Geospatial for Tourism

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Tourism has been one of thecontributors to the Malaysian economy since 1990 and has been on the rise ever since. It is the second largest source of income from foreign exchange after manufacturing sector. In 2010, Malaysia recorded 24.6 million tourist arrivals with RM56.5 billion revenue making it the ninth most visited destination in World Tourism Ranking compiled by United Nations.Despite these achievements, several issues still need to be addressed, including improving maintenance of existing tourism sites and developing interactive and valuable tourism facilities. Application of geospatial technology not only benefits the tourists through interactive map for route planning, accommodation, cultural events, special attractions, etc but also the development authorities for overall planning, managing and updating of the tourist sites. The session will gather the Solution Providers and Authorities from various tourism hubs in Malaysia to share their geospatial initiatives towards sustainable tourism development.

Geospatial Data Infrastructure for e-Governance
National geospatial data infrastructure is an asset for all nations and needs to be efficiently co-ordinated, maintained, updated and managed in the interest of the nation. The development of this infrastructure will enhance the awareness about data availability and improve access to geospatial information not only for the administrators and professionals, but also for the public at large. Thus a well-functioning geospatial data infrastructure is seen as an important element in e-Governance and online self-service systems. Geospatial data infrastructure initiative in Malaysia has been recognized since 1990’s with continuous efforts from the Government to promote and coordinate spatial data sharing among various stakeholders. The initiative has reached to States level, whereby each State maintains its own State Geospatial Data Centre. The session will be a platform to discuss achievement and challenges of geospatial data infrastructure in Malaysia and the readiness to be integrated in e-Government systems.

Infrastructure & Rural Development

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Approximately 36% of Malaysians are living in rural areas. Although some rural areas have been provided with good infrastructure and other basic utilities, there are still villages in the remote areas which are not connected by roads and sufficient infrastructure. Improving rural basic infrastructure is one of the six National Key Result Areas being identified in the Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011-2015). Beyond improving the quality of life of the rural population, this infrastructure is also critical to facilitate the generation of new economic activities. The session will discuss how geospatial technology can contribute in the provision of basic infrastructure for rural areas in terms of building and upgrading of roads and housing, supplying clean, treated water and electricity, and others.

Agriculture & Plantation
Agriculture and agro-based industry in Malaysia consists of food sub-sectors such as paddy, horticulture crops, livestock and fisheries. The plantation and commodities sector comprises oil palm, rubber, timber, cocoa, pepper and tobacco. Both sectors have contributed significantly to the country’s economic development for the past 50 years and became one of Malaysia’s major exports earnings. Integrated Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allows for information on field topography, soil types, surface drainage, soil testing, rainfall, irrigation, fertilizer application rates and crop yield to be maintained on a single system. This way, production can be more efficiently and effectively managed to increase profitability. The session will touch upon geospatial technology being an important tool for the management of agriculture and plantations from the viewpoint of the users and solution providers.

Open Source Geospatial

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Disruptive changes in technology and transition to web-based services has provided opportunities for open source to tap into the geospatial market.Commercial providers have added value, and have consistently improved the capabilities and coverage of the toolsin enabling software for web mapping and online open data collection and distribution.Especially in this economic trying time, many small to medium sized organizations have resorted to open source solutions for their application. The session will showcase some examples of geospatial applications built from open source platform.

3D Geospatial Modeling
The availability of 3D information is rapidly increasing today, which is partly due to the modern data acquisition techniques such as terrestrial laser scanning and photogrammetry. 3D data can give vivid presentations of the real world by simulating reality objects through an interactive 3D scene. For instance, a citywide 3D model can be beneficial and crucial in upgrading the infrastructure of the city. With the increasing demand on accurate and informative data for inter-departmental collaborations, public utilities maintenance, land base information system, development progress monitoring, etc, it is foreseen that3D modeling will triumph over 2D mapping in few years time. The session will demonstrate success stories of 3D modeling in various fields related to geospatial industry.