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- This record is a summary of the main points from the 5th meeting of the Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP) held in Beijing. The record highlights the background to decisions made and resolutions adopted at the meeting, and the outcomes from the meeting.
- Amongst the main outcomes of the meeting was the recognition by the Committee of the significant progress made by the PCGIAP Geodesy and Fundamental Data Workings Groups since the 4th meeting in Tehran March 1998 under the more output focus adopted by the Committee in Tehran.
- In addition the PCGIAP has provided a valuable contribution to the emerging global spatial data infrastructure (GSDI) model over the period. The global initiative and the PCGIAP both recognise the importance of maximising the number of countries actively participating in regional and global SDI development and to this end the PCGIAP Taskforce has made some notable achievements in addressing SDI development needs of member nations.
- During the meeting a successful one day SDI seminar was held on Wednesday 21 April at which papers on topical SDI issues were presented by PCGIAP members and invited Chinese experts.
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- The meeting was attended by a total of 54 representatives, members and experts from 14 countries of the Asia and the Pacific region, and observers from 1 country outside the region. The full list of participants is attached as Annex 1.
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- Welcome by Director General of State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, People's Republic of China
In opening the 5th meeting of PCGIAP, Director General Mr JIN Xiangwen welcomed all participants. The full text of the Director General's welcome speech is at Annex 2.
- President's Welcome
The President of the PCGIAP, Dato' Abdul Majid bin Mohamed, Malaysia expressed his appreciation to the Government of the People's Republic of China and to the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping for hosting the meeting and extended his welcome to all present. The full text of the President's welcome is at Annex 3.
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- The initial agenda adopted on the first day was by necessity amended a number of times during the course of the meeting. The final agenda is at Annex 4.
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- President Dato' Abdul Majid bin Mohamed presented his report covering the period from the 4rd meeting of the PCGIAP at Tehran in March 1998. The full text of the President's report is at Annex 5 (Beijing meeting document 1). The President's report included the following highlights.
»» A definition of the Asia-Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure (the APSDI) was produced as Publication No.1.
»» A critical analysis of the PCGIAP Statutes had been made for assessment in Beijing.
»» Working Group 1 has carried out its second successful regional geodesy campaign, APRGP98 and held a PCGIAP geodesy workshop to analyse the results of APRGP97.
»» Working Group 2 has completed a successful period with its work towards establishing a policy for sharing data, in the
»» Through a questionnaire and other activities the PCGIAP Taskforce has gathered a significant amount of information from member countries on national survey, mapping and GIS programs. This information is helping determine appropriate development needs projects for member countries.
»» PCGIAP is working closely with international spatial data bodies and successfully hosted the 3rd Global Spatial Data Infrastructure conference in Canberra, Australia. Australia's Mr Peter Holland was elected Chair of the GSDI Steering Committee up to March 2000.
»» Revised representation on the PCGIAP Committee and Executive Board and was noted for:
Japan - Mr Yoshiaki Yano
Philippines - BGen Liberato Manuel
Thailand - Colonel Nukool Ratanakarn.
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- The Secretary of the PCGIAP, Mr Drew Clarke, Australia presented the Secretary's report covering the period from the 4rd meeting of the PCGIAP at Tehran in March 1998. The report highlighted the main achievements of the secretariat during that time. The full text of the Secretary's report is at Annex 6 (Beijing meeting document 2). Mr Clarke noted the following highlights:
»» The report of the Tehran meeting was prepared by the secretariat and Iran, and published and distributed by Iran. The secretariat placed the report on the PCGIAP web site at:
http://www.pcgiap.org/tehran/teh_rop.htm
»» Following production of Publication No.1, the document was widely circulated and has been placed on the PCGIAP web site at:
http://www.pcgiap.org/tech_paprs/apsdi_cnts.htm
»» The final draft of a glossy brochure about the Committee was produced for endorsement in Beijing. The brochure will promote the PCGIAP and be for members to use in their own countries and distribute where appropriate.
»» PCGIAP provided input from a regional perspective to the USA Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) survey on National Spatial Data Infrastructures (NSDIs). Refer web site at:
http://www.spatial.maine.edu/~onsrud/GSDI.html
»» Australia arranged the 3rd Global Spatial Data Infrastructure conference in Canberra November 1998 on behalf of PCGIAP, which hosted the event. Refer web site at:
http://www.eurogi.org/gsdi/canberra/gsdi3res.html
»» The secretariat continues to maintain and update the PCGIAP Web site at:
http://www.pcgiap.org/
»» Good progress towards the more output oriented approach of the Committee that was proposed in Tehran.
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- Working Group 1 (WG1) Chair Mr Rudolf Matindas, Indonesia, and Vice Chair Mr John Manning, Australia, presented the report on WG1 (Beijing meeting document 3). A summary of the full report is at Annex 7. The following main points were noted.
»» Significant work was undertaken throughout the period, with the major activity being the regional geodetic campaigns to build a precise regional geodetic infrastructure. The objective is to define a series of precise geodetic points with associated movement velocities.
»» A number of recommendations were presented to the Committee for consideration, including that the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) be the reference frame for geodetic applications in the Asia and the Pacific, for both horizontal and vertical applications.
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- Working Group 2 (WG2) Chair Mr Peter Holland, Australia, presented a progress report on WG2. Mr Holland tabled a report (Beijing meeting documents 6 and 7) a summary of which is at Annex 8. The following main points were noted.
»» Good progress was made by WG2 with its 1998-2000 work plan in particular with:
- A draft policy for sharing fundamental datasets (refer to Beijing meeting documents 9 and 10 and to http://www.pcgiap.org/98wg/98wg2.htm);
- Defining regional fundamental datasets;
- Developing a network of APSDI data nodes.
»» The work plan had been endorsed by the PCGIAP Executive Board at the Board's meeting in Canberra, Australia on 16 November 1998 and is an attachment to the WG2 report at Annex 8.
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- Taskforce Chair, Dato' Abdul Majid bin Mohamed, Malaysia, presented an overview on progress of the Taskforce since its formation at the Tehran meeting in March 1998. In addition, the four Taskforce sub-region leaders (Malaysia, Japan, Iran and Australia) provided further information specific to their activities.
- Dato' Majid explained that the Taskforce questionnaire was designed to collect institutional and other spatial data infrastructure (SDI) data of its members as a step towards identifying SDI development needs of member countries. A draft of the questionnaire had been discussed at the Executive Board meeting in Canberra November 1998 then finalised for circulation by Taskforce members to all PCGIAP members in their sub-region. Dato' Majid reported that five from 10 responses had been received to date from a draft of the questionnaire distributed to SE Asian countries.
- Mr Abbas Rajabifard, Iran reported that the questionnaire had been distributed to all 15 W Asia members and Iran was awaiting replies.
- Mr Hiroshi Une, Japan reported on behalf of the N Asia sub-region which has conducted a number of face-to-face meetings with its members to complement the data gathering from the questionnaire. Seven from eight responses to the questionnaire had been received. A report was tabled by Japan (Beijing meeting document 15) and is at Annex 9.
- Mr Drew Clarke, Australia reported that the Oceania sub-region held a SDI workshop in Suva March 1999 for Pacific Island countries as an aid in completing the questionnaire and to explain the role of the PCGIAP. Fifteen of 19 Pacific Island countries participated in the Suva workshop and at the present time 15 from 21 responses to the questionnaire had been received; Australia and New Zealand being the additional two countries.
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- One major outcome from the above Suva workshop was a proposal for the formation of a PCGIAP Pacific Group with annual rotating chairmanship as a means to better represent the views of the 19 Pacific Island nations on the PCGIAP.
- The workshop participants requested Mr Clarke to present a Pacific Group report to the Committee at the Beijing meeting and the following main points refer.
»» An interim report on outcomes from the Suva workshop was tabled (Beijing meeting document 14) which includes resolutions and recommendations to PCGIAP from the Suva workshop. A summary of this report is at Annex 10.
»» The unique nature of the Pacific Island countries was noted, and most had no previous direct contact with PCGIAP activities.
»» The Pacific Group expressed its desire to become more involved in activities of the PCGIAP, in particular as they relate to Pacific Island countries.
»» The Pacific Group elected American Samoa to be its primary representative on PCGIAP matters for 12 months from March 1999, with the Cook Islands as deputy, and Fiji being the initial representative of the Pacific Group with PCGIAP geodesy.
»» The role proposed for the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) is that of a secretariat for the Pacific Group with its involvement in PCGIAP activities.
- A number of resolutions and recommendations were presented for discussion at the Beijing meeting in particular the recommendation from the Suva workshop that the PCGIAP:
- Recognise the new Pacific Group as representing the interests of the 19 Pacific Island members of the PCGIAP;
- Include Pacific Group priorities, as identified by the Suva Workshop, in future PCGIAP work plans.
- The Pacific Group had agreed on three major priority issues at the Suva workshop: institutional strengthening; geodesy - in particular as it relates to horizontal and vertical datums; and a remote sensing data library for the Pacific.
- Mr Clarke also noted that the Pacific Group offered to host a PCGIAP annual or other meeting in 2001.
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- With reference to correspondence from Prof Ian Williamson, FIG Commission 7, supporting the development of a PCGIAP cadastral working group, the meeting discussed the possible establishment of a cadastral group. There was general agreement that cadastre is a matter of regional significance and that digital cadastre is important in national SDIs. It was noted however that each country has a unique national cadastre. The issues were discussed in a workshop and reported back in plenary (refer item U).
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- Mr Abbas Rajabifard, Iran provided a progress report on his doctoral research work on the Asia-Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure (APSDI) being carried out in cooperation with Australia at The University of Melbourne. Mr Rajabifard is working with PCGIAP Working Group 2 in addressing the development of regional fundamental datasets through research into SDIs and by determining the extent and quality of fundamental spatial data that exist in PCGIAP member countries.
- WG2 will circulate a questionnaire to all PCGIAP members seeking information on spatial data holdings. The distinction between the WG2 questionnaire and the Taskforce questionnaire was noted. Further information can be found at:
http://www.pcgiap.org/98wg/98wg2/data/funddata.htm
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- Mr Peter Holland, Australia represented PCGIAP at the special working group meeting of the United Nations Regional Cartographic Conferences (UNRCCs) in Mexico March 1998. The Mexico meeting had looked into the conduct of regional conferences, specific objectives of a global map and gave support to the creation of a United Nations Geographic Information Commission.
- Mr Holland reported the United Nations thought there would be little likelihood of a Geographic Information (GI) Commission but there was the possibility of ad hoc global GI meetings being held under the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). As well the United Nations was of the view that UNRCCs should be rejuvenated with support from regional bodies such as PCGIAP.
- In addition Mr Holland noted that a GI person would soon be employed at UNSD and recommended the views of PCGIAP in the above should be made known to UNSD. The meeting asked Mr Holland to prepare a resolution from the Beijing meeting to clarify PCGIAP's position in this matter and as a vehicle for responding to the United Nations.
- Mr Holland's report back to the meeting (Beijing meeting document 26) is summarised at Annex 11.
- The Committee supported the concept of ad hoc meetings under UNSD however expressing its preference for the establishment of a GI Commission. PCGIAP will approach UNSD as set out in the resolution.
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- Mr Yoshihisa Hoshino, Japan presented the report of the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM) in which he noted two main items:
»» The United Nations recommendation of the Global Mapping Project to the heads of National Mapping Organizations (NMOs). Forty-eight applications for participation from NMOs have already been received by the secretariat of ISCGM. The list of organisations is contained in Annex 12 (Beijing meeting document 18) and is available on the Global Mapping homepage at:
http://www.isgcm.org/participant.html
»» A Global Mapping session will be held in Cambridge on July 21 1999. A draft program is contained in Annex 12. This session in Cambridge is seen as a significant opportunity to extend participation of NMOs into the Global Mapping project.
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- In his position as Chair of the GSDI Steering Committee Mr Peter Holland, Australia briefed the Committee on the current status of GSDI initiatives and the central role of PCGIAP in GSDI implementation. In particular:
»» The PCGIAP hosted a successful GSDI conference in Canberra in November 1998.
»» Peter Holland from Australian has been nominated by the PCGIAP to chair the GSDI Steering Committee in the period between the Canberra conference and the next GSDI conference in South Africa in 2000.
»» There are now several PCGIAP members directly involved in GSDI activities - President, Vice President, Secretary and another Executive Board member currently serve on the GSDI steering committee.
»» The PCGIAP is a forum where GSDI issues can be considered in a regional context, and where regional views on the GSDI can be provided to the global group.
»» The Asia Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure concept being developed by the PCGIAP will be an important element on the GSDI.
»» The PCGIAP will have a potentially central role in the proposed GSDI umbrella organisation.
- Mr Holland reported that the GSDI Steering Committee manages the activities of four GSDI working groups as follows:
»» Operations Working Group - implementation of the umbrella organisation structure.
»» Technical Working Group - advise on technical aspects of the GSDI.
»» Communication and Awareness Working Group - inform on and promote the GSDI concept.
»» Legal and Economic Working Group - advise on economic, legal and funding mechanisms underpinning the GSDI.
- In addition, the Steering Committee through its GSDI Taskforce is developing plans to commission a major study into the business case for SDI development.
- The following recommendations proposed by Mr Holland were agreed to by the meeting:
- The GSDI initiative be a standing agenda item on future Executive Board and Committee meeting agendas.
- The President (or the President's nominee) continue to be a member of the GSDI executive committee.
- The President (or the President's nominee) attend future GSDI conferences, in particular the next GSDI conference in South Africa in 2000.
- PCGIAP member organisations endeavour to participate in relevant GSDI working group activities and projects.
- PCGIAP support the creation of a global umbrella organisation for the GSDI.
- The meeting asked that the record of proceedings document the Committee's appreciation of Australia's and AUSLIG's valuable contribution to GSDI initiatives on behalf of PCGIAP.
- Further information on the GSDI initiative can be found at:
http://www.gsdi.org/
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- Proposed amendments to the PCGIAP Statutes had been discussed at the Executive Board meeting in November 1998 and circulated to all PCGIAP members prior to the Beijing meeting.
- The following main points were noted from discussion at Beijing:
»» It was agreed that the secretariat will maintain a list of bodies for which the Committee is eager to have links.
»» The meeting confirmed that terms of Executive Board Members will coincide with the triennial UNRCC-AP and that if a Board member resigns during the term and the resigning Member's country is unable to provide a replacement, nominations will be called from other countries.
»» The meeting discussed the unique situation of the PCGIAP Pacific Group of 19 member countries being chaired by one country on annual rotation, and possibly representing the Group at PCGIAP meetings. In consultation with the current Chair, American Samoa, the Secretary will propose an item for the Statutes to accommodate the Pacific Group, and report to the next PCGIAP meeting.
»» The meeting agreed that subject to agreement from the United Nations Statistics Division, the Committee would treat the 2000 UNRCC-AP (and subsequent triennial UNRCC-AP meetings) as the PCGIAP annual meeting for that year, noting the additional arrangements that would become the responsibility of the PCGIAP every three years.
»» Minor changes to the proposed amendments and to the Statutes were agreed to by the meeting. The revised Statutes can be found on the PCGIAP homepage at:
http://www.pcgiap.org/pcstat_c.htm
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- The meeting asked for nominations to fill the vacancy left by New Zealand in the PCGIAP Executive Board. India was nominated by Iran, and seconded by Malaysia. China spoke in support of the nomination of India. LtGen A.K. Ahuja was duly elected by the Committee to the PCGIAP Executive Board.
- The President welcomed LtGen Ahuja to the Board noting the valuable experience he would bring to the position.
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- Workshops of the Geodesy and Fundamental Data Working Groups and the Taskforce were conducted in Beijing. In addition a workshop was held regarding the proposal for a possible PCGIAP cadastral working group. Recommendations, resolutions and action items were developed and discussed in the workshops and reported back in plenary as follows.
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- Mr John Manning, Australia, Vice Chair of WG1 presented the report back to the meeting.
- Mr Manning reported that following the PCGIAP geodesy technical workshop held in Canberra July 1998 to present results of the 1997 campaign and to prepare for the 1998 campaign, another workshop is planned for Vietnam mid-1999.
- A third campaign is being arranged for October 1999 to extend the GPS connections to the geodetic networks in individual countries unable to participate in the 1998 campaign (such as Pacific Island countries, and some countries in west Asia and north Asia), and to enhance the connection of local vertical datums to sea level.
- Mr Manning said a geodesy expert from Fiji, representing the PCGIAP Pacific Group, would be attending the workshop in Vietnam.
- A similar technical workshop is scheduled in mid-2000 to report on and analyse the outcomes of the 1999 regional geodesy campaign and to address the development of transformation parameters and vertical datum unification strategies. The meeting accepted the invitation by Mongolia to host the 2000 workshop in Ulaanbaatar.
- Recognising the need for a uniform geodetic control system across the Asia and the Pacific region, the meeting resolved that the ITRF system and the GRS80 ellipsoid be adopted as the fundamental datum parameters for regional applications.
- It was also agreed that the values from the 1997 campaign should be used as the interim datum points for key permanent sites pending the development of site velocities in future regional campaigns.
- The WG1 report back to the meeting is at Annex 13 (Beijing meeting document 22). Resolutions are at Annex 18.
- The President thanked WG1 for its significant progress and active involvement in the PCGIAP.
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- Mr Peter Holland, Chair of WG2, presented the report back to the meeting.
- Mr Holland noted changes and replacements in the WG2 Executive Group. Professor Jun Chen, China stepped down as Task Coordinator for the APSDI data nodes network project and was replace by Professor Jing Jiangtong, China. Dr. Munahbaatar Enkhbayar, Mongolia accepted the invitation to serve as Task Coordinator for the regional GIS application demonstration project alongside existing Task Coordinator Mr. Evgeniy Zhalkovskiy, Russia.
- The meeting endorsed the updated workplans for WG2 that comprised the following:
- Policy for Sharing Fundamental Data
- Regional Fundamental Datasets
- APSDI Data Nodes
- Regional GIS Application Demonstrations.
- The meeting debated the format of the WG2 pilot project on fundamental data. Mr Holland explained that the pilot would explore the issues to be considered and be a mechanism to understand these issues. The issues were seen to include:
»» technical, such as datums and scales; and
»» policy, such as addressing gaps and strategies for handling datasets from neighbouring countries.
- Amongst a number of recommendations to the meeting WG2 proposed that PCGIAP members complete the questionnaire on regional fundamental datasets being prepared by the WG2 secretariat and Mr Abbas Rajabifard at The University of Melbourne. It was noted that this questionnaire was in support of the fundamental data project, and is a separate exercise to the Taskforce questionnaire.
- The WG2 report back to the meeting (Beijing meeting document 23) is summarised at Annex 14.
- The President thanked WG2 for the progress it had made with the Policy for Sharing Fundamental Data, APSDI data nodes, and in defining regional fundamental data.
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- Mr Chen Kin Kee, Hong Kong China, reported that the complexity and range of different national cadastres amongst member countries was noted during the cadastral workshop. As well it emerged that there was insufficient support to establish a PCGIAP cadastral working group at this time. Given the strong interest of FIG Commission 7 in this matter, the meeting agreed that Commission 7 be invited to convene a technical seminar on cadastre at the next UNRCC-AP and PCGIAP meeting early in 2000.
- Hong Kong agreed to manage preparation on PCGIAP cadastral issues up to 2000 UNRCC-AP with support from the Australian secretariat.
- The cadastral report back to the meeting contained a number of resolutions, actions and key issues. Refer Annex 15 (Beijing meeting document 24).
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- Taskforce Chairman Dato' Abdul Majid bin Mohamed, Malaysia and Oceania sub-region representative Mr Drew Clarke, Australia reported to the meeting.
- In particular the institutional strengthening project proposed by the Pacific Group was discussed as to it being a whole of PCGIAP project or a stand alone Pacific Group project. Mr Clarke explained that the Pacific Group had recognised the value of the Taskforce questionnaire but an institutional strengthening project would comprise a complex design that fully identifies strengths and areas for improvement in SDI capability.
- Iran stated its intention to hold a Taskforce W Asia sub-region workshop in Tehran for the 15 PCGIAP members around August/September 1999, similar to the Suva SDI workshop.
- The Taskforce report back to the meeting (Beijing meeting document 25) contained a status of progress against the Taskforce workplan, resolutions and an action list for the Taskforce. The report is summarised at Annex 16 and the Resolutions are at Annex 18.
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- China presented a report on the ISO TC/211 meeting in Vienna, Austria in March 1999. The full report is at Annex 17 (Beijing meeting document 21).
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- The next annual meeting will coincide with the 15th UNRCC-AP around March 2000 at a venue to be confirmed.
- The next Executive Board meeting is scheduled for 28 October 1999 in Melbourne Australia immediately following the FIG conference in Melbourne.
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- The President expressed his appreciation for the progress accomplished by the PCGIAP Working Groups and Taskforce in achieving their work programs.
- In closing the meeting the President thanked China as host and the Chinese Organising Committee for its excellent efforts in support of the meeting. The President also thanked all present for their participation during the meeting.
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