Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are an increasingly important component of business, healthcare, security, government, trade, media, transportation and tourism industries and operations in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

GIS software A GIS software program is a computer program to support the use of a geographic information system, providing the ability to create, store, manage, query, analyze, and visualize geographic data, that is, data representing phenomena for which lo ...

is playing an increasing role in the way Chinese companies analyze and manage business operations.

History

Geographic information systems (GIS) first became widely available in the 1980s and 1990s, when the only source of geographic data for China was paper maps. Several universities undertook the task of

digitizing DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer- ...

this information so researchers could use it. The two earliest projects were conducted by The Australian Consortium for the Asian Spatial Information and Analysis Network (ACASIAN) at

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian ...

and the China Data Center at the

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. ACASIAN specialized in spatial coverage while the China Data Center included GIS coverage in their mission to provide Chinese statistical and census data. High-quality GIS data is produced in China by both government organizations and private companies. China's National Spatial Data Infrastructure Project uses the

WGS84 The World Geodetic System (WGS) is a standard used in cartography, geodesy, and satellite navigation including GPS. The current version, WGS 84, defines an Earth-centered, Earth-fixed coordinate system and a geodetic datum, and also desc ...

standard. The partial timeline is: *In 1991, China's first color Map Editing and Publication System, MapCAD. *In 1995, China's first National Advanced GIS Software, Computer based GIS, MapGIS. *In 2005, The fourth generation of large-scale distributed structure GIS, MapGIS 7.0 *In 2009, China's GIS new ero—MapGIS K9.

Geographic Names Information System

In the early 1980s, China began studies for the establishment of its

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

() and Geographic Names Information System Research Laboratory, and the establishment of the National Atlas of Geographical Names database research.

Education

The China Association for Geographic Information System (),

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charte ...

and other institutes sponsored the first "Innovation and Development, 2006 College GIS Forum" in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. More than 300 experts attended the forum. Sessions involved China's GIS research in multi-disciplinary fields, personnel training, and technology. China has now more than 500 institutions of higher learning training GIS-related professionals, of which more than 200 universities and colleges have established a GIS lab.

Industry

The GIS industry in China is worth 400 billion yuan per annum as of November 2007. More than 300,000 people were involved in either building or using these systems, according to Zondy Cyber Group president Wu Xincai, who is also the president of the China Association for Geographic Information System. Almost 20,000 enterprises are estimated to have engaged in the industry. The biggest vendor of GIS in China is Zondy Cyber Group, followed by SuperMap. Around 2,000 of these have GIS as a core discipline or function. The industry's rapid expansion is attributed to China's economic development, which has led to an increase in capital input, from both government and businesses. Between 2001 and 2005, the Ministry of Information Industry allocated more than 20 million yuan to fund the development and application of GIS. GIS has been used in

land survey Land survey may refer to: * Topographic surveying and mapping, the survey of landscape features for general mapping purposes * Civil engineering surveying, a survey of local topographic features for engineering purposes * Cadastral surveying, the ...

, mineral exploitation,

water conservancy Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Populat ...

and

environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...

. It also has applications in

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stor ...

, mapping,

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

, and the

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit es ...

and

public services A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

Notable persons

Chen Shupeng (1920–2008) is considered the founder of

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Ear ...

and GIS in China. Chen started the State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System (LREIS) in 1987.

Institutions

Major institutions include: * National Geographic Information System () * National Fundamental Geographic Information System * National Geomatics Center of China * State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping * Institute of Soil Sciences, The

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...

* The Data Sharing Network of Earth System Science * SuperMap is a stand-alone GIS program and data provider. They have several large contracts with the Chinese government and are one of the few sources for 1:500 scale map data which they offer for a limited number of cities. * MapWorld provides 1:10,000 and 1:25,000 scale data on a range of topics from administrative boundaries to facilities management. They provide datum and projection information and prepare data in either ESRI or MapInfo formats. * Beijing Creation Science & Technology Development specializes in personalized data sets at any scale. They also prepare and process satellite images. * State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System (LREIS) * Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Geospatial Science * China University of Geosciences

Global navigation satellite system

BeiDou Navigation Satellite System The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS; ) is a Chinese satellite navigation system. It consists of two separate satellite constellations. The first BeiDou system, officially called the BeiDou Satellite Navigation Experimental System and ...

is used for GIS data gathering

Notes

References

* Jiang Jingtong, and Liu Ruomei
"China Profile Of The International Standard: Geographic Information – Metadata.”
Presented at ICC2005 – International Cartographic Conference, La Coruna, Spain, July 9–16, 2005.

Michele Ladenson and Zhixiang Lu, University of Texas-Dallas, November 2006
Recent Progress in China’s NSDI Development

On Developing Spatial Data Infrastructure of China

The Exemplary Effect of GeoStar in the Spatial Data Infrastructure Construction in China

Framework and development of digital China

Applications of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System in China in China’s Land Survey, Evaluation and Administration

Leader of geographical information system studies in China
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Development of geographic information systems (GIS) in China: An overview
Geographic data and information by country Geographic information systems Geography of China zh:地理信息系统