Indian geospatial industry will be bigger than IT and telecom industry,” declared Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences. Participating as the chief guest at a splendid event organsied by Geospatial Today, the minister unveiled the Geospatial Roadmap of India with the presentation ceremony of the Indian Geospatial Awards, the release of the Indian Geospatial Industry Survey 2008 Report and the Geospatial Round Table.

Addressing the elite gathering which comprised of the who’s who of the Indian geospatial industry after releasing the Indian Geospatial Industry Survey 2008 Report, Kapil Sibal enumerated on the enormous potential the technology holds in bringing about radical changes and development in the country. He said the industry’s scope is so vast that it will soon surpass mega industries like IT and telecom, he quipped.

He cited the recent initiative by the government to develop a decision support system for farm loan waiver using geospatial technologies announced by the Union government and said if this technology reaches out to the farmers, it can empower them with all the information they need about the type of soil, nutrients, dryness, land use and help counsel the farmers on the choice of the crop depending upon the agro climatic conditions prevailing in the region.

Availability of data is a major concern, Sibal noted and said realising this impediment, India has constituted the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). He exhorted that free flow of data must be allowed. He said no country can move forward without NSDI and this can be achieved only through public private partnerships. He called upon the industry to participate in this Herculean task, add value to the existing data and come out with more applications, projects and revenue models.

“Data is like air, like flowing water. No one can claim proprietary right over data. We should allow free flow of data. We need to change the mindset of the government which holds data as its own property,” Sibal remarked and added, “a public authority must be a repository of data and facilitate access to data. There is a clear shift in the mindset of the government since the New Map Policy and NSDI.” He exuded confidence that all the changes will reap benefits in the near future.

The minister mooted the idea of a regulatory body to bring all the geospatial stakeholders on to one platform. Most of the geospatial data is land based and due to security reasons, government cannot put the entire data in the public domain, he said. Also, it needs to be verified from time to time, which should only be done by the government. For these two reasons, Sibal said government has to be on the fringe, though not at the heart of the industry and carry out the business of regulating geospatial data.

The minister then gave away the Indian Geospatial Awards 2008, constituted to reward the most deserving in the field and to give further impetus to the technology. This year’s recipients include Dr George Joseph and Lt Gen GC Agarwal, who bagged Lifetime Achievment Awards for geospatial technologies and surveying respectively. While Speck Systems was nominated as the Geospatial Company of the Year, Rajendra S Pawar of NIIT bagged the Geospatial Entrepreneur of the Year award and Kamal K Singh of Rolta bagged the Geospatial Leadership Award.

The award ceremony was followed by the Geospatial Round Table in association with CNBC TV 18. The discussion panel was led by Kapil Sibal. Other eminent persons on the panel included Dr Shailesh Nayak, Director, INCOIS, Rajesh C Mathur, President, ESRI India, Dr BVR Mohan Reddy, CMD, InfoTech Enterprises, Atul D Tayal, JMD, Rolta India, Dr Mukund K Rao, CEO, Navayuga Spatial Technologies and Alok Upadhyaya, Head-Infrastructure & MRTS, SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd. The panel discussed the scope and the use of geospatial technology, key drivers and challenges, policy issues, economic and social issues it could bring, the current scenario of the industry and its future. This was followed by stand up comedian Virkam Sathye’s rib-tickling humour that thoroughly entertained the guests and helped them unwind. A sumptuous dinner and cocktails gave enough opportunity for the guests to network and relax.