Geographic information systems (GIS) in Hungary

Information technology can be considered as an engine of competitiveness, economic growth and employment. The existence of the national communication and information infrastructure is a prerequisite of any advanced applications. All the developments in this field have an increasing global context from one side and a personal character from the other. Theoretically today, and to an increasing extent in the future, each of the human beings or social & economic entities in the world should communicate with each other via the ITC infrastructure, if the content is interesting for them. A new field of activity is appearing in our days, by the name of content industry. For this industry to develop fully, data forms and their transfer must be standardised. We are facing a challenge to develop a global data policy and the structure of the content. One possible reference point could be the geographic dimension. Hungary started some developments in this field. The National Committee for Technological Development has sought to create the technologies that can produce the standardised digital maps of the country and to make pilot projects that build up application layers (tomorrow's objects) on the base map. There are several projects in the field of civil and military mapping: on the GPS (Global Positioning Systems), on the remote sensing for agricultural use, and some application developments at about 30 local (municipal, regional) governments. The first paper summarises the results that are promising. It highlights the problems are less technological, but rather organisational, logistical or structural, sometimes they even concern the question of the power.