Formerly known as the first local Internet service provider, Inet, which has changed direction to become an information technology service provider, has invested Bt20 million to develop the country's first three-dimensional digital map, which the company claims will offer the greatest accuracy and highest resolution on the market.

Inet president Trin Tantsetthi said the company had worked with Japanese partners to develop the project.

As the map is based on three-dimensional technology, he said it could provide more detail of any location, which means organisations can benefit from this kind of map for their business planning.

The company will initially develop a 3D digital map for 1,500 square kilometres of the Bangkok area, before expanding coverage to other parts of the country.

Having started the project last year, the company plans to complete Bangkok's 3D digital map by the second half of this year.

Using a 1:500 scale, Trin said the map allowed users to see not only wide areas of each location but also to zoom in to see the roofs of houses - or even leaves on trees.

The company has deployed what it calls Lidar technology. Lidar - which stands for Light Detection and Ranging - uses pulses of laser light striking the surface of the Earth. The time taken for the return of the pulse is measured by the Lidar system, which determines the range to the target, while the change in the properties of the returned light enable some aspects of the target to be determined.

With the Lidar scanner mounted under an aircraft, Trin said this method could scan areas on the Earth's surface 500 metres wide and 600 metres high, so it can gather details much better than satellites.

The technology was formerly used for military purposes, so it offers highly precise mapping results.

Trin said that with its high-precision feature, this 3D digital map could be applied for both government and business purposes.

"We see high business potential from the development of the map as many government and private organisations can use the map to plan their activities," he said.

In the government sector, the map can be used in city planning and infrastructure implementation.

Meanwhile, the 3D digital map can be used for business development. Banks, for example, can use it for land and asset evaluation purposes or to plan their branch expansions.

Other organisations such as telecommunications operators can use the map to help them plan infrastructure development.

Trin added that the company planned to provide the base map for customers for a fee. The service is expected to launch this year.

"We will provide the base map to customers so they can develop other mapping applications on top of our base," he said.

pongpen@nationgroup.com

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation