The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XXXVII. Part B4. Beijing 2008 
for the development of country. Geospatial information 
resources and utilization have been included in the national 
five-year plan. DCGF, as one of four key backbone of 
surveying and mapping , has been paid high attention in the 
Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening Surveying 
and Mapping Work issued by the State Council in 2007. 
The General Office of CPC and the General Office of the State 
Council issued Some Opinions for Strengthening 
Development and Utilization of Information Resources which 
points out the construction of geospatial information resources 
and applications.The State Council has released a new 
regulation on the publication of government information on 
its working procedures and many matters of public concern, 
which will also push forward the information sharing in China. 
SBSM is the national authority to supervise surveying, 
mapping and geospatial industry. It is also the provider for 
fundamental geospatial information at national level. The Law 
of Surveying and Mapping of the People’s Republic China 
has been revised in 2002. There are a set of legal regulations 
related to NSDI construction in China. SBSM and the former 
Informatization Office of the State Council (now integrated into 
the Ministry of Industry and Information) issued a Guideline 
for Strengthening the Construction and Application of Digital 
China Geospatial Framework in 2006. It describes the 
components of DCGF and main tasks in detail. 
China has noticed the importance of geospatial information 
standards to economic construction and social development. 
There exists a standard system for traditional surveying and 
mapping technology and production. Amendment for the 
standard system has been carried out to adapt the digital 
surveying and mapping technology and production since late 
1980’s. A series of new standards have been formalized 
recently to meet the urgent need of the DCGF construction. 
China has three types of technical standards on surveying and 
mapping, namely GB for Enforced National Standards, GB/T 
for Suggested National Standards, CH for SBSM drafted 
standards. The Government is encouraging to use more and 
more ISO standards directly or adapted. As China is one of the 
29 P-members of ISO/TC211, SBSM is actively to take part in 
its professional activities. China is also very active in various 
affairs of international organizations such as GSDI, PCGIAP, 
Global Mapping, Digital Earth, ISPRS, ICA etc. 
SBSM is leading the National Technical Committee of 
Geospatial Information Standardization (TC230) which 
consists of representatives and experts from relevant authorities 
and organizations. SBSM has drafted technical standards for 
geospatial datasets such as Digital Raster Maps (DRM or DRG), 
Digital Elevation Maps (DEM), Digital Orthophoto Maps 
(DOM) , Digital Vector Maps (DVM or DLG). The geospatial 
framework data standard is still under development. China has 
released three versions of the national metadata standard 
according to fundamental geospatial data products, 
fundamental geospatial information and geospatial information. 
All these standard drafts are subsets of the ISO 19115 
(Geographic Information-Metadata). The Chinese version of 
ISO 19115 has been adapted. There are 11 scales for base maps 
in China, i.e., 1:500,1:1000, 1:2000, 1:5000, 1:10000, 1:25000, 
1:50000, 1:100000, 1:250000, 1:500000 and 1:1000000. In 
order to establish CGDF, three map scale ranges have been 
used, namely Small, Medium, Large scale maps. Digital data of 
these base maps as well as orthophoto data will be the 
fundamental to the DCGF. The geospatial information 
standards hierarchy will be completely formed in a few years. 
3. INSTITUTION AND COORDINATION 
MECHANISM 
According to the Chinese government hierarchy, surveying and 
mapping and geospatial service are responsibilities of 
governments at National, Provincial, Municipal and County 
levels. The base mapping is also divided into four layers at 
National, Provincial, Municipal and County level. Each 
province has a provincial bureau of surveying and mapping. 
SBSM has four bureaus under its direct supervision in Shaanxi, 
Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Hainan. Most cities have their own 
institute of surveying and mapping as well. Mapping agencies 
are the main players for geospatial framework construction. 
China has found a good infrastructure of science and 
technology to support NSDI activities. The Chinese made 
digital photogrammetric systems have been equipped more than 
1000 sets and exported to many countries, i.e., JX-4A and 
VirtuoZo. There are several key GIS software being widely 
used in China also, such as GeoStar, MAPGIS, SuperMap, 
VRMap, etc. Most mapping agencies are using Chinese made 
software such as Geoway, MapStar to collect geospatial 
information. There are many websites based on Chinese 
developed WEBGIS. China has also developed a few 3D 
geospatial data visualization systems based on geospatial 
database support. 
As geospatial information is widely distributed, the integration 
will require strong coordinating mechanism. Most government 
agencies hold thematic geospatial information in many forms. 
There is a great need for a strong governmental coordination. 
The National Geospatial Information Coordinating Committee 
(NGICC) has been formally set up in 2001. It is run under the 
leadership of the National Development and Reform 
Commission (NDRC). SBSM is one of the main members of 
the Committee and playing a very important role in establishing 
DCGF. As NDRC is the supervision and coordination authority 
for the national economy and social development, it holds the 
chair position in NGICC which has eleven major members, 
such as SBSM, Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), Ministry 
of Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and 
Information, Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), Ministry 
of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction, Ministry of 
Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, etc. All government agencies 
need geospatial information and local SDI support. Therefore, 
each provincial and municipal government should set up the 
local Geospatial Information Coordinating Committee. The 
local coordinating committees have been established in more 
than ten provinces, such as Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, Henan, 
Zhejiang, etc. 
The establishment of DCGF has been officially approved by 
the central government, and the project is funded by the State 
budget. DCGF has a close relation to China’s E-Govemment 
which has been carried out to promote efficient governance as 
scheduled. The first phase of the e-Govemment program has 12 
application systems and four main databases including the 
natural resources and geographical information database 
(NRGID). NGICC is responsible for the coordination of the 
NRGID construction which is participated by NDRC, MLR, 
CAS, SBSM and relevant authorities. SBSM are playing an 
important role in the establishment of the national data node of 
fundamental geographical information. DCGF will give strong 
support to this node.