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Assessing SDI readiness in Pakistan

Article · November 2008

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Asmat Ali
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 Building Bridges

F or more than a cen-

tury, humanity has
started showing con-
cern for the future of our planet. Natural
resources like water reservoirs, forests, oil
and gas fields have drawn attention of
governments all over the world due to
their limited capacity on the one hand
and their rapid consumption on the other
hand. This situation is a matter of great
concern for countries like Pakistan which
depend more on natural resources than
on industry for its economy.
To access, manage and monitor these
resources, one requires spatial data. A
special characteristic of spatial data is
that it can be shared and used for many
purposes other than the one for which
it was originally produced (Asmat,
2008). But dilemma is, usually such
data is not shared with other organisa-
tions or potential users in countries like
Pakistan due to institutional, legal and
organisational constraints. The impor-
tance of spatial data was not realised
for decades by the governments until

Assessing
last few years in countries like Pak-
istan. This is because of the relatively
underestimated socio-economic value
of geographic information (GI). Conse-

SDI readiness in quently, the establishing of appropri-

ate policy, institutional and legal
arrangements to deal with sharing of
GI was not given priority at higher lev-

Pakistan els.
But now Pakistan has started listen-
ing to spatial data needs. Some of the
driving forces include economic, social
and technological benefits from invest-
ments already made in spatial-
resources (such as data collection, pro-
cessing, hardware, software and capac-
ity building etc). It includes driving

52 GIS DEVELOPMENT NOVE M B E R 2008

forces such as changes in societal prior-
ities (such as reliable, quick, round the
clock availability, updated, diverse and
user demanded data), natural resource
management and community protec-
tion (emergency management and
homeland security). The launch of e-
government programme in 2003,
which included GIS for Agriculture,
Natural Resources & Urban Property of
Pakistan, Mapping & Database of
National Cartographic data is the first
example. Second example is the estab-
lishment of National Disaster Manage-
ment Authority (NDMA) in 2006 that
requires various kinds of spatial data
for rescue operations. Another example
includes establishment of Land Records
Management Information System as
an e-government initiative. These
important yet isolated activities of the
Government of Pakistan (GOP) need
integration to harmonise data sharing
so that duplication of efforts in collec-
tion, maintenance and processing of
spatial data can be minimised with the
implementation of spatial data infra-
structure (SDI) as seen by Crompvoets
(2006). This paper takes a closer look at
SDI readiness in Pakistan in the context
of e-government, socio-technical and
geopolitical situation of the country.
In September 2007, a field study was
conducted to collect information about
"SDI-supporting initiatives" Masser
(2005, p.258) in Pakistan. The study was
Table 1: Organisations visited
Public sector Public sector
Su
re
v yfoPakitsan (SOP) Geo
matics&Engineering
Services
Geog
o
l ical Su
re
vy
MYCO
foPakitsan
So
il Su
re
v yfoPakitsan NESPAK
NOVE M B E R 2008
carried out in three major cities i.e.
Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore. The
information was collected through
questionnaires, interviews, policy doc-
uments and site visits. In total, seven
organisations were visited as displayed
in Table 1.
MAJOR FI N DI NGS OF TH E
FI E LD STU DY
Data Types Produced
The first step in the development of a
Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is the
documentation of existing data. The
study reveals that both sectors, public
and private, are producing spatial data
such as topographic, cadastre, soil, geol-
ogy, hydrology, ortho imagery and
crops as shown in Figure 1.
Most of this data is being produced by
public sector organisations as a man-
dated responsibility. But mandates dif-
fer from organisation to organisation
and as a result, the type of data pro-
duced varies, too. The different type of
data collected and maintained by some
of the public sector organisations, its
form (e.g. analogue or digital) and its
dissemination mode is summarised in
Table 2.Digital data produced is large
but only 40% public sector organisa-
tions included in the study permit citi-
zens to access entire data sets. Outdat-
ed policies hamper the full exploitation
and utilisation of available spatial data.
Public sector
Institu
te o
f Authority
Geo grapical
h http://ndma.gov.pk/) has been devel-
Info
rmatio n
Systems(IGIS)
Fig. 1: Data types produced
To overcome heterogeneity problems
of data, 56% private sector and 60%
public sector organisations are produc-
ing data on various standards.
In private sector, 44% organisations
are creating metadata. 60% GI private
sector organisations have managed
half of their data in a database whereas
40% organisations have quarter of their
data in a database.
PR IVATE SECTOR'S
CAPACITY FOR
DEVE LOPM E NT
SDIs are usually victims of public sec-
tor. Therefore, private sector is given
significant consideration especially its
capacity to develop innovative and
new services. A GIS portal offers meta-
data to extract data from databases
which need not only database develop-
ment capability but also expertise to
develop data extraction tools. 44%
organisations responded to metadata
creation capability, 56% responded to
develop databases while 44% organisa-
tions responded to the development of
data extraction tools. A GIS portal by
National Disaster Management
Pakistan (NDMA,
oped. The portal was developed and is
maintained by a consortium of experts
GIS DEVELOPMENT 53

Fig. 2: Organisations in private and public sector
implementing standards
drawn from the World Bank, American
and Pakistani universities and the pri-
vate sector, with support from the gov-
ernment of Pakistan according to the
website of GSDI (http://lists.gsdi.org/
pipermail/sdi-asiapacific/2005-
November/000075.html).
STAKE HOLDE RS SU PP ORT
Contrary to GIS, SDI has many stake-
holders such as academia and research
institutes, NGOs, public and private
sectors. All these stakeholders were
considered and contacted during the
study. Replying to the question, "what
is the potential of SDI development in
Pakistan?" NGOs graded potential of
SDI development in Pakistan 100% as
"Good" followed by 80% from public
sector and 71% from private sector. This
reflects the positive attitude of key
stakeholder groups of SDI in Pakistan.
One-to-one contact plays a significant
role in information exchange. There-
fore, GI stakeholders from private and
public sector organisations were inter-
viewed to know their opinion towards
SDI development. As capacity building
is an important part of SDI develop-
ment therefore, in this context employ-
ees of academia engaged in GI related
teaching were also interviewed. A total
54 GIS DEVELOPMENT
of five structured domain in the country.
and semi struc-
tured interviews PU B LIC SECTOR
were recorded. ORGAN ISATIONS
Some of the Three public sector organisations oper-
points raised dur- ating in geospatial domain were visit-
ing the inter- ed i.e. Survey of Pakistan (SOP) at
views are as Rawalpindi, Soil Survey of Pakistan
below: (SSP) and Geological Survey of Pakistan
• Not all data is (GSP) both at Lahore. All these organisa-
open to public yet
tions are on the supply side producing
due to map policy
(SOP) and providing spatial data within their
mandated role. Being funded by the
• Survey of Pak-
istan can serve as government, no user oriented products
an umbrella are being considered. SOP is rich in
organisation for such initiative (SDI) by
providing guide lines and coordinating human and technical resources and is
with other organisations (SOP) presently a member of the most
• Survey of Pakistan can help to define renowned international mapping proj-
standards for geographic data (SOP) ect 'Global Mapping' a UN project fund-
• Now good awareness can be seen ed and supervised by International
among people and relevant profession- Steering Committee for Global map-
als (IGIS)
ping (ISCGM). Global Map published
• Same data is being prepared by many
data of Pakistan on its website
organisations (NESPAK)
(http://www.iscgm.org).
• There is no data sharing and the cost
of mapping a city is huge (NESPAK)
PR IVATE SECTOR
• In Pakistan, surveying and mapping
were neglected fields but today the ORGAN ISATIONS
conditions are better due to the pres- Two GI private sector organisations
ence of foreign consultants (MYCO)
were visited. National Engineering Ser-
• SOP has old policy not to issue data vices Pakistan Pvt. Limited (NESPAK)
but every body can get satellite imagery
(MYCO) located in Islamabad and MYCO Sur-
veys Pvt. Limited in Lahore. NESPAK is a
• Ever since the arrival of satellite
imagery, the world is like an open book consultancy organisation and provides
(Geomatics & Engineering Services) services in the fields of GIS and IT in
ORGAN ISATIONS
VISITE D
In order to have a direct
observation, some pri-
vate companies and
government offices
were visited during
field study. This provid-
ed an opportunity to
have a direct observa-
tion of organisations
operating in spatial
Fig. 4: Stakeholders support for SDI development in Pakistan
NOVE M B E R 2008
 Fig. 3: Private sector's capacity to develop SDI technical components
addition to other infrastructure devel-
opment project services. One of the GIS
expert of the organisation during inter-
view criticised Survey of Pakistan for
not giving access to data which is no
doubt a common complaint by most of
the users. MYCO provides services for
topographic and engineering surveys
and also takes part in capacity building
programmes.
ACADE M IA, R ESEARCH
I NSTITUTES AN D NGOS
To explore the role being played by aca-
demia, research institutes and non-
governmental organisations (NGOs),
one organisation from each domain
was directly observed through personal
visits. Among academia and research
institutes, Institute of Geographical
Information Systems (IGIS) located in
Islamabad was visited. The institute
offers a number of programmes from
basic short courses to degree level such
as MS and PhD in GIS and remote sens-
ing. The institute organises seminars,
workshops and symposia regularly to
create awareness about spatial sci-
ences and technologies among people
of the country. One of the winners of
GSDI 2007 Small Grants (http://www.
gsdi.org/proj+progr.asp),World Wildlife
NOVE M B E R 2008
View publication stats
Fund-Pakistan (WWF-P) is a non gov-
ernmental organisation. WWF-P is one
component of the WWF international
family and is playing its role for conser-
vation of nature in Pakistan. The NGO is
establishing a Spatial Data Infrastruc-
ture (SDI), previously known as data
clearinghouse, for sharing conservation
information, data and expertise, (GSDI
Small Grant Summaries 2006-2007
Funding Cycle, p.9). During the discus-
sion, it was revealed that a survey was
conducted titled "SWOT analysis of
partners and stakeholders to assess
their GIS/RS capabilities/resources".
The analysis shows that there is need of
capacity building in GIS & RS in Pak-
istan.
ASSESSI NG TH E CU R R E NT
STATUS
After going through the study results,
summary of which has been presented
in above paragraphs, Table 3 critically
analyses SDI related activities in the
country in an integrated fashion. The
parameters used are of Eelderink, L., J.
W. H. C. Crompvoets, et al. (2007) as
well as some additional parameters
were also considered that are men-
tioned in the table such as social com-
ponent. The decision level i.e. High,
Moderate, Low and Nil are based on the
following criteria:
Measured value if
>=70% then High
>=60% then Moderate
<=40% then Low
=0% then Nil
CONCLUSION
National policies as well as socio-tech-
nical environment in Pakistan aim to
promote SDI culture gradually as pres-
sure on natural resources and land is
immense due to rapidly increasing
population and changing geopolitical
situation in the region. But issues such
as institutional arrangements and poli-
cy framework for the establishment of
spatial data infrastructure remains to
be addressed though organisations in
public and private sectors are ambi-
tious to take off for SDI in the country.
In this context, the national mapping
organisation (SOP) can play a pivotal
role by bringing key stakeholder groups
of spatial data on a unified platform for
the implementation of an effective spa-
tial data infrastructure (SDI) which is
the need of the day.
Asmat Ali
Assistant Director, Survey of Pakistan
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
asmatali@yahoo.com
GIS DEVELOPMENT 55