Maybe. Wait for the draft to be out.
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We should start drafting a response
Indian government is working on a new law that will make it illegal for companies to provide maps or imaging services like Google Maps without a prior licence. Also, the licence will be provided only after the maps and the related services have been vetted by a special committee -- Security Vetting Authority -- that will be formed to look into it.
Once the licence has been provided, the service will have to adhere to certain norms and show accurate maps of India. Any violation will not only attract a fine of up to Rs 1 crore but may also result in punitive action -- up to 7 years of jail -- against the executives of the company providing maps.
The draft of the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, which the NDA government is hoping to introduce soon in the Parliament, shows the bill is aimed at ensuring that all maps distributed in the country -- digitally or physically -- are accurate and adhere to the guidelines issued by the government.
“Every person who has already acquired any geospatial imagery or data of any part of India either through space or aerial platforms such as satellite, aircrafts, airships, balloons, unmanned aerial vehicles or terrestrial vehicles... shall within one year from the commencement of this Act, make an application along with requisite fees to the Security Vetting Authority for retaining such geospatial information and grant of licence,” notes the draft of the bill .
In the past, on some occasions there have been inaccuracies in some of the maps provided by services like Google Maps as they have shown India without areas like PoK. With the new bill, the government hopes to put an end to it.
The draft of the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill describes it as a “Bill to regulate the acquisition, dissemination, publication and distribution of geospatial information of India which is likely to affect the security, sovereignty and integrity of India.”
Interestingly, even as the government hopes to punish mapping errors by private bodies, the government organisations will not be regulated by the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill.
“The Central Government may, by notification in Official Gazette, exempt the Ministries, Departments, Public Sector Enterprises or any other attached or subordinate offices of the Central Government or State Governments from the provisions of this Act to the extent it deems fit,” notes the draft.
Services like Google Maps have been of great use for most people but they have also created some unease among the government officials. A few years ago when Google started mapping roads in Bengaluru for its Street View service, the company was told to put the project on hold because of the security concerns. While Google continues to talk to the government for the Street View project, even after years it has apparently not secured the permission.
At the same time, the company’s geo teams have found the going much easier while working with the government for mapping tourist attractions. In the last few years, Google and Archaeological Survey of India have worked together to bring a lot of monuments like Taj Mahal online.
Once it is approved, it is not clear how the bill will change the regulatory conditions for companies like Google. For now companies providing map services are not saying anything but at a time when creating and distributing maps or geo-imagery is incredibly easy, it is possible that the government may not find enforcing the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill easy.
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@Devdatta: that essentially means we can't use ISRO's data & they may have to stop publishing data too?
Regards,
Srinivas Kodali
www.lostprogrammer.com
I hope there will be some further deliberation and review over this bill.The core issue pertains primarily to the disputed border regions and not of India as a whole.
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Sunil / Nirmita, could you please advise on the legal aspects of this asap?
How does this tie in with other citizen sharing egovernance initiatives like data.gov.in ?
Is this purely something to deal with the various 'versions' of the map of India as far as Sino-Indian and Indo-Pak boundaries go?
Or does it permeate into the datameet space too?
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Thejesh,
I think DocumentCloud is fantastic.
Have enviously seen it used with great effect to annotate the disability bill.
If we have access to all its features we can build a solid case. While at the same time allowing free speech type commenting that no one can crib about.
Hackpad for non tech / programming types sounds a little intimidating, starting with its name!
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