The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XXXVII. Part B4. Beijing 2008 
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Committee, the strategy has been to put the IDEMex under its 
umbrella. There are other committees specified by the law, of a 
more executive character. 
The PRONADEIG is an instrument calling for the ordering and 
regulation of productive activities, establishing priorities as set 
by the corresponding Consultative Technical Committee. This 
program, elaborated by INEGI, has specific considerations 
connected with the IDEMex. On the other hand, there is a 
relationship with the National Development Plans, the main 
planning document of Mexico, issued every 6 years. 
One of the resolutions from the Convention was to disseminate 
the idea of the IDEMex by using mainly the website of INEGI; 
we are implementing this, where forums are open for feedback, 
interaction between interested parties, consultation, discussion 
and analysis of key issues, with the general idea to upgrade 
awareness and interest about the IDEMex. 
INEGI, as an institution has contributed to the IDEMex, 
through a sustained geospatial information production, 
development of conceptual issues related to data, continuous 
metadata generation, establishment of a clearinghouse and 
gateway node, and giving attention to standards compilation 
and generation. 
10. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE IDEMEX, NGIS 
AND CARTOGRAPHY 
There are four important factors in GIS; that is, hardware, 
software, dataware and liveware. Enough is already known 
about HW and SW. Regarding data, it is of a growing concern 
that the output from the system is only as valid as the data input. 
On the other hand, while HW and SW are becoming more 
powerful and cheaper, it is recognized that the most expensive 
part of any GIS is the collection and processing of data and this 
is not universally recognized. This fact brings to attention the 
vital importance of creating or gaining access to reliable and 
accurate collected and maintained spatial data, which on its part 
establishes a relationship of GIS and cartography with SDI. 
Another relationship with SDI is that prior to the availability of 
comprehensive GIS, sample data from cartography were 
important for two reasons. First, they were the only data 
available. Secondly and not often recognized, they approached 
the maximum amount of information a user could process 
manually. With the aid of computer based GIS, decision makers 
are asking for much more detailed data; but this approach is 
somewhat questionable since the tendency now is to use 
significant data, the most important and used one, which calls 
for the concept of Core or Fundamental Data as conceived in 
SDI's and metadata development. 
Another requirement is that data as collected for a GIS should 
be multipurpose in nature since the costs involved in collection, 
indexing and storage require it to be collected once and made 
available. This is also connected with SDI. 
Also, in a SDI environment as related to GIS, standards have to 
be set and met by the data providing community. Standardized 
metadata contained in a digital file are required. 
Regarding liveware, to operate a GIS people or operators are 
needed, and so GIS education is necessary. Operators need to 
be computer literate and understand the functions available in a 
GIS. Few people today are adequately trained in all of these 
areas, nor there are much of quality training programs available. 
This calls for what is known as capacity building in a SDI 
environment. 
Capacity building as well calls for the fact that technicians can 
perform some of the tasks required to operate a GIS with only a 
little training, but the person who is over the operation and 
whose responsibility is to take decisions, must be professionally 
trained. 
More attention is being paid now to geospatial information 
management within the frame of a greater rationalization and 
efficiency, without neglecting the productive aspects are now 
more diversified and include new sceneries. To this we can add 
the notion to share existing geographic information through the 
IDEMex. The IDEMex represents a modem resource associated 
to the management and distribution of geospatial information, 
within an approach adapted to the design and implementation of 
now necessary administrative schemes. 
In this context, a set of necessities associated to the dynamics 
characterizing geospatial information has been detected: 
• To know where the information is, describe, and 
standardize it, 
• To share, facilitate transference, access and use 
• To establish an effective understanding between 
producers and users, 
• To rationalize the production, and handle it with 
efficiency. 
The IDEMex comprises different actors, where everyone is in 
charge and responsible for its own information, which implies, 
from the point of view of implementation and service, the 
existence of a set of distributed databases. 
SDIs can occur with different geographic coverages, from 
institutional and local infrastructures, to those of national, 
regional and global extent. In the first case, we are adding a 
new category in reference to infrastructures which can be 
integrated in the level of big producing organizations handling 
significant and diversified geospatial data. 
There is a set of conditions which have to be considered in 
connection with the implementation of the IDEMex, which are 
centered in the total recognition of its importance and necessity, 
as well as on the existence of a strong political will to come 
with the planning and implantation and to assume the 
commitments of the case, particularly the recognition on the 
necessity to also make a strong effort to come to terms of 
agreement between the different actors, as well as paying 
careful attention to all technical, legal, administrative and of 
financial character aspects including the necessary prevision for 
continuous development and maintenance. 
11. CONCLUSION 
This paper has been devoted to explain the way we at INEGI 
think of the relationships existing between Cartography, our 
NGIS and the IDEMex, beginning with an account of 
cartography developed through time as a communication tool 
for planning of the social and economical development of the 
country, then through the emergency of the GIS technology 
which came to upgrade cartography and materialized in the 
NGIS by setting new stages and paradigms as conceptually 
defined by the Law, which are under actual implementation ,