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Geospatial sciences and e-Governance
Ravi Gupta
‘e’ has now become an inseparable part of governance around the globe. Without
e-Governance, governments tend to lag behind and lose whatever power they have. It is no more merely computerization drives, but far beyond that. Governments from national to local level, are talking of delivering services and addressing concerns via the e-route. And GIS is increasingly forming a part of the entire movement.
e-Governance has become the hot word for decision makers everywhere, from the East to the West and from the North to the South. As per the UN Global e-Government
Survey 2005, e-services have continued to expand around the world. Website
assessment in 2005 indicated that of the 191 Member States, 179 were online in some form or another in 2005, compared to 178 in 2004 and 143 Member States in 2001. This is definitely encouraging.
In the Middle East region, e-Governance is very much in the vogue. A number of
reasons are there for the Middle East region in particular, for this to happen. The fast paced infrastructure development; the economic boom; the emphasis on high end
utilities; and the advanced Spatial Data Infrastructure status in the region are pointing towards a bright future for e-governance in the region.
It is important that the geospatial initiatives of the region are aligned to the
governance activities. It is the proper amalgamation of these two that can do wonders. What shall be interesting to understand is - how much of the entire e-Gov cake of
Middle East belongs to the geospatial community.
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