China has completed a 1:50000 scale database for the national fundamental geographic information system, said an official of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) on Friday.

The database, which has the largest scale and highest precision, of anything done previously covers the whole of China, said Lu Xinshe, Director-General with the Bureau, at a press conference. It covered all the land areas of China comprising data on elevations, imagery, terrain and geographical names, added Lu.?

The terrain database contained physical features of hydrology, residential areas, transportation links and boundaries. State and provincial roads with a total length of more than 300,000 kilometers can also be found on the database. County and township roads of more than 1.3 million kilometers are included. The database identifies farmland, areas of forest, grassland, residential areas, industrial sectors and wild countryside, Lu said.

The images on the database, which covers all the large and medium-sized cities and developed areas of China, can be identified to within just one meter. "It means people who live in a particular area can locate their own apartment buildings from the database, " said Lu.

The map will be of particular use in economic development. "It will help with new countryside projects, development in the west of China and urbanization in general," said an official. Environmental protection and proper utilization of energy and resources can also make good use of the new geographical data, he added.

According to the official, the database would play a significant role in the decision-making process in land and regional planning, the survey and evaluation of resources and had the potential to assist in identifying and warning of natural disasters. It would serve as a platform for the expansion of e-government/commerce and provide basic data for car navigation, mobile positioning systems and intelligent transportation.

The database information is being used by over 1,000 organizations in the land, environmental protection, national defense and transportation sectors. Liu said that China will ensure the mapping of the country's offshore islands and reefs in the coming five years to ensure maintenance of its marine rights and interests.

China's coastline measures 18,000 kilometers--the fourth longest in the world. The country's territorial sea area measures 380,000 square kilometers with 7,372 islands over 500 square meters each.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2006)