War is over, if you want it

1. LSGI 4321 essay KWAN, Tsun-hei Chris 09116474D
Introduction
This essay was written to review on validity of the statement “It has been argued that the
development and application of GIT is hindered by the lack of suitable data and tools in Hong
Kong.” The content will be divided into three major parts, namely, the data suitability, tools
suitability, and finally, the conclusion. The essay will summarize the general local phenomenon
of geo-information system (GIS) development and application in aspects of private and
government sectors rather than drilling on specific details of a certain part of the issue.
Data Suitability and availability
GIS data can be the most costly expenditure in starting or maintaining a Geo-information system.
In Hong Kong, The survey and Mapping Office (SMO) of Lands Department provides local
digital map services. The cost for acquire original vast GIS data, although the Government is the
supplier, can be extremely high. For example, if a private company wants to set up its own GIS
platform and it requires all B1000 digital map sheets covering the entire city, considering there
are over 3000 B1000 map sheets covering the territory an each of them costs 255HKD, it
requires over 0.8M HKD for employing the digital base map, let alone for the maintenance fee.
Moreover, the maintenance policy of SMO is not convenient for private firms with limited
resource. SMO regularly update their digital map products and the corresponding date of latest
update of a particular map sheet is posted on their official website. There is no description,
however, on what details have been adjusted with the map data. An update operation of a digital
map sheet may be as negligible as, from the users’ point of view, adding a public toilet which is
just be built, or, as significant as changing a work-in-progress site into a housing estate. There
are therefore occasions in which private firms spend budgets on buying useless GIS data. In
other word, the expenditure of purchasing original GIS data source and its maintenance cost are
obstacles against small-scale companies or party starting up their own GIS platform.
Data Variety
The invention of GIS applications is triggered by the development of technologies and the needs
of the general public. The GIS data available in Hong Kong, however, are provided in limited
variety. Let us analyzed on the digital map products supplied by SMO (2011) again, they include
B1000, B5000, B10000, B20000, C1000 (for cadastral uses), air photos and digital aerial photos.
It is obvious that they cannot satisfy all the needs of the public.
One typical example can indicate how the limited variety of GIS data may inhibit the invention
of GIS application. GPS driving is widely used among highly-developed countries such as the
U.S. and Japan because of convenience for not just local drivers, but tourists as well. If someone

2. LSGI 4321 essay KWAN, Tsun-hei Chris 09116474D
would like to develop such GPS driving machinery, it is apparent that the digital base maps of
Hong Kong should be employed. Unfortunately, the base map data may not be sufficient to
support the task as it is known that road elements are stored in forms of poly-lines or polygons in
which no driving directions are indicated. It requires again huge budgets to acquire directions of
every single road in Hong Kong, which is too expensive that the project may not be profitable.
Possibility of data sharing
Having said that the capturing of data is a rather costly stage in constructing a GIS, it may come
up to another option in data acquisition, namely, data sharing among organizations. Yu (2004)
conducted a survey studying the possibility of implementing a local GIS data warehouse where
different parties which capture GIS data share the existing data within the industry. It was,
however, found that 60% of the organizations which employ GIS and capture their own GIS data
were not willing to share data with others in a profitable manner. Yu (2004) concluded that the
major underlying reasons are, firstly, the organizations which offer the data should guarantee
certain correctness or precision of the data quality, and, secondly, the administrative staffs saw it
unprofitable since it was believed that GIS data are not the interest of the general public.
It seems, in contrast, that there is more vigorous information transfer among government
departments than that of private, non-civil organizations. According to the final report on the
implementation of Data Alignment Measure for the Alignment of Planning, Lands and Public
Works Data (2004), the Government employed Azeus, which provides Information Technologies
service, to implement the Data Alignment Measure (DAM) in 2002 to facilitate GIS data
exchange among departments. DAM consists of 6 measures in total, which are, namely, 1)
Common Spatial Units, 2) Standardization of symbology for graphic entities, 3) Standards on the
file formats for exchanging data, 4)Policy on exchange of data in electronic form, 5) Metadata
catalogue service and 6) Metadata production tools. There are 13 departments from Environment,
Transport and Works Bureau (ETWB), Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau (HPLB), and
Commerce, Industry and Technology (CITB). It is believed that through the implementation of
DAM, costs for capturing the same data when the parties have similar or overlapping purposes.
In some cases, DAM may not be helpful for data acquisition. Since it takes time for internal
administrative processes within departments, the data shared may not always be up-to-dated.
However, DAM is still, after all, an efficient step allowing the transfer of existed information
within the Government.

3. LSGI 4321 essay KWAN, Tsun-hei Chris 09116474D
GIS tools
From the management view, tools of a GIS may refer to the software, hardware or manpower.
Chan (2006), in the newsletter of HKGISA, mentioned that the general situation of GIS
implementation in local organization usually rather an urgent process. The operators and the
administrators who are in charge of the system are from other departments or sections of the
same organization. They have, therefore, limited idea about digital maps and the theoretical
meaning of GIS data though they are often experts in IT. Sometimes, in order to speed up the
implementation process or to save costs, they even lower the quality standard of GIS data. These
acts, eventually, results the waste of the newly developed GIS, and, of course, resources.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the development and application of GIS in Hong Kong are partly hindered by the
extreme in data acquisition and the lack of a GIS warehouse for organizations to share the
existed data. It is recommended that, as Chan (2006) stated also, a GIS warehouse should be set
up where data from different sources are processed, acquired and retrieved. It is foreseeable that
it may involve issues of copyright as well as the distribution of the running cost and profit. It also
involves the internal policies of every particular organization or government department, which
is, for example, the Lands department processes DTM data, but they do not sell it without any
official reason. It is, thus, also recommended that the general public or any parties of interest
should declare their needs in acquiring such kind of digital information such that the government
or other companies who feel the responsibility of sharing data and recognize the potential profit
in selling the data as a product.
Works Cited
Chan. (2006). 測繪在城市空間信息化的角色. HKGISA Newsletter , 5.
Limited, A. S. (2004). Implementation of Data Alignment Measures for the Alignment of Planning, Lands
and Public Works Data. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Housing,
Planning and Lands Bureau.
SMO, H. G. (2010, 8 31). Digital Map Products. Retrieved 10 22, 2011, from Survey and Mapping Office,
Lands Department: http://www.landsd.gov.hk/mapping/en/digital_map/mapprod.htm
YU. (2004). A study of GIS data warehouses in Hong Kong. The university of Hong Kong.