The government has finally announced that digitisation of SOI topomaps by agencies other than designated agencies is not allowed. This order also has clearly brought out the fact that all the illusions created by IT Task Force for liberalisation of mapping policy in the country have met the dust.

The order, which was released on the 13^th July, 1998, is more interesting in the sense that it has remained unnoticed by the GIS community for more than five months. This order went undisclosed and undiscussed by top brass of the mapping and user organisations in such important forum like Map India '98, Geoinformatics '98 and ESRI Users Conference. To the shock of our team at GIS@development, we found the GIS companies and user organisations were unaware about the new rules and regulations regarding mapping. In fact, many companies involved in GIS database creation from SOI topomaps are participating in Survey of India supported Indian National Cartographic Association (INCA) Conference and exhibiting their products and services. Is their some one in the government to stop this alleged illegal activity?

If implemented in letter and spirit, this document can drastically change the fate of GIS in the country. This order gives an opportunity for all of us to brainstorm on various facets of rules framed in the light of security of the country.

Before discussing the new orders, let us try to have a look on the history of restriction policy in India.

Policy on Maps

In the post-Independence period the policy of restriction was first enunciated in 1950 vide Ministry of Defence GOI letter No.F. 119/49/D-1, dated 13th November, 1950. It broadly laid down that all maps even on large scale except those in a narrow belt along the land border of India would be available to the public. In small scales all maps of upto and including 1: 1 Million scale which include any part of Jammu and Kashmir would be restricted.

This policy had operated till 1962 when in the wake of Chinese aggression maps on ½" scale and larger for the whole of India were restricted vide Ministry of Defence GOI letter No. F-13(26)61/D(GS_IV), dated 17^th November, 1962. Maps on even 1: 1 Million scale containing any portion along the northern portion of India were restricted. Other smaller scale maps remained available for sale.

In 1967 the restriction policy was again reviewed, vide letter No. F-7(7)/64/D(GS III), dated 15^th August, 1967 from the maps to various users more liberally and in keeping with peace time requirements. The main feature of the revised policy, was that maps other than those mentioned below are available to the public:

• All topographical & geographical maps of the area containing a specified belt along the land border and coast of India on the scale 1: 1 Million and larger. 1: 1 Million maps below 20⁰ Latitude along the coast are not restricted.

• All topographical & geographical maps of the outlying islands viz. Andaman and Nicobar, Laccadive, Minicoy & Amindivi islands on scales 1:M and larger.

However, a further stipulation was laid down in March, 1968 by the Ministry of defence that even in unrestricted maps certain type of information classified as Civil and Military vital points must be deleted and not published for copies meant for civil stock.

Policy on Aerial Photographs

According to the existing orders all serial photographs will be graded Secret unless advised to be graded Top Secret vide Air Head Quarters No. Air HQ/S_20173/Air Int., dated 11.4.1967.

These restrictions imposed caused resentment in SOI and NATMO. Difficulties due to these policies was highlighted by the Survey of India in a representation to the Planning Commission. These were:

• A number of maps of the National Atlas series of scale 1:M cannot now be published as they have to be redrawn on the scale of 1:1.5 M or smaller. Some 1:M National Atlas plates can be published only after deleting certain items, though the previous editions on thew 1:M scale have been in circulation for quite some time.

• Guide maps of large cities like Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Trivandrum are placed in the restricted category and thus cannot be issued to the tourists and other users of the guide maps.

• The civil vital places have not been clearly defined with the result that frequently even ordinary bridges and town water works and pumping stations and canals and bunds are being deleted from the maps.

• Copies of most of the maps published upto 1947 in India are said to be freely available in U. K. and U. S. A. and H. M. S. O. Publications. Except for certain cultural details, the major portion of the details of these maps is identical with those of the later editions of these maps.

• An anomaly exists regarding the coastal belt maps, as maps published by Survey of India of these areas are in the restricted category but large scale charts of the same area showing coastal topographic features and harbours etc. are not restricted and are cleared for issue to all countries of the world on a reciprocal basis.

• In respect of use aerial photographs the restriction policy creates considerable difficulties to the universities and other teaching institutions who very often have depend upon aerial photographs of foreign countries like U.S.A./Canada for instructional purposes.

• Scientific information does not reach even our own scientists, research scholars and educationists, and the progress of science and technology in various fields including natural resources inventory surveys in the disciplines of Geology, Forestry, Soils etc. may thus be struck between the tactical advantages gained by the present restriction policy and the possible retardation in the growth of science and technology to the various civil users in a developing country like India.

Interestingly, the SOI made several suggestions to the government in 1968 for easing the restriction policy:

Regarding Maps

• All maps on scale smaller than 1:250,000 (or ¼" scales) may be derestricted for the entire country with the provision that strategic roads and bridges and important military installations are deleted from a specified belt along the land borders. (Maps on scale smaller than 1:250,000 are termed as Geographical maps as the features are generalised to suit the scale. These maps are generally not used for tactical purposes.
• Maps on scale 1:250,000 or ¼" or larger may be derestricted for all areas except a specified belt of say 50 miles from the land portion of the border only.
• Restriction along coastal belt may not be necessary, as hydrographic charts on larger scales of ports are not restricted.
• The provision of omitting civil vital points in unrestricted new maps may be reviewed as it.
• Reduces the value of maps considerably,
• Does not effectively deny information to one who wants it because he can incorporate it from local information and visit,
• Necessitates maintaining two series at an exorbitant avoidable cost

Regarding Aerial Photographs

Aerial Photography may be declassified and made India available to all bonafide users for all parts of India except for the following areas:-

• Areas falling within a specified belt of say 100 miles along the land border.
• Important towns and areas around them within a peripheral belt of about 5 miles.
• For obtaining photography in areas falling under the category (I) & (II) above the existing procedure may be continued.

But, Ministry of Defence decided to continue with its policy of secrecy. They raised eyebrows on the Indian Remote Sensing Program. The realisation that the Americans should could obtain through remote sensing, information about India's geophysical status, provided a major impetus for the country to develop it's own remote sensing capabilities. This did not come easily. Defence officials battled with then space supremo Vikram Sarabahi for years until it began to sound ludicrous to all that we were denying to ourselves the knowledge that the US already had about us.

In 1989, the Ministry of Defence received representations from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, National Remote Sensing Agency as well as Secretary, Department of Space suggesting a relook on the subject of aerial photographic survey. The NRSA suggested that there is, perhaps, no need for such elaborate security for Indian aerial photographic survey outputs which have resolution of 35 metres, when the US, France and USSR remote sensing satellites have resolution capabilities of 30 metres, 10 metres and even 5-6 metres. But the defence ministry officials pointed out that the capability of a few agencies to obtain the data will not justify throwing open the data collected by our own agencies to all and sundry. They pointed out that security of the data collected is of paramount importance and the thrust of the order of secrecy will have to be continued.

A similar stance is still clear now. Now, we have 5.8m resolution satellite imageries form India, 2m SPIN 2 imagery from Russian satellites, available to anyone at a price from Internet. With 2m and 1m Earthwatch imagery being a distinct possibility by the end of this millennium, these restrictions on digitsation of topomaps and aerial photography operations ensures that India will not be able to utilise the GIS technology for its development in the near future.

The new rules:

The complete order is available in the printed article. Our observations regarding the order are given below:

1. The new policy seems to be against the spirit of IT Task Force recommendations in which it has been suggested that "Survey of India should make available digitised base maps with a threshold scale, free of charge and free of copyright restrictions. This would simulate the market for developments of value added applications and create new applications and services".

Against this the government memorandum suggests that 'every value addition to the digitised data by authorised agencies should be vetted by the Survey of India, before it is cleared for further circulation'. This clearly would act as an obstacle for development of value added applications and creation of new application services.

2. The most affected sectors will be infrastructure development (highways, telecom, utility services, urban development etc.). Any government or private agency requiring large scale maps (greater than 1: 50,000) will be forced to use SOI data 'unofficially', so as not to break the rules. This will deny the due credit SOI deserves for its maps.

3. The order says envisages that in addition to the Survey of India, the nine government departments have been authorised to provide data to NGOs and private agencies registered with them for developmental activities.

The order is so poorly drafted that, although, only eight organisations have been mentioned in para 1, the rest of the document talks of nine organisations in addition to Survey of India, who are allowed to undertake digitisation.

4. The delegation of security may become operationally unviable, as no organisation may like to bear the responsibility of declaring any NGO/Private Company a bonafide user. All the permissions may still may be routed to SOI. Thus taking permissions may become more circuitous now.

5. Has the Survey of India / Ministry of Defence issued any draft guidelines for MoUs to be signed by these designated agencies with NGOs & private agencies? Is this guideline available to the NGOs / private agencies, so that they would know if they fit in this scheme or not?

6. Under the point 8 of para 2, the memorandum says that 'all users need not be given all encompassing information. It should be 'development-specific'. The details that can be given to various agencies should be worked out by Survey of India.'

Does the SOI has all the multisectoral capabilities to assess the need of every development sector? By when these details on 'what data to be given to whom' will be worked out? What will be the procedure till these details are worked out?

7. Para no. 5 says that 'digital data of restricted areas should not be disseminated on networks like NICNET due to security considerations.'

Does it mean that digital data of unrestricted areas can be disseminated on networks like NICNET or Internet. If no, what is the status regarding the same?

8. Was the GIS industry consulted before issuing this order? If yes, who were the persons involved? If not, why not?

This order influences more than 250 organisations (NGOs, private agencies, and government agencies) who are involved in mapping. Have they been informed on it? If yes, how? There are many government organisations issuing tenders for digitisation of various maps using private agencies/NGOs (like CPCB, APEDA, Central Water Commission, Municipalities etc.) Are they implementing these rules? Was the industry informed on this order? If yes, what was the information channel used?

(Reproduced with the permission of the authors from the November-December, 1998 issue of GIS@Development. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Society. The article is reproduced here to stimulate debate and generate solutions for an important issue. Mail your opinion to the Society)

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