MalaysiaGIS.com

The traditional usage of maps are now being revolutionised with emerging technologies. One such area is the geographical information system (GIS), that has enabled various usages of digital mapping services.

Increasingly, many group of users are adopting GIS-based services such as land agencies, surveyors, utilities authorities, telecommunications providers, property companies, transportation planners, and town planners.

"GIS allows users to work with comprehensive information, visualise change scenarios, solve complicated problems and develop effective solutions," says Tony Joseph, Siemens Business Services' consultant for GIS. He adds that GIS will allow applications to capture, store and manipulate data. It analyses both spatial and alphanumeric data.

GIS solutions are also increasingly being built on open platforms than the proprietary ones. For example, Joseph points out that Siemens' Sicad solutions are based on Oracle and Informix databases, thus offering a wide choice of compatibility with other security and back-up solutions.

Local Adoption
The adoption of GIS in Malaysia is also not lacking, as many government agencies have adopted and will have long-term plans to implement GIS.

The Selangor government and Putrajaya are two organisations that have adopted utilities GIS solutions. While the Selangor State's project has started since 1998, Putrajaya's implementation has been quite recent.

According to Hamidi Halim, Siemens Business Services' account manager for GIS, the implementation of Siemens' Sicad GIS solutions for Putrajaya has not been rolled out yet.

The project will be in partnership with Singapore-based NovaSprint. He explains that NovaSprint will be offering city management solutions for the Putrajaya project, while Siemens will offer the software solutions. "We are also currently speaking to a few telecommunications providers to use our utilities GIS solutions," says Hamidi.

Mobile Services
And for the much-talked about mobile location services, GIS for the Internet will be the foundation of the availability of such services. According to Joseph, the testing for such systems has been completed by Siemens in Germany. However, the services are still on trial. The impediments, he adds, are the limitations of network speed of wireless application protocol (WAP), and the handsets' display area which are still too small for location-based services.

However, he points out that if these limitations can be overcome, the potential of such services is enormous. This includes potential for corporations where mobile users can have direct connection to the enterprise database for real-time information updates. Other services that can be offered include information on the plan view of houses, and the gas line infrastructure available at a specific location.

GIS Internet
For the GIS Internet area, Siemens will be providing the Sicad Internet suite by the middle of this year. The Sicad Internet Map Service (IMS) with its neutral Web Map Server (WMS) interface is based on the Open GIS Consortium Web mapping standards.

A new addition to this server family is Sicad/SD, the desktop GIS. The scalable server landscape makes it easy to put all Sicad data and numerous external formats live on the Web.

Besides the familiar Web-standard JPEG, GIF and PNG formats, the SICAD Internet Suite also supports XML-based scaleable vector graphics.

The suite is also designed with current mobile needs in mind and features a PDA client as well as compatibility for WAP applications. The Java clients are very much component-based. For example, a plot output component only has to be installed if it is actually required.

In addition to its mapping functionality , the Internet suite also offers a data service control for easy integration via an add-on client component. The data service supplies visualised map sections in one sequential step.

The suite also supports Unix platform, in addition to Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 with Sun Solaris.

The Sicad/Open Millennium Edition is priced at RM70,000 per license. And the Sicad Internet Map Server is priced between RM20,000 and RM30,000 for 10 intranet users.

The Case of Selangor's DEGIS

The implementation of Siemens' utilities GIS system with the Department of Land and Mines Selangor started in 1998. Called Darul Ehsan Geographical Information System (DEGIS), it provides a Web-based, workflow-supported GIS using Siemens' Sicad Geomatics technology developed by the state's Department of Land and Mines.

Designed for a land management system, Degis incorporates the information management capability of the GIS with the real-time distribution capability of the GIS with the real-time distribution capability of Internet-based workflow technology. It assists decision-making by improving access to information and supporting planners in their daily activities.

According to Hamidi Halim, Siemens Business Services' account manager for GIS, besides the Degis pilot project which has been completed in the Serendah district, the system has also been rolled out to the Petaling and Ulu Selangor districts.

The implementation at the remaining districts in Selangor is expected to be completed by end of this year or early next year. Hamidi reveals that for Siemens' solutions alone, the project consumes an investment of RM2 million.

The content available through Degis will also be expanded to include other local government services, such as socio-economic statistics, environmental monitoring, and emergency service planning.

Selangor's Department of Land and Mines have a central office located in Shah Alam, and nine district offices. It is responsible for processing and managing land-related matters such as land conversion, land subdivision, land registration, the alienation of land, the issuing of strata titles and managing land reserves.

The need for Degis is driven by the increasing numer of inquiries on land matters in the State every year, which the manual system could not handle. Since several government departments handle land matters, the system had to take into account their diverse needs and allow them to share information. It also had to adequately provide the private sector, including real estate agents, surveyors, and lawyers, as well as members of the public, with electronic access to land and building management data.

Degis is implemented in partnership with Singapore-based NovaSprint Consulting. It is based on a three-tier client-server architecture and a mixture of Unix and Windows NT platforms. Combined with the hardware-environment was the functionality of Oracle, Netscape, Sicad-IMS (Internet Map Server) and the workflow management system, LiveLink, to connect users via the Internet and an Intranet.

LiveLink provides the tools to control and monitor access to live applications, such as processing land-registration applications, viewing cadastral maps or scheduling tasks.

The entire infrastructure of Degis consists of workflow applications based on Internet tools and protocols. Through an intuitive interface, users can access information about the land and can check the status of applications. Interesting to note with the Degis is that applications can be partitioned so certain clients or applications do not monopolies resources.

Degis is a part of Selangor's e-government move to streamline tasks, improve productivity, and enhancing user access to information.