Coastal province building world-class geographic information center

Zhejiang plans to accelerate cross-disciplinary integration and development of geographic information, local officials told People's Daily, ahead of the first United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress in Deqing county in the province from Monday to Wednesday.

The congress, hosted by the UN and organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Zhejiang provincial government, is a platform to discuss the newest development trends in surveying and mapping, and the ways to better support the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

To support this high-level international meeting, Zhejiang has made several efforts to build infrastructure facilities including the Deqing International Convention Center and organize related exhibitions.

Since construction of the Zhejiang Geospatial Information Industrial Park started in 2012, Deqing has been transformed from a county nestling at the foot of Mogan Mountain to a potential geographic information industry base, which integrates an international exchange center, a national innovation center and a national data base.

As a part of its industrial park, Deqing Geographic Information Town is now considered a key engine for high-quality local economic development, according to a recent People's Daily report.

The town, which won the official title as Zhejiang's Characteristic Town this September, is home to more than 200 geographic information companies whose expertise spans sensors, drones, data storage and remote sensing satellite data applications.

In 2017, tax revenue from this industrial town reached 46.3 million yuan ($6.67 million). In the first half of this year, its operating revenue hit 5.06 billion yuan and tax revenue exceeded 400 million yuan. It has achieved double-digit growth for five consecutive years and a total annual revenue surpassing 10 billion yuan.

The Zhejiang Geospatial Information Industrial Park in Deqing is one of the highest-level clusters for geographic information industries in China. It was the first industrial park in China to build a drone service supervision platform and to set up a 3 billion yuan fund for unmanned aerial vehicles. The moves are conducive to building a full industrial chain.

To back growth of the industry in the province, Zhejiang has been developing state-of-the-art products and services to accommodate demands in the Internet Plus era, to further the industrial upgrade and transformation.

In recent years, the average annual growth of the geographic information industry in Zhejiang has remained at a high rate of 25 percent, according to People's Daily.

The province has also been encouraging the application of China's independently developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System and has seen fruitful results in Ningbo and Taizhou, two cities in Zhejiang.

Zhejiang has to date fostered ties with domestic laboratories and technology transfer and innovation centers in areas of geographic information-related big data and artificial intelligence, to better equip itself with innovative resources.

It is also establishing cooperative relationships with a raft of Chinese and overseas colleges to train personnel for the industry.

GIS Dream Factory, China's first public platform for entrepreneurship in geographic information, was founded in Zhejiang.

(China Daily 11/19/2018 page6)