Coming to terms with reality: the recalibration of maps and spatial information

SIntegraM, an EU project, financed by the European Regional Development Fund, is a foundation project that has revolutionised data as we know it: from 2D, it is converting Malta in 3D, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and now Mixed Reality.

From a situation where data has been hoarded and recaptured without any collective effort and which rendered a situation where redundancy and duplication was the norm, in came the concept that became SIntegraM, with integration in mind. From a situation where each entity was isolated, through the project, spatial data can be gathered, cleaned, analysed, uploaded and exchanged to all parties. And all this through an easy to use web-portal that can be access in offices, on the move and wherever one requires the same information.

What SIntegraM did is to break the mould of over reliance on old data, bring the state up to scratch, offer a common platform, bring all maps into real space and disseminate them to all.

Interesting point there: bringing maps into real space... that is the converting pf all spatial data from a space that does not exists to the real-world space that your google map, TomTom, Sygic and other apps can read. Till a few weeks ago most Maltese maps were driven by a decision taken in the 80s to save money on hard-disk space, a valid decision at the time to the high cost of storage media but which resulted in a situation where our data was found 200km south of Ghana... SIntegraM has rectified this through a free software that bring our maps back and we can carry out analysis over space and time.

Thus, capturing reality through recalibrating archival data, georeferencing recent information and placing them in a structure where each entity’s data could speak to each other was critical.

You can now read data on your mobile that allows you to add information in-situ, mark trees that are growing, report trash dumping, mark jellyfish occurrence, watch your street in 3D. All this through SIntegraM web-portal.

This benefits society as we can take a snapshot of our environment, travel within it, review the changes that would occur if a change is affected such as constructing a dam in a valley, understanding sea level rise, visit the Hypogeum and a myriad other possibilities.

Why have over 40 entities, led by the Planning Authority come together to integrate information? The use of data is paramount and the links that SIntegraM has created go beyond that envisaged during the project drafting that went beyond state of the art.

The collaboration of entities will help to enhance the social well-being as the network created and the training rendered has placed SIntegraM as a forerunner to future research and policy-making.