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GIS Map

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The National GIS Base Map

Status :		Completed
Cost :		$ 1,000,000 (estimate)
Source of Fund :		Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development
Scope :		With the technical assistance of a GIS consultant hired by OMSAR, the national GIS coordination committee worked on: Assessing the feasibility of developing a national base map for the country and recommending the most suitable scale or grades of scales as per geographic location (cities, villages, mountains, plains, etc) that could constitute the common denominator(s) to satisfy the needs of the greatest number of public agencies and private concerns; Determining the basic layers that would be of most use in a national GIS map and advising best practices for transforming all previously achieved GIS layers to the national map; Identifying the best source of imagery (aerial, satellite, etc.) to use for enhancing and updating the already available geographic maps of the country. Specifying how and where to maintain the base map and proposing continuous maintenance /updating procedures to keep the base map as current as possible. Proposing the best electronic means to exchange GIS data and maps among all public sector concerns in addition to offering access to outside groups.

With the diversity of national projects in the area of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (see section 2.2.2 for OMSAR GIS projects) comes the need to facilitate coordination among all concerned ministries and agencies in the public sector in order to complement GIS work already done and avoid any duplication. Furthermore, the variety of GIS thematic maps on the national level and at different scales adds to the level of complexity when trying to overlay or compare maps to draw for examples sectoral development conclusions. These issues necessitated the intervention of OMSAR in coordination with the Directorate of Geographic Affairs (DGA) at the Ministry of Defense – the agency entrusted with GIS work on behalf of the government – to work on establishing a national GIS base map that can be used as a scale reference and a coordination facility for all public and non-public sector entities to use and build upon their specific GIS thematic data. To ensure active involvement of all concerned government ministries and agencies, a national GIS coordination committee was formed to work towards realizing this base map and establishing the best means for GIS work coordination and sharing of GIS thematic data and maps. In addition to OMSAR and DGA, this committee included representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Telecommunication, the Ministry of Public Works, the Council for Development and Reconstruction, the National Council for Scientific Research and Electricité du Liban.