With great anticipation, I made my first trip to India last week to speak at the first annual MapWorld India in Hyderabad. The event drew over 1000 GIS professionals from all over the world.
India is an amazing place. It’s crowded, congested, and very busy. The gulf between the “haves” and the “have nots” is enormous. Development is everywhere so many are prospering; yet there is obvious poverty. The people—all of the people—were among the friendliest and hardest working I have encountered. Everywhere I went, strangers from all walks of life asked me where I was from, asked for photographs with me, and greeted me with genuine affection and curiosity. Oh, and the food is incredible! I look forward to going back to India again.
I spoke to a group of about one hundred people about the importance of standards. Using Civil 3D as my delivery mechanism, I showed how utilizing standards makes the surveying, design, construction, and GIS processes so much more efficient and ultimately profitable.
In the open forum that followed, I joined a panel of other experts to address questions from the group. The questions posed to the panel showed that the group had a clear understanding of the critical role standards play during the creation, management, and sharing of data. Michael Jones, CTO of Google Earth, was also a member of the panel. I enjoyed getting to know Michael and talking with him and the other panelists about the opportunities in India for our technologies.
During the keynote address, the MapWorld India chairman Kapil Sibal, Minister of Science & Technology, Government of India, shared his compelling perspective on the importance of GIS—not only to India, but also to the rest of the world. He argued that GIS is a medium for serving up information to the masses. As such, he referred to it as an instrument of democracy. I really like that idea and plan to share it with future audiences.
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