Geographic Information Systems are becoming an increasingly important component of business, healthcare, security, government, trade, media, transportation and tourism industries and operations in China and GIS software are playing an increasing role in the way Chinese companies analyze and manage business operations.
History
When GIS first became widely available in the 1980s and 1990s, the only source of geographic data for China was paper maps. Several universities elected to undertake the huge task of digitizing this information so that other researchers could use it. The two earliest projects were conducted by The Australian Consortium for the Asian Spatial Information and Analysis Network at Griffith University and the at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. ACASIAN specialized solely in spatial coverages while the China Data Center included GIS coverages as a supplemented to their primary mission of providing Chinese statistical and census data. There is a great deal of high quality GIS data being produced in China by both government organizations and private companies. Today, China's National Spatial Data Infrastructure Project, uses the WGS84 standard. 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.
China in the early 1980s began studies for the establishment of its Geographic Names Information System, Geographic Names Information System Research Laboratory and the establishment of the National Atlas of geographical names database research.
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 2000 of these have GIS as a core discipline or function. The industry's rapid expansion is attributed to the country'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 put to use in many spheres, including land survey, mineral exploitation, water conservancy and environmental protection. It also has applications in power generation, mapping, telecommunication, and the management of public administration and public services.
Notable persons
Prof. Chen Shupeng, born in 1920, is considered the founding father of Remote Sensing and GIS in China, died on 25 November 2008. Chen started the in 1987.
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.
specializes in personalized data sets at any scale. They also prepare and process satellite images.
