Asian Surveying & Mapping
Breaking News
HAL to build, market Isro’s SSLV in landmark deal
New Delhi, Jun 20: In a historic move for...
Taiwan developing space capabilities for all-weather imaging
TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan is advancing its space...
Honda hails successful test of reusable rocket as it looks to get into the space business
Tokyo — Japan's second-biggest carmaker, Honda, has successfully tested...
China’s space program provides larger platform for broader international cooperation
BEIJING -- Experts from China's manned space program said...
India To Launch $1.5 Billion Joint Earth Mission With NASA In July
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian...
Axiom-4 mission delayed again: ISRO confirms Subhanshu Shukla’s ISS spaceflight won’t launch before 22 June 2025
The Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station has...
Mengzhou spacecraft for China’s moon-landing mission passes landmark test flight
China has completed the inaugural test flight of its...
Space application for ITMA Asia + CITME 2026 opens
Shanghai – Space application for the 2026 edition of...
Yanmar, Chia Tai and XAG Empower Thai Agriculture through Innovation
Bang Nam Priao District, Chachoengsao Province, Thailand – On...
bitsensing Signs MOU with IKIO Technologies to Advance AI-Based Traffic Monitoring on India’s Expressways, Highways and Municipal Areas
Backed by proven success in South Korea and Europe,...

January 6th, 2008
The Value of Data

The group was intrigued by a comment made ealrier in the day by Lam Joon Khoi, the chief of the Singapore Land Authority, who has been charged with the creation of a spatial data infrastructure.

Lam told a plenary session of the conference that much of the data held by SLA will be made available to the public, for free, over the web. Moreover, much of this data will be joined up with data from other existing portals where information on people and businesses are held.

Wong said such moves are indicative of a growing feeling among Singapore senior bureaucrats that much is to be gained through giving people access to such systems.

Stephenson said this is definitely not the view in most other countries in the region, where people charged with collecting data often at great price, cannot get their minds around the fact that it only gets value when it is given away.

There are other issues as well. Data custodians frequently would rather critical users did not test their data for accuracy and completeness. Indian civil servants in particular are legendary for insisting on rules and procedures that are gravely threatened by the internet in general and spatial technology in particular.

The general concensus seems to be that the situation is both better and worse than the situation in the West.

In Asia, it is difficult to get agreement. In most Western jurisdictions, its quite easy. However, in Asia, once a decision has been made that data can be shared, it will be.

But in the west, bureaucracies agree that data sharing would be a good thing, but only for other agencies, never their own.

Headlines