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Indian GIS market to touch $10 billion in 10 years
Wednesday, 26 September 2007, 19:30 IST
Hyderabad: The size of the geographical information system (GIS) market in India is expected to be $10 billion in 10 years, said speakers at a business conclave during the ongoing 58th International Astronautical Congress here.
Annual revenues of the GIS market globally are expected to grow from an estimated $4 billion to $150 billion in the next decade.
"India is sitting on a goldmine with tremendous business potential for use of GIS for land records in 600,000 villages," said Mukund K. Rao, CEO of Bangalore-based Navayuga Spatial Technologies (NST), at a session on GIS and high-resolution imagery market.
With more and more government agencies, private companies and individuals using GIS and high-resolution imagery services, the market is growing by leaps and bounds.
The growth is attributed to wide use of spatial information for local and regional planning, infrastructure development, disaster management support, business development, natural resources management and disaster management.
The annual budget of government agencies for GIS services is estimated to be $200 million, while 100 to 200 companies in the market have equal annual revenues, said Rao.
Referring to convergence of spatial technologies, he emphasised the need for building integrated and innovative solutions. "The business can be addressed and profitability can be assured by a good integrated solution that assimilates imaging, mapping and GIS," he said.
He cited the example of National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) being developed by ministry of science and technology as a data repository for the use of government agencies, citizens and private enterprise.
The integration of technologies is making it possible to see virtual cities on the computer screen with continuous update. Navayuga is developing an enterprise GIS for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for e-governance and sewage management.
It is also mapping 8-19 Japanese cities with continuous updates. According to Rao, the department of science and technology is keen to have a similar virtual map of Delhi.
Barbara Ray of US Geological Survey said public-private partnership could unleash the power of land remote sensing. "Land cover information is a largely untapped resource and will need continued access to land remote sensing assets," she said.
She also called for developing simpler tools to help unleash the power of land cover and other types of information. "By developing simpler tools, we can make the information accessible to thousands of users," she added.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS