The Geospatial Information Regulation Bill — A GIS Industry Perspective
A lot of Ink has been spilt on the GIRB in the Indian Media, but besides a few articles on Linkedin, I have not really seen a critique from a GIS Industry Perspective.
Let us begin with the intent behind the bill. We can understand that this bill stems from two major concerns of the Government.
The first is the display and usage of incorrect boundaries by International organization, including Mapping Companies, as well as players in the media business.
The Second reason is that Modern GIS Technologies, be they High Resolution Satellite and UAV Imagery, or wide dissemination through web mapping, tend to show all kinds of Points of Interest, including sensitive military & Government installations.
The first reason, while being a lost cause, is understandable. The second, seems like an unrealistic limitation on the free flow of information, specially when this information is freely available with foreign players. Shockingly, this same information is freely displayed on government sites, such as Bhuvan.
The Indian GIS industry is one of the most regulated and restricted one, with a whole list of policies and laws that they need to follow. This bill infact repeats a lot of restrictions that are currently law. A good starting point for understanding this context, would be to read the Survey & Mapping in India-The Regulatory Framework.
Why then is the Industry, and the GIS experts, up in arms about this bill?
Firstly this requires every player in the GIS Industry, be that a data collector, a data analyzer, or a data disseminator to get a License from the Security Vetting committee for each and every dataset (Section 11). This is going to be huge problem for large as well as small organizations, because Geospatial data is usually a dynamic, ever updating beast, and getting a license every time you collect a new dataset is going to be unrealistic.
Secondly, each and every dataset needs to be Vetted by a Security Vetting Authority. How long is this going to take? How much time and energy will be spent by players in the GIS industry running after this Authority, and attending their summons? Maybe it might be possible for large players to do it, but can small GIS shops afford it?
Thirdly, this bill will make even the possession of GeoSpatial information illegal without a License. Unlike before, where only dissemination of Maps was illegal, here you are making even the mere custody of data, information & Maps illegal.
Finally, the biggest problem, is the wide scope of what is defined as Geospatial Data, without any limitations of resolution, date, or area. When the world is moving towards free dissemination of data, In all ways, this is a backward step, even when you take the present policies into account.
