Community Mapping and its relevance to Kerala 

Mr. Amarnath Raja (Moderator) 

Panelists: 

Mr. Satish Babu

Mr. MG Radhakrishnan, India Today

Mr. Roy Mathew, The Hindu

Mr. Anwar Sadath, Executive Director, IT@School 

The Panel discussion started off with Mr. Amarnath Raja’s remark that the Google Kerala Mapping Party was an ‘Eventful Event’. After introducing the panelists to the crowd gathered, he invited the panelists to speak on the discussion topic ‘Community Mapping and its relevance to Kerala’. 

Excerpts of the panelist’s opinion are given below. 

Mr. MG Radhakrishnan said that the State Govt. and comments of the Intelligence ADGP gave enough publicity for the event. He mentioned that the reasons for concern can be banished through 3 steps. 

1. Gain legitimacy – The State Government should be made aware of the fact that community mapping is not intended to be dangerous.
2. Ensure Public Participation – increase awareness of Google maps and its various applications in Engineering and other areas such as Disaster Management among others.
3. Ward off public fear – Ward off public fear that mapping is dangerous activity.

He said that there is an imperative fear on the part of the State Government and the State Police. He added that it is the duty of the organizers to demolish the fears of the ADGP. 

Further, Mr. MG Radhakrishnan commented that Kerala can make use of Google imagery to exactly pinpoint how much land was held by Tata in Munnar or identify land in tribal areas and other hard to reach areas. He said that Google Maps can be used in land mafia issues and Dalit land issues. 

Mr. Roy Mathew said that because of all the controversy, lots of Govt. officials have shied away from the event - lots of publicity was gained because of the concerns raised. He said that maps were always integral to civilization. He added on and said that the controversy can be ignored to an extent. He said that the Tourism Sector always depends on maps.

Mr. Anwar Sadath remarked at the start that all his opinions are personal. He said that mapping is synched with finding locations and it is a powerful tool for planning especially in Govt. Departments - for effective planning, for decision makers, in the agricultural sector, exact data and location is needed. He commented that such data should be citizen friendly. He said that security issues are to be addressed - protected systems or critical areas have to be looked into. He commented that the ownership of community mapping should be to the public. Adding on to the overall view that the Mapping Party was effective, he said that all data collected through community mapping should be interlinked to other maps such as Open Street Maps so that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. By doing so, decision makers can make better decisions in agricultural forecasting, weather data, disaster management, etc. Further, he commented that mapping data can be used for developmental and planning purposes and improvement of educational data. As an ending note, he said that more events in similar lines should be conducted for strengthening democracy and empowering people. 

Mr. Satish Babu said that there was tremendous media attention. He said that there was nothing secretly happening in the mapping party location – everything was transparent. He reiterated the mapping community’s commitment to transparency. He said that the threats and the opportunities have to be looked into – threats that relate to national security have to be treated very seriously. He informed that the mapping community is having a dialogue with Google to protect whatever the nation needs to protect. He said that previously maps were a closely guarded secret. He added that mapping imagery is not correct at all. It is cartographical reality. Calling attention to this, he referred to the remark made by one of the delegates in the morning that the India-China boundaries don’t match. 

He said that opportunities are in helping people who habitually consult maps. The Govt. is not open and proactive in their approach to community mapping. If the Govt. were to incur a project for mapping Kerala, the expense would have been huge. The citizen stand to gain a lot from services rendered through community mapping.

After the panelists expressed their views on the topic, the floor was open to the audience for comments. 

Some of the major points are listed below: 

• Topographical maps are very hard to procure. Such maps are accurate. But as topographical data is not available in Google Maps, we can get accurate directions – but not topographical area.
• Community Mapping can only be used as a tool.
• Mr. MG Radhakrishnan said that Community Mapping can aid in disaster management and rescue operations; as a tool towards empowerment; towards upward movement.
• Mr. Srinivasan raised a concern that after obtaining all map info, will Google lock-down and refrain from giving access to the Public?
• The panelists were quick to reply that given the track-record of Google, nothing of that sort will happen.
• The Panelists also commented that if new technology comes in, we should be open to reap the benefits of such technology.
• All data have to be shared in public.
• There won’t be any vendor lock-in. Kerala is the best model. The GoK’s use of Free Software in the ICT policy is commendable.
• Through community participation, the cost of mapping will be reduced to a great extent. The Bhoomi Keralam projects uses Google imagery to a great extent and this will be made available to the public.
• If we won’t adopt technology, we won’t be able to get the fruits of that technology.
• Mr. Srinivasan’s concern was that the government agencies will not be able to manage the data populated by the mapping community.
• Google Maps are extensively used by the Tourism Dept and the Bhoomi Keralam Project.
• Kerala has lots of firsts - such as building the first Technopark in India, first electronic company in India and has the right kind of track – if they are open to Community Mapping, then this will be added as another first.
• Govt. does not rely on X or Y for getting data. Whatever is available in the public domain, will be looked into.
• Hyderabad Police’s utilization of Google Maps is commendable.
• Do we foresee telecom operators also providing such services? – Telecom operators won’t have access to such databases and they will not be able to provide location-based services. They all depend on Google for providing location-based services. The Kerala Police can think of publicizing Crime Maps, Accident Maps and others.

• What are the steps that the mapping community will recommend to improve mapping data?

Suggestions:

• Communities such as Schools, Colleges can take up initiatives such as mapping a village etc.
• Popularize usage.
• Identify stakeholder groups. Powerful stakeholder groups are school teachers. Train them in similar meetings to map their neighbourhood.
• Pass the concept of community mapping. It should be taken to the community.
• Bring in more people into the mapping community.
• Encourage mapping not just through Google maps but through other open initiatives.
• The Free Software community has a responsibility. In the Free software world, everyone can look at each other’s code and if an error is found, the author is warned of the error so that he can make appropriate changes to the code. The person finding the error can also change the code. Hence it is seen that Linux or Free Software are more robust and stable. This is the advantage of community collaboration.

Conclusion

Community mapping has a major role in the modern day IT scenario. This will grow more and more.