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Following is the speech delivered by the Director of Lands, Ms Bernadette Linn, at the launching ceremony for the 3D Spatial Data of Hong Kong this morning (October 3):
Presidents and chairmen of various professional bodies, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the Lands Department, I welcome you to this launching ceremony on 3D Spatial Data. Our event incidentally ties in with one of the visions of 2014 Digital 21 Strategy - "Smarter Hong Kong, Smarter Living" which is on "Transforming and Integrating Public Services".
The Survey and Mapping Office of our department is the land survey authority and official mapping agency for Hong Kong, and is responsible for producing different types of maps in both paper and digital forms.
With the advance of information technology, we have been upgrading our Land Information System (LIS) to better serve other government departments and the general public in spatial information search and analysis functions.
We have launched a mobile map application called "GeoMobile Map" for public access since June 2011. This service allows users to conveniently access maps and geo-spatial information on their smartphones and mobile devices. We will soon provide a map application interface platform to facilitate mobile app development by government departments and the private sector. With this, users can use their smartphone to develop their own location-based applications.
Today marks another milestone in our continuous search for improvement. Since we are living and working in a three-dimensional world, it will be so much better if we can appreciate new proposals on land development and infrastructure construction from a 3D perspective.
To this end, our Survey and Mapping Office commenced the 3D Spatial Data Processing System project in 2006. Our aim is to show all the ground features in a photo-realistic 3D format. Thanks to the concerted efforts of all parties involved, the first 3D digital map product called 3D Spatial Data is now ready. This 3D map product contains more than 300 000 major ground features, including all the buildings, infrastructure and terrain surfaces of Hong Kong.
3D Spatial Data is very useful for 3D modelling applications supporting a wide range of analyses into visual impact, noise impact, air flow, current flow, sun-shadow effect, surface run-off, floods, route planning, earth-work estimation, landscape design, urban design, heritage conservation, etc.
The data also assists property valuation, by providing a computer simulation of the views from different floors and different units of the property to be built.
3D Spatial Data can also be used in emergency and rescue, land use planning, slope maintenance, civil works, estate design, facilities and property management, virtual tours, game development, etc.
We have made sure that the 3D Spatial Data produced is up-to-date, accurate and convenient for use in most off-the-shelf application software packages; users can save time and money without having to create a data set afresh for each project.
We have with us here today five speakers from various departments; they will introduce the technical details of the 3D Spatial Data and exemplify the benefits of using this product in different applications. Hope you would be able to find out from them what you want to know about the 3D Spatial Data.
Once again, thank you for joining us today.
Ends/Thursday, October 3, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:08
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