Presented by Mr Alister Nairn, Manager - Spatial Data Infrastructure Program, AUSLIG on behalf of Dato' Abdul Majid Bin Mohamed.

BACKGROUND

At the 13^th United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific held in Beijing, China in 9-18 May 1994, the following resolution was adopted:

"16. Permanent regional GIS infrastructure committee

The Conference,

Noting the rapid development and progress of geographic information systems in all countries in past years,

Bearing in mind that geographical information systems form a fundamental part of the information industry,

Recognizing the urgent need for regional and global geographical information system cooperation and the necessity for experience exchange and technology transfer on geographical information systems,

Recommends that within a year from now, with the initial administrative support of the United Nations Secretariat, directorates of national survey and mapping organizations in the region form a permanent committee to discuss and agree on, inter alia, geographical information system standards, geographical information system infrastructure and institutional development, and linkage of the prospective committee with related bodies in the world."

FORMATION OF PERMANENT COMMITTEE

Pursuant to Resolution 16 above, the Permanent Committee was formally established at its inaugural formation meeting held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 12-14 July 1995. The meeting was attended by 169 representatives and observers from 23 countries and territories, 4 specialised agencies, inter-governmental and international scientific organisations.

The Committee is formally known as the "Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific", and is under the purview of the UN Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific and will submit its report and recommendations to that Conference.

AIMS OF THE COMMITTEE

The aims of the Permanent Committee (PC) are to maximise the economic, social and environmental benefits of geographic information in accordance with Agenda 21 by providing a forum for nations from Asia and the Pacific to:-

• cooperate in the development of a regional geographic information infrastructure,

• contribute to the development of the global geographic information infrastructure, and

• share experiences and consult on matters of common interest.

MEMBERSHIP

The membership of the Committee shall consist of the directorates of national survey and mapping organisations and equivalent national agencies from Asia and the Pacific. The present list from the United Nations consists of 55 nations.

ELECTION OF EXECUTIVE BOARD

An Executive Board consisting of the President, Vice-President, Secretary and up to seven other members was set up to plan and coordinate the Committee's work programme. The current Executive Board members are as follows:-

President
Dato' Abdul Majid Bin Mohamed
Director General
Department of Survey and Mapping, Malaysia

Vice-President
Prof. Yang Kai
Deputy Director General
National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, China

Secretary
Mr. Brendan Godfrey
Department of Industry, Science and Tourism, Australia

Members

(1) Mr. Tony Bevin
Surveyor General
Land Information New Zealand

(2) Mr. Rudolf W. Matindas
Head of First Center for Mapping
National Coordination Agency for Survey and Mapping
Indonesia

(3) Mr. Abbas Radjabifard
Head of GIS Department
National Cartographic Center, Iran

(4) Dr. Kim Won-Ik
Director General
National Geographic Institute, Korea

(5) Mr. Kunio Nonomura
Director General
Geographical Survey Institute, Japan

(6) Colonel Nukool Ratanakarn
Technical Officer
Royal Thai Survey Department, Thailand

(7) Mr. Jose G. Solis
Administrator
Department of Environment and Natural Resources,
Republic of the Philippines

THE WORKING GROUPS

Four (4) Working Groups were established with their respective topic and Chairman as follows:-

WG I	:	Geographic Information Infrastructure And Institutional Framework Chairman : Dato' Abdul Majid Bin Mohamed (Malaysia)
WG II	:	Issues Relating To Cadastral Infrastructure Chairman : Mr. Tony Bevin (New Zealand)
WG III	:	Asia And The Pacific Regional Geodetic Networks Chairman : Mr. Rudolf Matindas (Indonesia)
WG IV	:	Legislation And Administrative Arrangements For The Acquisition And Sharing Of Spatial Data Chairman : Mr. Brendan Godfrey (Australia)

LIAISONS

The Permanent Committee maintain a close liaison status with the following organisations:-

1. UN Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific;
2. European Umbrella Organisation for Geographical Information (EUROGI);
3. International Organisation for Standardisation Technical Committee 211 - Geographic Information/Geomatics (ISO/TC 211);

INTERNET HOMEPAGE

During its 2^nd meeting held in Sydney, Australia, the Permanent Committee has set up its own Internet homepage with the following address:

http://www.pcgiap.org/

All information concerning the organisation of the Permanent Committee and reports of its various meetings may be obtained from this site.

RESOLUTIONS FROM THE 14^TH UNRCC

At the 14^th United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference (UNRCC) for Asia and the Pacific held in Bangkok, the following resolutions and recommendations were adopted:

Resolution 1: Recommends that the UN, through the Permanent Committee,

1. Identify options for new and innovative ways to finance spatial data infrastructure programmes;
2. Make funding agencies aware of the economic impact of spatial data infrastructure and urge those agencies to give greater attention to funding the spatial data infrastructure components of project proposals.

Resolution 8: (1) Urges the Permanent Committee to carry out an Asia and Pacific geodetic project in close cooperation with the Asia/Pacific space geodynamics project, to establish a regional geodetic infrastructure and to maintain a regional geodetic network for GIS application;

(2) Recommends that all member countries in the region undertake a simultaneous geodetic data observation campaign with techniques of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) and global positioning systems (GPS), within available resources, throughout the region for a one-month observation period in October 1997.

Resolution 11: (1) Urges all the Governments of Asia and the Pacific to consider participating in the development of the Global Map, with the assistance of the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping and the close cooperation of the United Nations;

1. Recommends the creation of a Global Mapping forum of data providers and users to facilitate the development of the Global Map and a virtual forum of users via the Internet or other means of communication and interaction;
2. Also recommends establishing and maintaining points of contact within national mapping organizations as the initial step in facilitating the creation of such a forum;
3. Further recommends the strengthening of collaborative and cooperative efforts between Global Mapping and those of various regional spatial data infrastructures, especially the Asia and the Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure (APSDI) of the Permanent Committee.

Resolution 12: Urging all Governments in Asia and the Pacific to consider participating in the work of the Permanent Committee,

1. Recommends that cooperation be sought between the Regional Space Applications Programme of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Permanent Committee, in advancing the successful realization of the aims of the Permanent Committee;
2. Also recommends that future reports by the Permanent Committee be submitted for consideration to subsequent UNRCC for Asia and the Pacific;
3. Further recommends that the Permanent Committee provide on its World Wide Web home page:
   1. A link to the World Wide Web home page of the International Organization for Standardization/Technical Committee 211 (ISO/TC 211) in order to access the standards currently being developed by that Committee, especially the metadata and other geospatial data administration standards;
   2. A capability to report on the status of recommendations of the UNRCC for Asia and the Pacific;
   3. A generic template with which nations can report the status of surveying, mapping, and GIS activities, including relevant national issues, actions taken and associated rationales for those actions.

Resolution 14: (1) Recommends that the United Nations urge all Governments in Asia and the Pacific to consider establishing a national spatial data infrastructure;

1. Also recommends that the United Nations urge all Governments in Asia and the Pacific to consider participating in the work of the Permanent Committee in establishing the Asia and the Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure (APSDI);
2. Further recommends that the United Nations urge the Permanent Committee to endeavour to link the APSDI into the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI).
   

The Ad-Hoc Group of Experts Meeting on Legislation for Surveying and Mapping was held in New York on 6^th June 1997 in conjunction with the 6^th UNRCC for the Americas. The meeting, which was organized by the United Nations Department for Development Support and Management Services, has recommended that a similar model as that of the Permanent Committee be set up for the Americas.

One of the initial tasks given to these Permanent Committees is to carry out a study on the cost/benefit aspects of cadastral surveying legislation. The results and recommendations of this study should be presented to the Secretariat of the UNRCC, with concrete proposals on how their implementation could be facilitated.

THE ASIA AND THE PACIFIC SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE (APSDI)

Besides the numerous resolutions and recommendations adopted at its 2^nd meeting in Sydney, the Permanent Committee has formulated a comprehensive definition of the Asia and the Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure (APSDI) as follows:

The Asia and the Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure (APSDI) comprises an institutional framework, technical standards, fundamental datasets and a distribution network. Through these mechanisms it provides a network of databases, located throughout the region, that together provide the fundamental data needed to achieve the region's economic, social, human resources development and environmental objectives.

Those distributed databases might include such themes as geodetic, cadastral, topographic, geographical names, hydrographic and economic data. They may, in the future, be linked electronically so that they appear, to the user, as a virtual database, but they are linked together in a number of other important ways:

• by an intra-regional institutional framework that provides mechanisms for sharing experience, technology transfer and coordination of the development of the fundamental datasets;

• by the use of common technical standards, including a common geodetic reference frame, so that data from numerous databases can be brought together to create new products and solve new problems, both regionally and globally;

• by the adoption of common policies on data access, pricing, privacy, confidentiality, distribution and custodianship;

• by the implementation of intergovernmental agreements on data sharing; and

• through a comprehensive and freely accessible directory of available datasets containing descriptions and administrative information that accords with agreed standards for metadata.

It is this suite of administrative and technical linkages that distinguishes the Asia and the Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure from a collection of uncoordinated datasets, and which makes the RSDI such a powerful tool for the region's economic and social development.

It is important to understand that the database of the APSDI is:

• NOT a centralised database controlled by some central authority! It is a distributed database under the control of numerous custodians of individual datasets who retain their control over the data, but which are linked by a common set of standards and protocols.

• NOT a comprehensive GIS of all things! It just contains the basic, essential data on which and from which other datasets will be built. Over time, however, it is anticipated that the RSDI will grow to become a virtual GIS as other custodians recognise the benefits of offering their data in a form that conforms to the RSDI model and standards.

MEETING SCHEDULE

PC Formation Meeting	12-14 July 1995	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Executive Board Meeting	14-15 May 1996	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2nd PCGIAP Meeting	29 Sept to 4 Oct 1996	Sydney, Australia
3rd PCGIAP Meeting	1-2 February 1997	Bangkok, Thailand
Working Group Meetings	12-13 October 1997	Jakarta, Indonesia
Executive Board Meeting	10-11 November 1997	Kobe, Japan
4th PCGIAP Meeting	28 Feb - 4 March 1998	Tehran, Iran

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