China has completed a 1:50000 scale database for the national
fundamental geographic information system, said an official of the
State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) on Friday.
The database, which has the largest scale and highest precision,
of anything done previously covers the whole of China, said Lu
Xinshe, Director-General with the Bureau, at a press conference. It
covered all the land areas of China comprising data on elevations,
imagery, terrain and geographical names, added Lu.?
The terrain database contained physical features of hydrology,
residential areas, transportation links and boundaries. State and
provincial roads with a total length of more than 300,000
kilometers can also be found on the database. County and township
roads of more than 1.3 million kilometers are included. The
database identifies farmland, areas of forest, grassland,
residential areas, industrial sectors and wild countryside, Lu
said.
The images on the database, which covers all the large and
medium-sized cities and developed areas of China, can be identified
to within just one meter. "It means people who live in a particular
area can locate their own apartment buildings from the database, "
said Lu.
The map will be of particular use in economic development. "It
will help with new countryside projects, development in the west of
China and urbanization in general," said an official. Environmental
protection and proper utilization of energy and resources can also
make good use of the new geographical data, he added.
According to the official, the database would play a significant
role in the decision-making process in land and regional planning,
the survey and evaluation of resources and had the potential to
assist in identifying and warning of natural disasters. It would
serve as a platform for the expansion of e-government/commerce and
provide basic data for car navigation, mobile positioning systems
and intelligent transportation.
The database information is being used by over 1,000
organizations in the land, environmental protection, national
defense and transportation sectors. Liu said that China will ensure
the mapping of the country's offshore islands and reefs in the
coming five years to ensure maintenance of its marine rights and
interests.
China's coastline measures 18,000 kilometers--the fourth longest
in the world. The country's territorial sea area measures 380,000
square kilometers with 7,372 islands over 500 square meters
each.
(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2006)