The Poster News APP:

The surveying, mapping and geoinformation work is fundamental support for economic and social development, affecting all walks of life and serving thousands of families. What progress has been made in improving such support for economic and social development? What achievements have been made in this regard? Thank you.

Liu Guohong:

First of all, thank you for your concern about the surveying, mapping, and geoinformation work. As you said, this work is a basic but significant and glorious mission. In a reply letter to the veteran team members and CPC members of the First Geodetic Surveying Brigade of the MNR, General Secretary Xi Jinping fully affirmed the great spirit of those working on the frontlines of surveying, mapping and geoinformation, manifested in their loyalty to the Party and dedication to the country. Inspired by General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions, our staff in this field have worked hard, kept exploring new ground, and achieved transformation and upgrading in all work. Over the last decade, our basic surveying and mapping capabilities have been significantly improved, and geoinformation services have been expanded, providing strong support for economic and social development. It's mainly demonstrated in the following three aspects.

First, the transformation and development of our surveying, mapping and geoinformation work has basically formed a new pattern. We have revised the Surveying and Mapping Law, and the Regulations on Map Management, among others, and defined the role of surveying, mapping and geoinformation activities in promoting progress in the economic, national defense, social and eco-environmental fields, as well as safeguarding the security of national geoinformation. We have also formulated and implemented the Outline of the National Medium- and Long-term Plan for Basic Surveying and Mapping (2015-2030), forming a new work pattern in the construction of a new surveying and mapping system, the strategic transformation of basic geoinformation, the sound development of the geoinformation industry and other relevant industries, and security services for surveying, mapping and geoinformation. 

Second, we have continued to improve our capabilities of acquiring basic surveying and mapping data and enhance their support services. We have significantly improved the performance of our homemade satellites to receive remote sensing data. In the past decade, we achieved a breakthrough in obtaining high-resolution images from our domestic satellites. Ten years ago, we had to buy foreign satellites for high-resolution imaging. At present, as a lead user, the MNR alone has 25 domestic satellites in orbit. We now update the 2-meter resolution images of our territory every quarter and the sub-meter resolution images annually. In 2021, we worked out 463,000 images through surveying and mapping. It might not be a familiar concept to the public, but if you see it this way, the areas covered by these surveying and mapping results are 20 times that of our entire territory. The national satellite navigation and positioning system has been fully established to provide centimeter-level real-time navigation and positioning services for the whole society. We can't live without it. These technologies, such as spatio-temporal databases, a new generation of national digital elevation model, and the construction of a real 3D China, and a spatio-temporal big data platform, have provided a unified spatio-temporal database for the construction of a digital China.

Third, the surveying, mapping and geoinformation work has provided solid support for economic and social development. The results of surveying, mapping and geoinformation have greatly supported major national surveys, such as economic censuses, land surveys, censuses on pollution sources, and population censuses, and injected strong impetus to the digital reform of government governance. Spatial data services based on geographical location, navigation, and positioning have greatly boosted the rapid development of new industries such as modern logistics, autonomous driving, and the sharing economy. I would like to share with you a set of figures. The total output of the geoinformation industry increased from 150 billion yuan in 2011 to more than 750 billion yuan in 2021, a four-fold increase in 10 years. Additionally, emergency mapping support, known as the "eye above the disaster area," has played an irreplaceable role in providing a timely and reliable geographical location to verify the disaster situation and organize rescue efforts in a targeted manner. Over the last decade, we have provided support services for more than 200 major natural disasters and public emergencies. After 10 years of efforts, we have basically formed a rapid response mechanism for emergency mapping. Take the earthquake that hit Luding, Sichuan province on Sept. 5 as an example. We provided the command map to the front headquarters within three hours after the earthquake. At the same time, we urgently mobilized 14 satellites to program and record for seven consecutive days. The directional, fixed, and timed shooting has facilitated an updating of the command map in a timely manner during the rescue process. We swiftly sent in drones to acquire radar images of the earthquake area with a resolution of 0.3 meters. For the remote areas, where the roads were interrupted and it was difficult for rescue workers to reach, we acquired high-definition images with a resolution of 0.1 meters, providing timely and precise positioning services for rescue workers and winning valuable time for the rescue work. It goes without saying that this mechanism should be constantly improved on the basis of the present in order to better provide services.

Going forward, we will firmly adhere to the requirements of supporting economic and social development and promoting ecological progress, continuously improve our abilities in surveying, mapping and geoinformation, and make new contributions to building a modern socialist country in all respects. Thank you.