Geographic Information Systems in Nepal and its Way Forward

Abstract

GIS is now becoming a demanded crosscutting subject at the universities and many other institutions. It has introduced academic courses at different levels. Similarly, a number of commercial entrepreneurs are investing good amount of resources as well as several development agencies focusing on GIS-based decision support systems. Nepalese organizations including all governmental, non-governmental and social as well as at individual level are also investing quiet a good amount of resources on it. In this context the development of GIS in Nepal and its social responsibility has to be analyzed critically. In this paper focus has been given to search the space of GIS in the Nepalese governmental, non-governmental and academic institutions and so on. The study has been found many institutional setups have the provision to work with due consideration to the spatial dimensions. Many of them have already procured hardware, software and also investing quite a good amount of money. In practice, several such organizations have very less output. In this context, while going through the analysis, some challenges appeared are highlighted and a way forward has been given to its development. The Third PoleVol. 13, 2013Page :7-11