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3. Establish procedures: A set of procedures should
be followed for setting up Portals:
- Agreement on the subject area
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- Identification of champion/lead organization/s
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Submission of proposal on architecture of the portal by the champion organizatio
n/s for consideration of the Commission
- Identification of stakeholders and partners and setting up of framework
for portal management.
- Development of content
- Launch of Portal
- Development of rich, useful and relevant content
The cycle is expected to take between nine months to a year
to complete, at the end of which a portal would be put in place which could
then continuously be enhanced, populated and promoted.
3. Provide access to government held data: There are
a host of issues related to data for a portal, such as sourcing, validation,
quality and formats. The government is a major source of extensive data on
various sectors. All government departments should easily make available data
sets they ha ve, in a digital format to the portal consortium. Data from
different sectors needs to be analyzed holistically so that planning becomes
more data-driven and reflects the ground situation. This means that data that
is traditionally collected and managed separately, unrelated to each other,
should now be seen together. There are no platforms or mechanisms currently in
place to allow this to be done easily. Clear guidelines should be developed
under which this data could be sourced in appropriate formats and regularly
updated. The Right to Information may make this easier, but it continues to be
a long drawn process. These procedures need to be streamlined and made simpler.
4. Encourage collaborative funding: The Portal effort
can escalate quickly as the scale of content, partnerships and the scope is
very large. The issue of funding for the effort includes big line items like
technology development, map preparation, data gathering, developing
applications, content creation, organizing and coordinating partnerships.
Solutions need to be evolved depending on the sector in question. Several
possibilities including public private partnerships and new business models
should be explored. The government may also look at providing some public money
for these efforts through grants.
5. Reform mapping policy: The advance in computer
based Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has given mapping and use of maps a
huge impetus in various fields. The ability to make sense of large amounts of
interrelated data in spatial and attribute form has helped in visual decision
making in various areas such as Agriculture, Transport, Disaster Management
etc. An unambiguous mapping policy coupled with clear guidelines for use of
spatial data are necessary 3 to share GIS data and thereby maximize the use of
cutting edge technology and applications. Under the new mapping policy
announced in May 2005, there is still some ambiguity about publishing of GIS
maps on the internet by NGOs, Government and other development oriented
agencies. Rich GIS based content in various sectors like Water, Health,
Education etc can be delivered by various organizations and bodies in order to
share information, foster an informed debate and allow for more effective
planning. The mapping policy needs to allow for such access and provide clear
guidelines.
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