MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: New Straits Times

This is what Ho Chin Soon and his staff did for 11 years just before 2000. His company, Ho Chin Soon Research Sdn Bhd, now realises the tremendous cost savings in producing the maps of largely populated areas such as Klang Valley, South Johor and Penang by investing in computers and printers.

"We saved mainly on manpower and time to produce the same number of maps in digital format as the hand-drawing method," says Ho.

As the company can churn out maps faster than before, it is naturally experiencing an encouraging growth.

"We have all kinds of customers, ranging from property developers, architects, valuers, town planners, engineers, real-estate agents and geographic information system consultants," says Ho.

He adds these clients use digital maps to prepare the site plans of a particular location and also to evaluate the feasibility of a proposed acquisition of land parcels.

Although there are a couple of companies which produce maps for the property development and construction industries, only a handful of them are producing the maps using imaging technology, according to Ho.

"Many of these companies, I believe, are not willing to bear the initial cost of buying equipment and training the staff to produce maps using this technology," he says.

Besides maps, finding a particular location of a place in Kuala Lumpur, for example, can be done through a general packet radio service (GPRS)-enabled mobile phone. This service, known as Mapit, is a location-based service (LBS) developed by local outfit Mapit allows a user to locate cafe, food outlets, amenities and places on the map displayed on a GPRS-enabled mobile phone.

Users interested in checking out this service can download the Mapit application by logging onto the Web site at mapit.com.my. There are instructions on how to download the application.

There are six icons to indicate banks, petrol kiosks, food outlets, hotels, LRT stations and hospitals of a particular area in Kuala Lumpur. Even if you have lost your bearing in a spot in KL, just use your handphone bundled with Mapit to get you back on track.

The Internet is another source for finding your way around in a city. One good example is online maps at www.maps.google.com.

If you are planning to go to a place in the United States and want to know more about the area you will be visiting, this is the Web site to check out.

If you click on the map for the state of Kansas, for example, you can navigate the state as if you are driving a car there, using the arrows provided in the map. This way, you will be able to see a particular street in a city clearer, thus giving you a better perspective of the places you will be visiting.

The possibilities of imaging technology seems endless as Mapit looks set to expand its capabilites to include videos and sound in many of its applications in the near future.