MalaysiaGIS.com

The demand for geospatial technology and related products and services is increasing in the Asian region and is expected to represent over half the world's market share by 2015.

According to a study by the US Trade and Development Agency (TDA), rapid urbanisation processes and immense population are factors that will drive the growth. These provide tremendous business opportunities for providers of geographic information system (GIS), said its Asia and Pacific regional director Geoffrey R. Jackson.

TDA, he added, hopes to play a crucial role in highlighting these opportunities for both Asian and US companies involved in GIS and related geospatial products and services. "These include surveying, mapping, photogrammetry, remote sensing, global positioning system (GPS), automated mapping and facilities management, systems integration, project development and project finance," he told Computimes in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday in conjunction with the Asia Regional Conference on Geospatial Technology.

Organised by TDA and the US Department of Commerce, the event was attended by government officials and representatives companies in the region.

According to Jackson, the agency also hopes to facilitate the establishment of business relationships between US and Asian companies in geospatial infrastructure provision.

US Geological Survey's associate director Barbara J. Ryan said some of the large-scale projects which require geospatial technology infrastructure include telecommunications and electrical utility management, municipal GIS, national mapping, emergency response, land management, environmental monitoring, and natural resource development.

She noted that to understand the factors that drive the demand for geospatial technologies and related software, hardware products and services, it is important to grasp the specific issues of Asian population, human settlements, land administration and natural resources that constitute the geospatial context.