Ho Chi Minh City's administration is in the process of integrating the data of all its departments and agencies to create a common-use shared digital map as a part of the city’s smart city project.

GIS map used to view the locations of dengue fever outbreaks across HCM City. 
(Source: hcmgis.vn)

Speaking at a conference on piloting the establishment of the map on September 12, Vo Thi Trung Trinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communications, said the database for this digital map would be one of three groups of master data.

The other groups relate to the city’s residents and enterprises, and the collection, integration and use of all three would be completed by 2020, she said.  

Quach Dong Thang of the Centre for Applied Geographic Information System said to establish the digital map, the city should set up a new shared base map, and that is the task of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

“Based on the base map, we will set up a GIS platform for each department to use,” he said.

The centre used the shared base map, which the Department of Natural Resources and Environment created in 2004-2005, to set up a GIS platform which has since integrated 80 layers of database, he added.

The centre’s GIS platform is used for planning areas for vegetable production, managing and planning goods distribution systems and surveillance of diseases, he said.

“I hope the city can take advantage of what the centre has created for establishing the city’s common-use shared digital map.”

Trinh said taking advantage of all the data the centre and departments have is vital for enriching the common database.

Ly Minh Tuan, Director of the Department of Information and Communications’ Information and Communication Technology Centre, said in the first stage, the city would use map service providers and then integrate layers of database and information the city’s departments would provide.

In the second stage, the department would collaborate with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to suggest solutions for the establishment of the digital map.

Nguyen Hong Tuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training’s Centre for Information and Educational Programmes, said the department has databases with sufficient information about the city’s schools.

If they are integrated into the common-use shared digital map, the public would have easy access to them, he added.