2. FACTORS AFFECTING THE FUTURE ROLE OF GEOLOGICAL 
SURVEY ORGANIZATION IN HUNGARY 
2.1 The effects of market economy, accession to EU and globalization 
Tightening of the state institutional financing are being 
experienced while the role of special funds - both 
governmental and those of private foundations - are increasing 
in the financing of the scientific research activity. A continuous 
accommodation of the professional activity to the real demands 
of the society became of crucial importance in Surviving. 
Formulation of the real needs of the Hungarian government 
will be increasingly proneunced and will converge with those 
of the EU countries due to forthcoming accession of Hungary to 
the EU. 
Thus, the successful participation both in domestic and 
European Union competitions and calls for RTD applications, 
moreover the creation of marketable products and services are 
equally essential criteria of a successful adaptation. Due to the 
globalization of the scientific research and prospecting activity 
the irresistible inflow of ideas and concepts can be beneficial 
to the country only if it is accompanied by the establishment of 
the domestic market - i.e. the establishment of the market of 
digital database services -, and if the process to redefine 
institutional roles and peculiarities of the domestic market 
keeps pace with the global changes in this field. 
As Hungary becomes more and more one of the preferred 
target country of international investors, the role of information 
products market - the market of digital data - increases. 
Statistical data, thematic data, Earth Observation data from 
Hungary, all in digital form are already offered in the 
international markets by foreign companies. It is the nation's 
interest to acquire so large portion of this market as possible. 
Getting the edge on the competitors means having the 
ownership of the digital data and information. Therefore, 
nationwide data acquisition programs including statistical data 
and aerial surveys, moreover establishment of digital database 
services of thematic information are subject of state financing 
especially at an early phase of establishing the domestic market 
of digital database services. Covering the whole initial costs of 
aerial surveys of the country by the state budget will lead to a 
lower price level of the digital data, that is essential to 
stimulate the market. 
Low priced digital data services comprise generally the 
basic data acquisition activity of the existing state budget 
institutions, but the framework of such data is subject of 
redefinition and continuous extension. Information is defined 
as interpreted data and handled as value added services being 
market category, and subject to competition including the 
governmental institutions as well, e.g. the geological survey 
organization. Governmental financial support of such value 
added services will be incorporated in overtaking a portion 
(e.g.50%) of the expenses of creating new marketable 
products, and will be approved in the form of applications at 
special funds. In the new era of the information society the 
establishment of digital database and metadata services will be 
the prioritized areas of direct state financing in addition to the 
data acquisition programs. 
The acquisition of the relatively numerous new markets 
and market niches in the field of Earth Observation are already 
governed by heavy competition replacing the former automatic 
allotments of state jobs on the basis of institutional eligibility 
regarding their professional activity. Thus, only the active role 
of the management in positioning the Institute's activity in the 
new markets will result in getting the edge on competitors. 
The active role will be manifested in joining and actively 
forming governmental programs such as those discussed in this 
paper. 
2.2 Prevalence of environmental problems and the needs for data base services 
The over-all requirements set up against the professional 
activity of the geological survey organization have been shifted 
toward solving problems in environmental protection such as 
contamination from hydrocarbons, heavy metals, remediation 
of salt soil, erosion, groundwater pollution, delineation of 
environmentally sensitive areas, protection of national parks, 
water reservoirs, and in general, managing the natural 
resources in a broader sense, and the environment conscious 
development of regional infrastructure. 
The prospecting of the mineral resources of the country as 
traditional activity of a geological survey has been channeled 
into the framework of concession prospecting activity, thus, 
becoming the tasks of the industry in Hungary as well. The 
remaining state responsibility is the task of fostering the 
concessions prospecting activity, which is calling again for 
digital data base services. For creating new prospecting ideas 
e.g. in oil and gas or building materials exploration, new 
airborne geophysical surveys are recommended over the future 
concession areas in the form of digital data packages (Füst, 
1998) applying state-of-the-art technology in data acquisition. 
The concept of resources has been generalized and 
nowadays the term “natural resources” replaces the term 
“mineral resources”, indicating that the clean water resources, 
the quality of soil in agricultural land areas, the absence of 
pollution and emergency situations (floods, etc.), the 
attractiveness of landscape for tourists are equally precious 
sources of the welfare of the society. Even the information data 
bases themselves are commonly regarded as resources for 
competitiveness. 
The management of the natural resources in conjunction 
with the renewable development will form a new scenery and 
framework of geological research activities in addition to 
solving problems in environmental protection. This activity 
will meet new demands of the market and establish the public 
services of the geological survey organization. 
A direct consequence of the predominance of the 
environmental problems is the wide-spread application of 
airborne and satellite-borne Earth Observation remote sensing 
techniques worldwide that meet the mass demand for area 
information instead of point-like or linear sources of 
information like the geophysical profiles or geological logs of 
boreholes. The reason for this is, that most physical and 
chemical processes forming the actual environmental state of a 
region is taking place on the Earth's surface or the shallow 
subsurface depth regions that can be observed from the space 
by different sensors or optical cameras. To find the appropriate 
596 Intemational Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII, Part 7, Budapest, 1998 
  
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