art B4. Beijing 2008 
7 
SDI IN CHINA: PROGRESS AND ISSUES 
Dr. Pengde Li 3 ’*, Lan Wu b , Dr. Xuenian Xiao 3 
J Shaanxi Bureau of Surveying and Mapping,334 Youyi East Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, ,710054,China - 
lipd@shasm.gov.cn, xiaoxuenian@ 126.com 
b State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping of China, 9 Sanlihe Road, Beijing 100830, China - wulan@)sbsm.gov.cn 
Commission IV, WG IV/1 
KEY WORDS: SDI, NSDI, Digital China, Digital Region, Digital City, Data Clearinghouse, Geospatial Data 
ABSTRACT: 
Spatial Data Infrastructure acts as a fundamental platform to make geospatial data exchangeable to supply geospatial information 
service widely. China has paid great attention to construct the Digital China Geospatial Framework (DCGF). This NSDI has four 
layers at National, Provincial, Municipal and County level. DCGF has five components: data sets, technology, legal support and 
standards, coordination mechanism and facility. The legal system consists of the Law of Surveying and Mapping and some other 
government statutes. The dataset has been defined in standards from 1:1 million to 1:500 at four administrative levels. A series of 
fundamental geospatial database has been completed as the kernel of DCGF. A full digital geospatial data production system has 
been widely established nationwide. The national coordinating mechanism is in action to strengthen the cooperation and data sharing. 
The national standards are getting more complete to support the DCGF. All the provinces and most municipals have established 
geomatics centres to carry out the DCGF construction. A lot of experiences have been achieved and the DCGF have been widely 
used in governments. There are still some issues blocking the establishment of DCGF, such as low frequent data updating, lack of 
data exchanging and strict classification system. There will be more and more public oriented geospatial product derived from DCGF 
to speed up the geospatial information industry. DCGF will play an actively role in the harmonious society in China. The author 
gives a review of DCGF construction according to the components and points out the key issues. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The Chinese Government has been well aware of the 
importance of geospatial information to sustainable 
development. Geospatial information has been considered as 
one integral component of the e-Govemment of China. More 
and more citizens are willing to get geospatial information 
service via Internet and mobile digital personnel assistant 
(PDA). Chinese Government and relevant companies have 
been trying to make geospatial information resources 
distributed geographically with various formats available for 
public needs as handy as possible. The concept and mechanism 
of National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) has been 
adopted by the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping of 
China (SBSM) to reflect the trend of geomatics. 
The term NSDI has been created for ten years. Many countries 
have paid high attention to build NSDI. The Chinese 
Government has been pushing forwards the activities of NSDI 
as well. There are not many people being able to describe NSDI 
concept and definition clearly now in China. SBSM is the only 
government agency responsible for fundamental geospatial 
information resources in China. The Chinese version of NSDI 
is called Digital China Geospatial Framework (DCGF). As a 
base of the national information infrastructure, the DCGF is 
currently undergoing with a much further step. The DCGF is 
being implemented at national, provincial, municipal and 
county level. SBSM is stimulating the establishment of a 
modem geomatics featured in geospatial data infrastructure 
(SDI) and geospatial information services. DCGF is consists of 
five components: policy, laws and standards; institution and 
coordination; geospatial framework datasets; catalog and 
clearinghouse; as well as public service systems (Figure 1) . 
Figure 1. DCGF Components 
2. OUTLINES OF THE NATIONAL POLICY, 
LAWS AND STANDARDS 
As information technology (IT) is a key factor to influence 
every aspect of social live, the central government decided to 
develop information industry to promote industrialization. 
Chinese President Hu Jintao pointed out the Surveying and 
Mapping agencies at all levels to speed up the construction of 
Digital China Geospatial Framework to deliver proper service