OVERVIEW ON GLOBAL MAP AS CONTRIBUTOR OF GSDI

Abstract

ABSTRAKT Global mapping is an international collaborative initiative through voluntary participation of national mapping organizations of the world, aiming to develop globally homogeneous geographic data set at the ground resolution of 1km, and to establish concrete partnership among governments, NGOs, private sectors, data providers and users to share information and knowledge for sound decision-making. The primary objective of Global Mapping project is to contribute to the sustainable development through the provision of base framework geographic dataset, which is necessary to understand the current situation and changes of environment of the world. Nowadays in the web site of ISCGM are available four GM datasets, named as GM V0, GM VX, GM V1/V2 (national and regional version) and GM V1 (global version), by following the ISO/TC 211 standards for geographic information. The GM specification consist the standards of GM V1/V2 and GM V1, both of them as most popular and most utilized GM data. GM V1 (global version) is available within the Google Earth also. The research for utilization of GM data resulted with some limitations in wide utilization for spatial analyses in international level. Problems detected as data overlapping, gaps, spatial discontinuity of data, non-homogeneous accuracy of whole data, utilization of UNK as value for unknown data ext., make GM dataset with limited utilization for wide spatial analyses. The lack of cartographic key (cartographic symbols), lack of cartographic/graphic representation, and absence of defined map projection prove that global map oneself does not contain the basic elements characterize a map, but it is just GIS database. Results from the research are in accordance with paragraph 6 of the GM specification 2, where suggestions from GM users are required, hoping that they will be taken into account in the next revision of GM specification.

Full text

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OVERVIEW ON GLOBAL MAP
AS CONTRIBUTOR OF GSDI
Bashkim IDRIZI
1
,
Murat MEHA
2
, Pal NIKOLLI
3
, Ismail KABASHI
4
ABSTRAKT
Global mapping is an international collaborative initiative through voluntary participation of
national mapping organizations of the world, aiming to develop globally homogeneous
geographic data set at the ground resolution of 1km, and to establish concrete partnership among
governments, NGOs, private sectors, data providers and users to share information and
knowledge for sound decision-making.
The primary objective of Global Mapping project is to contribute to the sustainable development
through the provision of base framework geographic dataset, which is necessary to understand the
current situation and changes of environment of the world.
Nowadays in the web site of ISCGM are available four GM datasets, named as GM V0, GM VX,
GM V1/V2 (national and regional version) and GM V1 (global version), by following the ISO/TC
211 standards for geographic information. The GM specification consist the standards of GM
V1/V2 and GM V1, both of them as most popular and most utilized GM data. GM V1 (global
version) is available within the Google Earth also.
The research for utilization of GM data resulted with some limitations in wide utilization for
spatial analyses in international level. Problems detected as data overlapping, gaps, spatial
discontinuity of data, non-homogeneous accuracy of whole data, utilization of UNK as value for
unknown data ext., make GM dataset with limited utilization for wide spatial analyses. The lack
of cartographic key (cartographic symbols), lack of cartographic/graphic representation, and
absence of defined map projection prove that global map oneself does not contain the basic
elements characterize a map, but it is just GIS database.
Results from the research are in accordance with paragraph 6 of the GM specification 2, where
suggestions from GM users are required, hoping that they will be taken into account in the next
revision of GM specification.
1
Prof.Dr.sc. Bashkim IDRIZI, bashkim.idrizi@yahoo.com
State University of Tetova, www.unite.edu.mk
Tel.: +389 2 2612-492, Gsm.: +389 75 712-998, Fax: +389 44 334-222
Str. Dzon Kenedi, 25-4-20, 1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.
2
Prof.Dr.sc. Murat MEHA, mmeha@yahoo.com,
University of Prishtina, www.uni-pr.edu
Gsm.: +377 44 120-958.
Prishtina, Republic of Kosova.
3
Prof.Dr.sc. Pal NIKOLLI, palnikolli@yahoo.com
Tirana University, Department of geography, www.fhf.edu.al
Gsm.: +355 69 2472-451
Elbasan street, Faculty of History and Philology, Tirana, Albania.
4
Prof.Dr.sc. Ismail KABASHI, ikabashi@gmx.net,
University of Prishtina, www.uni-pr.edu
Gsm.: +377 44 325-819.
Prishtina, Republic of Kosova.

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Key word: global map, vector data, raster data, GM V1/V2 national and regional version, GM
V1 global version.
1. INTRODUCTION
Global Mapping is a process/project for the development of spatial database for the
surface of the Earth that corresponds to the scale 1:1.000.000 for vector data and 30”
spatial resolution for raster data, consistent with the specifications adopted by the
International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM). GM has accomplished
through cooperation between national agencies for Cartography (National Mapping
Organizations - NMO) as country participants in the project. The main purpose of this
global project is to gather intelligence from all countries interested organizations to
develop and easy access to spatial data in digital form at the global level.
Collaboration between participants in different levels is essential to sound decision -
making for sustainable economic development of society and environment. This will be
used for implementation of global/international conventions and agreements for
environment protection, to oversee major phenomena of the environment and encourage
economic growth within a sustainable context. GM also contributes to the development
of global spatial data infrastructure (GSDI - Global Spatial Data Infrastructure) and to
global observation systems on Earth (GEOSS - Global Earth observation system of
systems).
The GM data primarily is aimed for:
- Monitoring and early warning systems for natural disasters;
- Monitoring and management of natural resources;
- Assessment of the trends of environment changes;
- Local, national and multinational physical development planning; and
- Informed decision-making of policy makers with a strategic database.
GM with steady of data quality and standards can be used as tool for monitoring of the
environmental status in regional and global level. Utilization of GM data enables
analysis of the data pertaining to everyday life in different situations. GM data might
have limited use in national and local level. They are necessary to monitor global,
regional and international issues, as well as national issues if the country has a large
area. Some potential applications of GM data are given bellow:
- Global Environmental Assessments (Ozone, Intergovernmental panel on climate
change IPCC, Global Climate Models etc.)
- Global/Regional/National perspective and contextual information
- Developing ecosystem, drainage basins framework for environmental assessment
- Quantifying trans boundary issues
- Rapid response capability/early warning
- Environmental priority setting, analytical studies over large areas.
For these reasons, international organizations and institutions around the globe provide
and share Global Map information about the state of the globe and its changes. The
“Earth Summit” - the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED) - in Rio in June 1992 addressed the issue of information access. The report of
this session includes mention of the need for global mapping, stressing the importance
of public access to information and international cooperation in making it available. It is
therefore essential that we have access to the most accurate and up-to-date maps of
important environmental features, if we are to properly understand our global

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environment. At present, available maps of the entire globe originate from various
sources and therefore their accuracy is inconsistent, mainly because of irregularities in
source material, lack of up-to-date data, gaps in the data, etc. Insufficient circulations of
existing map information and a concern for national security have also reduced the
availability of maps at a global scale.
Despite the maps prepared in local/national standards, GM dataset enable (Idrizi, 2006):
- all data of Earth to be in one place,
- with the same attributes,
- in the same format,
- in the same coordinate system,
- in the same scale, and
- with similar accuracy.
The process of GM developing is directly supported by the United Nations, from which
in 1998 was put down the letter addressed to all National mapping organizations around
the world with invitation for participating in the project.
“Initiatives and partnerships for global mapping,” were strongly encouraged in the
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation following the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in 2002. The Global Map project was subsequently registered as an
initiative following this summit with the goal of completing global coverage by the year
2007 (GM specification 2, 2009).
2. GLOBAL MAP DATA
Spatial features of global map dataset are organized into thematic layers in either vector
or raster formats with each layer containing logically related geographic information.
Global Map contains four kinds of datasets:
- Global Map V.0
- Global Map V.X
- Global Map V1/V2 (national and regional version) and
- Global Map V1 (global version).
The GM V.0 is based in Vmap level 0 data, Global Land Cover Characterization
(GLCC), and GTOPO 30 elevation data set. All listed datasets are existing global
geographic datasets, without any validation of any NMO. It contains four raster layers
(vegetation, land cover, land use and elevation), all of them in TIFF and BIL raster
formats, except elevation which is only in BIL raster format.
The GM V.X is based in existing global geographic datasets, as the previous one (GM
V0), tentatively developed with expectance to be improved in GM V1/V2.
The GM V1/V2 national and regional version is most popular and most utilized global
map dataset, produced by National Mapping Organizations of respective countries
under their responsibility, without any responsibility assume of ISCGM for the contents
of these data. In addition to the official VPF/GML and BIL formats, Shape and TIFF
formats are available for the Global Map V.1/V.2 (National and Regional version) also.
It contains eight layers, four vector layers (populations centers, drainage, transportations
and boundaries) represented in VPF, Shape and/or GML formats, and four raster
(elevation, land cover, land use and vegetation) layers in TIFF and/or BIL format.
The GM V1 global version was developed as additional raster data aimed to replace
existing raster layers (land cover, land use and vegetation) in future GM V2. The data
were created by using MODIS data observed in 2003 (TERRA Satellite). It contains

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two raster layers, Land cover and Vegetation (Percent tree cover), all of them available
on BIL and TIFF formats, with the same spatial resolution as raster data of national and
regional version. They are uploaded and available in Google Earth also (figure 1).
Figure 1. Global map V1 (global version) in Google Earth
2.1. Global Map V1/V2 – national and regional version
The global map V1/V2 national and regional version, is most utilized and known
version of global map, in which all participant NMOs give their efforts for its
developing. This global map dataset includes both types of data, vector and raster data,
provided by NMOs based on their level of participation. The list of layers is given in the
next table 1.
Table 1. Global Map V1/V2 data set layers - national/regional version
Vector Layers Raster Layers
Transportation Elevation
Boundaries Land Cover
Drainage Land Use
Population Centers Vegetation
Figure 2. Global Map V1/V2 data set - national/regional version

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2.1.1. Vector data of GM V1/V2 – national and regional version
The features of the vector data are represented by the three basic spatial objects: points,
edges (lines) and faces (polygons), allocated a category number for linking the
geometrical with attribute data. GM vector data stored as edges and faces are
individually structured, which means that GM vector data is partly topologically
structured. The intense of GM vector data is to keep the logical consistency of data, and
non duplicate features.
The structure of GM vector data is adapted to ISO/TC 211 standards. Vector layers and
the associated feature types are shown in the following table 2 (GM specification 2,
2009).
Table 2. Feature class, name, type and inclusion of vector layers
Layer Feature Name Feature Type Inclusion Abbreviation
Transportation
Airport point optional airp
Railroad Station point optional rstatp
Port point optional portp
Railroad edge mandatory raill
Road edge mandatory roadl
Trails and Tracks Line edge mandatory traill
Ferry route edge optional ferryl
Boundaries Political Boundary point mandatory polbndp
Coast Line edge mandatory coastl
Political Boundary Line edge mandatory polbndl
Political Boundary Area face mandatory polbnda
Drainage
(Hydrography)
Miscellaneous
(Dam/Weir/Island/Spring
/Water-Hole)
point optional miscp
Miscellaneous
(Dam/Weir)
edge optional miscl
Aqueduct/Canal/Flume/
Penstock
edge optional aquel
Water Course edge mandatory riverl
Inland Water face mandatory inwatera
Population
Centres
Built-up area point optional builtupp
Built-up area face optional builtupa
The vector data of Global Map V1/V2 (national and regional version) can be
downloaded in VPF (Vector Product Format), SHAPE and GML (Geography Markup
Language) formats. VPF is a standard format, structure, and organization for large
geographic databases that are based on a geo-relational data model, combinatorial
topology and set theory, and are intended for direct use (Idrizi, 2007a). Because the
utilization of VPF files is so limited by the existing GIS software’s, on October 10
th
2008 the existing GM vector data (national/regional version) has been published in
SHAPE format also, which is more simple and user-friendly format. On October 25
th
2009, the GML (standardized in ISO19136) format has replaced former VPF as the

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official distribution format of GM data, which provides a standard format for
transferring digital geographic data (Idrizi, Nikolli, Hyseni, 2010).
The file names of shape and GML data are different. The names of shape files consists
the identifying letters of layer, and in the end of name letter of geometrical type of data
(p for point, l for line and a for polygons), given in next table 3. The names od vector
data stored in GML format have a file name of the form wwww_xxx_y.zzz or
wwww_xxx.zzz where:
- wwww - identifies the abbreviation of the feature shown in table 2,
- xxx - identifies the country code from ISO 3166 Nation Code,
- y - shows the Unique ID if a territory is divided in two or more tiles, and
- zzz - is the extension identifying the data (gml).
Table 3. Names of shape files of GM V1/V2 (national and regional version)
and features within them
Shapefile Features
transp.shp Airport, Rail yard
transl.shp
Railroad, Road, Trails and tracks line, Structures (bridge,
tunnel, ferry route)
bndp.shp Political boundary
bndl.shp Political boundary line, Coast line
bnda.shp Political boundary, Ocean/Sea
hydrop.shp Miscellaneous (Dam/Weir, Island, Spring/Water-hole)
hydrol.shp Aqueduct/Canal/Flume/Penstock, Water course
hydroa.shp Inland water
popp.shp Builtup area, Miscellaneous population
popa.shp Builtup area
Table 4. Excample of names of gml files of GM V1/V2 (national and regional version)
Name of GML files Description
builtupa_mkd_1.gml When country is divided in two ore more tiles
builtupa_mkd.gml When the whole country is within one tile
2.1.2. Raster data of GM V1/V2 – national and regional version
The raster data grid cells are organized and accessed by rows and columns with the cell
size (spatial resolution) 30”x30”, with the origin on the north-west corner of the tile. Its
area represented by a square grid cell is computed from the length of its side called
spatial resolution. The attribute of each cell represent a characteristic that is dominant
nearby the center point of cell. The characteristics of the raster layers of Global Map
data will be shown in the following text.
Elevation Layer – contain the vertical distance between the surface of the earth and the
mean sea level that the nation has defined. The elevation layer is in a Band Interleaved
Line (BIL) format with 16-bit elevation value and 30” horizontal grid spacing. The
values of elevation are represented in meters, in which the codes -9999 are areas
masked with the sea.

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Land Cover Layer - Land cover is the observed (bio) physical cover on the earth’s
surface (Di Gregorio and Jansen, 1998). In Global Map specification the codes of Land
Cover Characteristics of GM V1/V2 national/regional version is adopted for
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). IGBP has 17 Land Cover
classes.
Land Use Layer - Land Use is a series of operations on land, carried out by humans,
with the intention of obtaining products and/or benefits through using land resources (de
Bie 2000). For Land Use legend, simplified GLLC with 9 classes is adopted. There is a
proposal to drop this layer from the next version 2 of GM national/regional as this being
almost derived from Land Cover data.
Vegetation Layer - For Vegetation layer, a modified water legend with 20 classes is
adopted. Changing of this layer based on percent tree cover for GM V1 global version
is proposed also.
Table 5. Types of raster data of GM V1/V2 national and regional version
Land Cover Land Use Vegetation
Description Code Description Code Description Code
Evergreen Needleleaf
Forest
1 Forest 10 Tropical rainforest 10
Evergreen Broadleaf
Forest
2 Mixture 20 Hydrotropic forest 20
Deciduous Needleleaf
Forest
3 Grassland/shrub 30 Grassland in tropical or
sub-tropical zone
30
Deciduous Broadleaf
Forest
4 Agricultural area 40 Semi desert in tropical or
sub-tropical zone
40
Mixed Forest 5 Wetland 50 Desert in tropical or sub-
tropical zone
50
Closed Shrublands 6 Barren area 60 Evergreen thick-leaved
forest
60
Open Shrublands 7 Built-up area 70 Evergreen broad-leaved
forest
70
Woody Savannas 8 Drainage/water 80 Deciduous broad-leaved
forest
80
Savannas 9 Ocean 90 Grassland in temperate
zone
90
Grasslands 10 Semi-desert in temperate
zone
100
Permanent Wetlands 11 Desert in temperate zone 110
Croplands 12 Northern coniferous
forest
120
Urban and Built-Up 13 Tundra 130
Cropland/Natural
Vegetation Mosaic
14 Water body 140
Snow and Ice 15 Ice and snow 150
Barren or Sparsely
Vegetated
16 Wetland 210
Water Bodies 17 Mixed forest 220
Mixed land 230
Non natural 240
Unclassified 250
Global Map raster data is in simple binary raster format without the embedded header –
BIL (Band Interleaved by Line) format, pixel information stores band by band for each

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line, or row, of the image. Vegetation, Land Cover and Land Use are in 8 bit unsigned
data and the elevation data in 16 bit signed in Motorola (big-endian) byte order.
On October 10
th
2008 the existing GM raster data (national/regional version) has been
published in TIFF format also, which is more simple and user-friendly format.
All layers are identified with two letters, which explain the name of layer (table 6).
The
file names have the form ww_xxx.zzz where
- ww identifies the theme,
- xxx identifies the country code which is defined at ISO 3166 Nation Code, and
- zzz is the extension identifying the data (bil or tiff) or the header (hdr).
Table 6. Identifiers of raster layers within GM V1/V2 (national/regional version)
Identifier Theme
el Elevation
lc Land Cover
lu Land Use
ve Vegetation
2.2. Global Map V1 – global version
The Global Version is developed by using satellite imagery with cooperation between
participating NMOs and supporting stakeholders, which covers only the vegetation and
land cover layers. The ground truth data are collected by Center for Environmental
Remote Sensing (CEReS), Chiba University in cooperation with National Mapping
Organizations (NMO).
Cell size for raster data is the same as national/regional version, 30 arc-seconds by 30
arc-seconds with the origin being the north-west corner of the tile. The data format of
global map V1 global version is the same as national/regional version also.
File names of global version of raster data have a form wwyy.zzz, where:
- ww - indentifies the theme,
- yy - identifies the file number, and
- zzz - is the extension identifying the data (bil) or the header (hdr).
2.2.1. Land cover – global version
MODIS data of 2003 with 1km tile (10 deg. by 10deg.) from United States Geological
Survey (USGS) have been used as the source satellite data for developing the Land
cover – global version. Classification of land cover data was made in two ways: one was
global classification and the other was national/regional classification. The main
classification method was decision tree method applied to MODIS data.
Land cover global version dataset contain 20 land cover classes, and another additional
class with code 255 which represent the areas without data (table 7). In table 7 are
represented the comparison between the Land cover classes in national/regional with 17
and global version with 20 classes (Tateishi, 2005).
One of the reasons of creating of Land cover global version with 20 classes is the
intention to drop the land use layer from the next version 2 of GM national/regional,
because it’s being derived from Land Cover data.

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Table 7. Comparison between classes of
Land cover global and national/regional versions
Land cover global version Land cover – national and regional version
1. Broadleaf Evergreen Forest 2. Evergreen Broadleaf Forests
2. Broadleaf Deciduous Forest 4. Deciduous Broadleaf Forests
3. Needleleaf Evergeen Forest 1. Evergreen Needleleaf Forests
4. Needleleaf Deciduous Forest 3. Deciduous Needleleaf Forests
5. Mixed Forest 5. Mixed Forests
6. Tree Open 8. Woody Savannas
9. Savanna
7. Shrub 6. Closed Shrublands
7. Open Shrublands
8. Herbaceous, single layer 10. Grasslands
9. Herbaceous with Sparse and Tree/Shrub
10. Sparse Herbaceous/Shrub 16. Barren
11. Cropland (herbaceous crops except rice) 12. Croplands
12. Rice, paddy
13. Cropland/Natural Vegetation Mosaic 14. Cropland/Natural Vegetation Mosaics
14. Tree-Water (Brackish to Saline) 11. Permanent Wetlands
15. Wetland
16. Bare area, consolidated (gravel, rock) 16. Barren
17. Bare area, unconsolidated (sand)
18. Urban 13. Urban and Built-up
19. Snow/Ice 15. Snow and Ice
20. Water Bodies 17. Water Bodies
2.2.2. Vegetation (percent tree cover) – global version
Vegetation (percent tree cover) layer of global version is developed by using the
MODIS data of 2003, which has been used for global estimation of percent tree cover
data. The decision tree method was applied for estimation of percent tree cover.
The data within this layer contains an integer value from 0 to 100 which describes the
percent of coverage with trees, except the cells with value 254 which represent the areas
masked as water bodies, and cells with value 255 which represent the areas without
data.
The percent tree cover data can be effectively used to discriminate forest and “tree
open” during the process of land cover classification.
2.3. Mathematical elements of Global Map
The reference coordinate system of Global Map is ITRF94, and its longitudes and
latitudes are defined in GRS80 Ellipsoid, stored in decimal degrees to a minimum of
three decimal points as geographic coordinates with southern and western hemispheres
having a negative sign for latitude and longitude. Since the difference between
ITRF94+GRS80 and WGS84 is negligible in spatial resolution and scale of Global
Map, WGS84 can be used also.
The positional accuracy of spatial data based on the composite errors from three
sources: which are the positional accuracy of source material, errors due to conversion

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processes, and errors due to the data processing. For horizontal accuracy, 90% of points
need to be within ±2km of their actual location, and in the case of data obtained from
satellite images, the maximum error is less than or equal to 0.5km. In other site vertical
accuracy is notionally ±150m for 90% of points.
GM data is in use of GEOREF tiling naming system, which does not allow overlaps or
gaps between the tiles, with the the reference for their southwest corner. It uses two
pairs of letters. The first pair of letters represents the coarsest, 15° by 15° standard
GEOREF division, and represents the first coordinate pair identifying the tile name. The
second pair of letters represents the 1° by 1° standard GEOREF divisions, and
represents the second coordinate pair of the tile name.
In the other site, the tiling system of GM V1 global version uses the dividing system of
30° x 30° starting from the equator and the Greenwich meridian (Idrizi, 2007b).
2.4. Metadata of Global Map
Metadata is data about the contents, quality, condition and other characteristics of the
data, which also describes the lineage, process and accuracy of the data set. The
contents of global map metadata follow the ISO 19115 standard of metadata, described
in English language and supplied separately for each layer, by using ISO 19139 for
encoding.
A metadata files of GM data accompanies each layer of the data set separately, as XML
file with utf8, named after the relevant theme and have the extension “*.met” in the
form: wwww_xxx.zzz where:
- wwww - identifies the abbreviation (table 2),
- xxx - identifies the country based on ISO 3166 Nation Code, and
- zzz - is the extension ‘met’.
2.5. Downloading and copyright for usage of Global Map data
Downloading of Global Map data is available for non-commercial use, via internet and
free of charge, for all registered users. GM data can be downloaded through the “Global
Map download service” in the GM web site www.iscgm.org as:
- all national and regional version in VPF and BIL formats,
- all national and regional version in SHAPE and TIFF formats,
- land cover data of global version in BIL format,
- percent tree cover data of global version in BIL format, and
- only one selected layer of national and regional version in VPF or BIL format.
This data basically is for non-commercial use only! If anybody intends to use the Global
Map data for commercial purpose, it is necessary to get permission from responsible
institution of its country, according to defined data policy by each NMO’s. Any
unauthorized use of these data for any commercial purposes is in violation of
international copyright laws and strictly forbidden.
In the next figure 3 is given the scheme of standards for data developing defined in
global map specifications.

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Figure 3. Scheme of Global Map data
3. PARTICIPATION
Based on fact that the GM project is for noncommercial purposes, participation in it is
voluntary. Eligible for participation has only the national mapping organizations, which
are the governmental responsible institutions for mapping and spatial data developing
on national level, and probably they should have source of information of core
geographical data as a result of their original duty.
Involvement by an organization in the project in generally is categorized in three levels,
i.e. as Level A, B and C. Level A means that institution will prepare the data set of own
country and other countries, the Level B mean that institution will prepare the data set of
own country, and the Level C mean that institution will give all necessary data,
preparation will be done by ISCGM.
Currently, 180 countries and regions have participated in global mapping project, from
which 75 countries (table 8) have already released their data and they are available for
downloading in the web site of ISCGM. From the European countries who almost
participate in the EuroGLobalMap project powered by EuroGeographics, 23 of them
participate in the GM through the EuroGlobalMap, and 12 others participate directly
and through EuroGlobalMap. The progress on developing of GM data is given in the
figure 4, and the dynamic of releasing of GM data from year 2000 till May 2010 is
given in figure 5.
SHAPE
TIFF
GML
ISO 19136
ISO 19115

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Figure 4. Progress of Global Mapping
Table 8. List of countries
Year of
publishing
Country/region Year of
publishing
Country/region
2000 Japan 2007 Saudi Arabia
2000 Lao People's Democratic
Republic
2007 Algeria
2000 Nepal 2007 Lebanon
2000 Thailand 2007 Sudan
2000 Sri Lanka 2007 Brazil
2000 Philippines 2007 India
2001 Colombia 2007 Indonesia
2001 Australia 2007 Niger
2001 Bangladesh 2007 Uruguay
2001 Mongolia 2007 Dominica
2002 Panama 2008 Mozambique
2002 Kenya 2008 Georgia
2003 Botswana 2008 China, Hong Kong SAR
2003 Burkina Faso 2008 Romania
2003 Kazakhstan 2008 Chile
2003 Kyrgyz 2008 Palestine
2003 Mexico 2008 Brunei Darussalam
2003 Myanmar 2008 Pakistan
2004 Swaziland 2008 Papua New Guinea
2004 Samoa 2008 Oman
2005 Iran 2008 Belize
2006 The Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia
2008 Dem.Rep. of Congo
2006 Latvia 2008 Honduras
2006 Tristan da Cunha 2008 Saint Lucia
2006 Argentina 2008 Nicaragua
2006 Antarctica 2008 Ethiopia
2006 Jordan 2008 Senegal

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2006 Japan (version 1.1) 2008 Congo
2007 Bangladesh (version 1.1) 2008 Guinea-Bissau
2007 Ghana 2008 St. Vincent and the
Grenadines
2007 Viet Nam 2008 Republic of Moldova
2007 Malaysia 2008 United States of Amerika
2007 South Africa 2008 Bhutan
2007 Bahrain 2008 Syrian Arab Republic
2007 Canada 2008 Azerbaijan
2007 Singapore 2008 Tunisia
2007 New Zealand 2009 Mauritius
2007 Cuba 2009 Bulgaria
2007 Guatemala 2010 Bulgaria (version 2)
Figure 5. Progress of releasing the Global Map data (2000-May 2010)
From the upper list it is so clear that Macedonia is the first European country who has
published its own GM data. Other European countries which have already released their
GM data are Latvia, Republic of Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. The data of the other
35 European countries which participate through EuroGlobalMap are under the
verification, countries filled with green color in figure 4.
Beside the 180 participants, other 10 countries/regions are in the list of considering
countries/regions: Ascension Island, Bahamas, Djibouti, Eritrea, Lesotho, Paraguay,
Qatar, Rwanda, Turkey and Turkmenistan, which considers as potential participants of
Global Mapping project in a Global Map V1/V2 national and regional version,
represented by their NMO’s.
4. SOME ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THE FUTURE OF
GLOBAL MAP
The idea for developing the global map was lunched as a result of unsuccessful
completing the IMW (International Map of the World in scale 1:1.000.000) and
contemporary trends that imposed information technology in the last decade of last
century for preparing the digital maps. Based on this idea, global map has had to replace
the IMW with a new map in digital form with the homogeneous standards for entire
globe. But if we take a look to the structure of global map since the beginning till today,

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namely its standards listed in its specifications, it is so clearly that global mapping is not
designed as a standard map, but it represents the GIS database format with specific
defined standards. The lack of cartographic key (cartographic symbols), the lack of
cartographic/graphic representation, and absence of defined map projection are the main
arguments which prove that global map it isn’t map but it is GIS database, i.e. global
map oneself does not contain the basic elements that characterize a map. Based on these
details, comes the expression mapping element which should be subject for GM
revising in the next period by orienting the project in this regard.
Our efforts for utilization the GM data from different countries for mapping and spatial
analyses resulted that data of each countries within itself follows all the standards set
global mapping project, but in a case of preparing a map of two neighboring countries
by using GM data as well in a case of spatial analysis of a wider geographical region
consists by two or more countries, using of global map data is quite limited. Example
which prove the above two deficiencies are shown in the next figure 6, example along
the borderline between Bulgaria and Romania. In the figure clearly is shown that in
some places have overlapping and in some gaps between the two border lines released
by Bulgaria and Romania. Besides the overlaps and gaps, between two databases there
is no spatial continuity of objects of the road network, railway, rivers, lakes, coastline,
etc. Absence of spatial continuity condition and appearance of overlaps and gaps
prevents the utilization of this database for spatial analysis of hydrography,
transportations, the coastal line, state boundary, etc. Such situation is a result of several
factors as:
- Utilization of source data with different scale, accuracy and entireness;
- Utilization of source data with different period of collecting and non up-to-date data,
- Utilization of tendentiously data,
- Accuracy of the transformation of coordinate system,
- Data generalization,
- Lack of bilateral agreements between neighboring states to the border line,
- Various conflicts between neighboring countries for boundary line,
- Non-recognition of States between themselves, etc.
Above mentioned problems are of different natures from the technical up to the
political, accumulated in many decades-centuries, which cannot be overcome so easily.
Figure 6. Part of GM data along the borderline between Bulgaria and Romania

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Regarding to the accuracy, the GM specification allows GM data to have a different
accuracy depending on the source materials (for 90% of points ±2km, and ±0.5km if the
data comes from satellite images), where the difference can be up to four times. This
accuracy in some way allows overlaps, gaps, and non spatial continuity of data not only
between different countries, but the data within a country and between different
layers. This allows to each participant to use different sources with different quality for
different areas of their countries and for different layers. If we convert dimensions of
both errors, they are 2mm to 0.5mm in map, which are values much larger than the
standards for mapping in scale 1:1.000.000.
Non-homogeneous accuracy is one of the generators of overlaps, gaps and non spatial
continuity, which in other site means that GM dataset is a database without strong
topology. Topology of GM as defined in its specification "Vector data in the Global
Map will be partially topologically structured. Features stored as edges and faces will be
individually structured”, does not allow full spatial joint between objects in different
layers and objects between two data bases.
Of big importance is the relation between the data of raster and vector layers, for which
such as example we have analyzed the overlapping of lakes, seas and oceans with DEM
(digital elevation model). The differences are much larger than projected accuracy
(0.5km to 2km) and resolution of the DEM (1km), as can be seen in overlapped
situation between the coastline of the Black Sea and DEM, shown in figure 7.
Figure 7. Differences between the coastline and DEM
From the analysis on global map, utilization of UNK attribute about the unknown data
for us is somewhat unreasonable. This conclusion comes from the fact that participants
for developing the GM database for own countries are NMO’s, which according to legal
obligations on their countries they should possess native spatial data and their
accompanying attributes. On the existing GM data available for download, we found a
large number of data with this attribute. Probably the NMO’s have used the given
opportunity by the GM specification, and not really that their institution or other
country institutions don’t have information they possess.

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All the above suggestions can be treated as a point for which appropriate solutions must
be found in the next version of GM, in accordance with paragraph 6 of the specification
where suggestions of GM users are required.
5. CONCLUSIONS
From the above text it can be concluded that global mapping project is a project that had
a tendency to replace IMW with a digital map of whole globe with homogeneous
standards. Ten years after first publication of the dataset of Japan, the progress of GM
results with less than 50% released datasets of the participating countries and over 10
non participating countries in the project. Despite the recommendation letter of the
United Nations in 1998 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation following the
World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, to date is not reached with
completing of global map.
Global Map mainly characterized by national/regional and global versions, both of them
downloadable from the website of ISCGM. Beside them there are also two other global
datasets named as V0 and VX, which nowadays do not represent attractive database for
wider usage. Global map V1/V2 national and regional version consist raster and vector
data, despite other versions that contains only raster data. Intention of the global map
version two is to change the raster data structure, by replacing layers of land cover,
vegetation and land use of GM V1/V2 (national and regional version) with land cover
and percent tree cover layers of GM V1 (global version). Beside the essential changes in
raster layers, in the vector data only the format of the VPF has been replaced with GML,
as well as the metadata standards have been change into ISO 19115.
In order to approach the global map data to a larger number of users, GM data of
national and regional version V1/V2 can be downloaded in shape and TIFF formats, as
more appropriate formats and much wider use, despite the standard GM formats VPF
for vector and BILL for raster data. Setting global map data of global version V1 in
Google Earth tends to approach the data to users of various levels.
Global mapping basically is aimed to develop globally homogeneous geographic data
set, for better managing with the environment in global level, as well as to contribute
the development of GSDI and to GEOSS. Theoretically utilization of global map data
should give opportunity to make spatial analyses in regional, continental,
intercontinental and global levels, by downloading all needed data from one place – web
site. According to our research on the usage of GM data at international level, some
problems which make very limited its wide utilization have been recognized. The
problems as overlapping, gaps, spatial discontinuity of data, big differences in accuracy,
unknown data attributes, non topologically structured data ext., have to be new
challenges of global mapping project for the better future of global map. We hope that
all above mentioned issues to be considered for the future of global map, will be
accepted with open hands by the ISCGM and GM working groups, as positive and
fruitful suggestions for changes/corrections of Global Mapping specification.

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6. REFERENCES
De Bie C.A.J.M. 2000. Comparative performance analyses of agro-systems. Enscheda.
Netherland. PhD dissertation no75. ITC.
Di Gregorio A. Jansen L., 1998. Land cove classification system: Classification concepts and user
manual. Rome. Italy. Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations.
Idrizi B., 2006. Developing of globally homogeneouses geographic data set through global
mapping project. Zagreb. Croatia. Cartography and geoinformation.
Idrizi B., 2007a. Monitoring and menagament with the environment in an international level.
Skopje. Macedonia. Seminar of Nikodinovski.
Idrizi B., 2007b. Globaly understanding the current situation and changes of environment of the
world. Skopje. Macedonia. Acta Lingua Geographica.
Idrizi B., 2010. Kosova in Global Map. Nessebar, Bulgaria. 3
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ICCGIS.
ISCGM. 2009. Global Map specification version 2; www.iscgm.org.
Tateishi R. (2005): Report of the ISCGM working group 4 on raster data development; Cairo.
Egypt. Twelfth meeting of ISCGM.
http://
www.iscgm.org
www.globalmap.org
www.cr.chiba-u.jp/
7. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES OF THE AUTHORS
Bashkim IDRIZI, was born on 14.07.1974 in Skopje, Macedonia. He
graduated in geodesy department of the Polytechnic University of
Tirana-Albania in 1999year. In 2004, hot the degree of master of
sciences (MSc) in Ss.Cyril and Methodius University-Skopje. In 2005
he had a specialization for Global Mapping in Geographical-Survey
Institute (GSI) of Japan in Tsukuba-Japan. On year 2007, he held the
degree of Doctor of sciences (PhD) in Geodesy department of Ss.Cyril
and Methodius University–Skopje. He worked in State Authority for Geodetic Works
from May 1999 until January 2008. From October 2003 up to January 2008, he worked
as a outsourcing lecturer in State University of Tetova. From February 2008, he works
as a cartography& GIS Professor at the State University of Tetova–Tetova. He continu
with working as outsourcing lecturer in geodesy department of the University of
Prishtina-Kosova. He is the author of three cartography university books, and 56 papers
published and presented in national and international scientific conferences related to
geodesy, cartography, GIS & remote sensing.
Murat Meha is a University Professor and Deputy Head of the state
Border Demarcation Commission. He has been teaching at the
University of Prishtina - Kosovo since 1988. He has also taught for
ten years at Tetova University (FYR of Macedonia). He worked for
five years as Manager of SEO Ferronikeli, for three years as a CEO of
Kosova Cadastre Agency, in different funded EAR projects, USAID
project, KTA etc. His teaching and research concern survey, cadastre,
Land Administration and Land management. and related educational
and capacity building activities. He is currently the member of Kosova Surveyor
Association. Main publications of Mr Meha are on survey, cadastre, Land

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Administration and Land management. He published two University books, two books
for Kosovo Cadastre Agency, one book translated, and several school geographic
atlases and maps. More than 80 professional and science papers in different
professional magazines, symposiums, conferences etc. Most of those articles are
available on Internet at: FIG, ICC, Euro Geographic, WPLA, CELKCenter, FAO GIM
International etc.
Pal NIKOLLI. Graduated at the Geodesy branch of Engineering
Faculty, Tirana University. In 1987 has been nominated lecturer in
the Geodesy Department of Tirana University. In 1994 has been
graduated Doctor of Sciences in cartography field. During this period,
have taught the following subjects: “Cartography” (for Geodesy and
Geography students) and “Geodesy” (for Civil engineering &
Geology students). Actually he is lecturer and tutor of the following
subjects: “Elements of Cartography” (for Geography students), GIS
(for Geography students, diploma of first and second degree) “Interpretation of Arial
Photographs” (for Geography students, diploma of first degree), “Satellite Images” (for
geography students, diploma of second degree) “Thematic Cartography” (for
Geography students, diploma of second degree) and “Topography-GIS (for the
Geophysics students, diploma of second degree). Mr. Nikolli is the author and co-author
8 textbooks (Elements of Cartography and Topography, Elements of Cartography,
Geographic Information Systems, Processing of satellite images, Cartography, etc), 3
monographs (History of Albanian Cartography, Mirdita on Geo-Cartographic view,
etc), more than 40 scientific papers inside and outside of the country, more 40 scientific
& popular papers, etc. Has participated in several post graduation courses of
cartography and GIS outside of the country (1994, 2000 - Italy), etc.
Ismail KABASHI, was born on 08.08.1965 in Prishtina, Kosova. He
graduated in geodesy department of the University of Saraevo-Bosnia
and Hercegovina in 1992year. In 2003 year, he held the degree of
Doctor of sciences (PhD) in Geodesy engineering department of TU
Wienn–Vienna. Currently he is employee in Vermessung ANGST
GmbH ZT as project manager for Planning and execution of Cadastre
and Geomonitoring Projects. From year 2004, he works as a geodesy
engineering Professor at the University of Prishtina-Kosova. He is the author of many
papers published and presented in national and international scientific conferences
related to geodesy and engineering geodesy, as well as the author of script for students
in geodesy engineering field.