FAQ (Frequently asked questions)
About GM Data Details
Q. Can I have the details of Global Mapping?
Q. What is the difference between GM V.1.0 and V.0?
Q. What is the data source for Global Map V.0?
Q. How many layers are there in the Global Map?
Q. What is the coordinate system?
Q. What is the data format?
Q. What resolution is raster data?
Q. How can I get the information of the place of raster layers
About Data Use and Data Policy
Q. Can anybody use the data?
Q. Can I use the data for commercial purposes?
Q. Do I have to get permission for placing a GM product in website or papers?
About The Download
Q. I can’t login to the Global Map download page. How can I do this?
About The Software for GM Data
Q. Which software do I have to use?
About Editing and Analyzing for The Data
About The Progress of Global Mapping
Q. When did the GM project start?
Prospect for the future
Q. How many countries participate?
Q. How many countries' data can I get ?
Q. What is the progress of Global Mapping Project
Q. When will all the data be completed?
Q. Will the data be updated in the future?
Others
Q. Who creates the data?
Q. Are there countries which reject participating in the project?
Q. Are there countries which can not create the data?
Q. What is the Global Mapping Project for?
Q. Are the data used?
FAQ particulars
About GM Data Details
Q. Can I have the details of Global Mapping?
A. We provide the specifications of Global Mapping with HP.
>>You can get the specifications pdf file here.Documentation
Q. What is the difference between GM V.1.0 and V.0?
A. GM V.1.0 is produced by National Mapping Organizations under their responsibility. GM V.0 is based on existing global geographic datasets.
Q. What is the data source of Global Map V.0?
The data source of Land use, Land cover and Vegetation layers is Global Land Cover Characterization datasets by the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Earth Resources Observation System (EROS) Data Center, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the Joint Research Center of the European Commission.
The source of Elevation layers is GTOPO30 by U.S. Geological Survey’s EROS Data Center.
Q. How many layers are there in the Global Map?
A. The Global Map data set has 8 layers: Boundaries, Drainage, Transportation, Population Centers, Elevation, Land Cover, Land Use, and Vegetation.
Q. What is the coordinate system?
A. The ITRF94 coordinate system will be adopted as the reference coordinate system. GRS80 ellipsoid will be adopted to represent the position of spatial objects in longitude and latitude. As the difference between these coordinates and WGS84 coordinates is negligible at the scale of this product, data in WGS will be taken to be in ITRF94.
Q. What is the data format?
A. Vector data will be distributed in VPF format.
Raster data will be distributed as Band Interleaved (BIL) files with a separate header file.
Metadata file accompanies each layer within each library.
Q. What resolution is the raster data?
A. The resolution for raster data is 30” by 30”, which is about 1km at the the equator. The resolution gets progressively finer longitudinally towards the poles.
Q. How can I get the detailed information of the raster layers?
A header file will accompany each raster file. The position of the cell size, the cell and other information are included in this file.
About Data use and data policy
Q. Can anybody use the data?
For non-commercial use, please feel free to use the data.
Q. Can I use the data for commercial purposes?
For commercial purposes, it’s up to each country. Please see the data policy on download page.
If the country approves commercial use, you can use it for the purpose.
If the country doesn’t show about the commercial use, you should contact to the country directry. If you are permitted, you can use it for commercial purposes.
Q. Do I have to get permission for placing a GM product in website or papers?
If this is for noncommercial use, you don’t need to get permission. However, please acknowledge the source of the data. And please let us know if you are used Global Map via e-mail.
About the download
Q. I can’t login to the Global Map download page. How can I do for this matter?
A. You are required to use JavaScript and enable Cookies to download Global Map data. Make your browser allow this environment. If you use Internet Explorer 6, to use JavaScript, click on the “Tools” menu and select Internet Options>Security>Internet>Custom Level, and check “enable” under “Active Scripting” of “Scripting”. To enable Cookies, click on the “Tools” menu and select Internet Options>Privacy and set it into medium or lower level.
About the software for GM data
Q. Which software do I have to use?
About editing and analyzing the data
Q. Can I edit the data?
A. You can not edit the data in VPF format. If you want to edit the data, you need to convert the data to an other format.
About The Progress of Global Mapping
Q. When did the GM project start?
A. In 1992, the idea was proposed by the Ministry of Construction of Japan. Afterward, in 2000 the first data, Global Map V.0 was released.
Prospect for the future
Q. How many countries participate?
A. 164 countries and 16 regions participate as of 2008-09-16.
Q. How many countries data can I get ?
A. 71 countries and 4 regions data are now available.
(Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Democtratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras,India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyz, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Moldova, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Romania, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Tunisia, United States, Uruguay, VietNam, Antarctica, China(Hong Kong SAR), Palestine and Tristan da Cunha)
Q. What is the progress of Global Mapping Project
Over 60 countries data have been sent to the secretariat. We review these data and get permission from each country, to make the data available online then we release the data.
Q. When will all the data be completed?
A. ISCGM aims to complete the development of the Global Map for the whole land area of the globe by 2007.
Q. Will the data be updated in the future ?
After the completion, the data are to be updated at intervals of approximately five years.
Others
Q. Who creates the data ?
A. Each country’s National Mapping Organization creates the Global Map contribution for their respective territories.
Q. Are there countries which rejected participating in the project ?
A. It seems that there are some countries who can not provide the data for security purposes.
But it seems that most of the countries do not have the same security concerns.
Also we persuade them to participate Global Mapping Project.
Q. Are there countries which can not produce the data ?
A. For those countries, there are some ways to help them to create the data.
- Participating countries are supposed to help each other, if a country can not create the data, other countries who have enough capacity create the data in the country’s stead.
- JICA supports the technical development of Global Mapping. Participants study about Global Map data development at in Geographical Survey Institute of Japan for about three months. This is held once a year and 8 or 9 person from all over the world participate.
- ESRI in USA have the Global Mapping/GSDI Grant Program system. They prepare GIS software and training course for participants.
- Intergraph grant
Q. What is the Global Mapping Project for ?
A. This is basic information for analyzing global environmental problems.