“Extraordinary development creates a great backlog for survey data"
The second problem is technical and the industry has the necessary solutions. In the first instance this consists of providing structured data interoperability which can be achieved by keeping the data in a geodatabase, which via so called 'schema' - can provide customized information to many different users. The increasing maturity of the geospatial market in the Middle East can be measured by the growing number of map updating projects, compared to other markets, say for instance Africa, which are still in the primary mapping stage. Until recently, there was no map updating. Instead one reverted simply to new mapping. There were many good reasons for doing so. But with the shifting from pure CAD to GIS procedures, new mapping is no longer the answer unless one discards the linked attributes as well. With the realization that geodatabase concepts are unavoidable and advantageous, the up-dating procedures must include a data migration from CAD or layer based GIS to geodatabase. This proves to be a far more challenging task than conventional data capture, and requires a completely different toolset and skill level.
The Middle East region has huge requirements for
large-scale mapping and infrastructure development. How does MAPS geosystems plan to tap this segment? How do you strategise your business especially in this scenario?
Apart from its core business, Geographic Data Acquisition, MAPS sees its role increasingly in the field of data conversion. Not in the conventional sense of converting hardcopy maps into digital files, but the migration of the huge AM/FM data into geodatabases. Instead of serving as a data acquisition
company only, MAPS has acquired in this field warrants to be exploited in the GIS environment, where the object geometry as such, plays only a supporting role to object attributes and
definition of their interaction. MAPS have developed the
procedures that enable accurate 3D topologically structured data to be captured and maintained for polyvalent usage, i.e. in the CAD as well as the GIS environments. Large Scale mapping is expensive, but becomes very economic only if it can be
used for multiple applications and above all if the costly data duplication and redundancy can be avoided.
What is the availability of skilled manpower in the geospatial domain in the Middle East region?
In the Middle East, skilled manpower is scarce. Typically in the UAE, the technical training provided through institutes or
universities, is often highly theoretical, and before having had a chance to get any practical experience, graduates are quickly absorbed by the public sector into mainly administrative tasks. Lost to the industry! This does not only apply to GIS, nor is the situation unique to the UAE. This leaves us no choice but to recruit staff from outside the area. The situation is different in our System Engineering Department, which recruits its junior programmers primarily from local resources. This is due to a very close cooperation with various training institutes and universities from where we successfully recruit and continuously offer students interesting study projects.
What are the future plans of MAPS geosystems ?
Generally speaking, we will continue to do what we have done so far, i.e. to carefully monitor our industry and the closely linked information technology, identify trends and adjust our procedures and services accordingly. Continue to offer the products and services that - while not necessarily being the cheapest - are designed to provide our clients geospatial data requirements in the most economical way, taking into account timeframe, quality and usability.