Dear Kanti:

I have put together some links which may be of interest to those in the free software community who are also concerned with free maps. To start with, see the official press note on the new map policy approved by the Cabinet:

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=9388

S&T Minister Kapil Sibal's recent responses in Parliament on related questions

http://dst.gov.in/doc/parliament_question/ls/lu3461.htm http://dst.gov.in/doc/parliament_question/rs/rs27.htm

An interview with him on the new map policy:

http://www.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/years/2004/sept/interview.htm

See also related article from Hindu Business Line at

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/05/21/stories/ 2005052102420300.htm

This article gives the best outline I have so far found of the restrictions on civilian map production in India, though it is now outdated in light of the removal of the aerial photography ban and the revision of the map policy:

http://www.gisdevelopment.net/policy/india/technology/intech018.htm

Here in the U.K., where I am visiting with some friends who work with GIS, there are some interesting debates on open geo-data organised by a group of hackers and policy advocates sponsored by the Open Knowledge Foundation

http://okfn.org/geo http://okfn.org/wiki/OpenGeoData

Best,

S.K.

On 4 Jun 2005, at 4.18, Kanti Jadia wrote:

Hi Shekahr,

This is really good. Now a lot of issues with developement would get resolved.

In ref. the open series maps (OSMs) could eventually replace the maps already present

Related news :

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl? file=2005052002830300.htm&date=2005/05/20/&prd=bl&

Regards

Kanti

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 Shekhar Krishnan wrote :

...

Dear All:

Please see the latest demo of the Mumbai Free Map on

http://freemap.crit.org.in

...

This now contains detailed vector layers for roads, railways,

buildings and plots, projected onto a satellite composite image of the city. The data has been sourced from existing municipal development plans, surveys, and maps, which we have scanned, traced and stitched together with our archive of project materials at CRIT.

...

This project has been developed using completely free and open

source software (Map Server, GRASS, QGIS) and copyleft and public geographic data.

...

The project web page is on http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis and

we welcome comments and feedback on it as we begin developing an interface by which to annotate the maps and develop this as an open source and interactive archive and community information infrastructure.

...

Regards,

S.K. _____

Shekhar Krishnan CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust) B-43, Shravasti Goregaon-Malad Link Road Malad (West), Mumbai 400064 India

http://www.crit.org.in/members/shekhar

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Shekhar Krishnan c/o Saul Albert 43, Brandrams Wharf 127-131, Rotherhithe Street London SE16 4NF U.K.

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