Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1249395
14 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 20 MAY 2020 COMMERCIAL MAPS are usually associated with people who like studying or teaching geography. B ut the reality is that maps are used by a wide array of pro- fessions – military personnel, emergency services, delivery ser- vices, architects, tourist guides and many more. With the way digital technolo- gy has evolved maps have also become an integral part of our daily lives. Maps are not there to only pro- vide us with information but al- so help us interpret it. Maps are there to tell powerful and engag- ing stories. When maps tell sto- ries, they turn information into knowledge and understanding. But for such stories to be com- municated effectively there needs to be what is termed as a base map. Put simply a base map is a layer with geographic infor- mation that serves as a founda- tion and provide a context for different maps to tell their story. The Planning Authority has launched a new basemap for the Maltese Islands. Produced from high-resolution orthograph- ic imagery with an impeccable precision and ability to collect detailed information, the new basemap reflects the realities of today and will serve as a 'canvas' for volumes of data to tell their story. The basemap is one of the key deliverables of the €7 million SIntegraM project which was partially financed by the Europe- an Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Ing. Stephen Ferrito, the PA's Director for Mapping, Infor- mation Technology and Digital Services, said "The launch of this new basemap is another impor- tant piece of the bigger picture which heralds a new exciting era for spatial data in Malta. Over these past few years, the Planning Authority together with our strategic partner, have worked on the mammoth task in developing Malta's first National Spatial Data Infrastructure, the GI Strategy and infrastructure development. The new basemap, 30 years after the initial basemap creation, serves as the keystone and will provide the canvas for how the spatial data we collect, manage, analyse and make avail- able can tell its story." The basemap offers key in- formation on the terrain of the Maltese Islands such as build- ings, open spaces, and the road network. It is composed of 18 layers and contains over 50 dif- ferent classifications. The new Basemap is subdivid- ed into a bottom to top approach where the surface layers act as a base layer and additional envi- ronmental features are superim- posed, providing the possibility to identify ruins, cliffs, rubble walls, the characteristics of ter- rain and assist in the taking of informed decisions. The Maltese basemap is widely used for environmental analysis, development planning, laying of new roads, ambulance detours, bus routes and a thousand other applications. This basemap may be accessed from on the Planning Author- ity's website www.pa.org.mt through the geoportal link. Spatial data can now tell its story on new 'canvas'