Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs Mr K Shanmugam officiates at the launch of OneMap.

An intelligent map information system OneMap ( www.onemap.sg/home ) has been launched to provide reliable, timely and accurate location-based information and services to the public.

The integrated online geospatial platform is built on a common base map of Singapore and allows users to search and navigate intelligently for places of interest such as museums, hawker centres, childcare services, parks and sports centres. One particularly useful service is SchoolQuery which allows users to find out whether their homes are within the radius of 1 or 2 km from a particular school.

Companies, organisations and individuals can leverage on its base maps to create new applications with their own data through the use of Application Programming Interfaces (API). This allows sharing of spatial content using Internet services.

Some examples of services that have been created include volunteer opportunities based on location, interest and availability; hot spots for bird watching; driving directions; location-based retail promotions; and an application to help businesses do research on location-specific competition and market profiles.

OneMap is the first major application of the Singapore Geospatial Collaborative Environment (SG-SPACE), a whole-of-government initiative driven by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) to create an environment in which the public and private sectors and the community can collaborate and create a wide range of innovative applications and services using geospatial or map-based information.

Other agencies participating in OneMap include the Land Transport Authority, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Ministry of Law, National Arts Council, National Environment Agency, National Heritage Board, National Library Board, National Parks Board, People’s Association, Singapore Sports Council, Singapore Tourism Board and the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Some pioneer applications developed using the platform include the National Parks Board’s Parks “Live” developed by Nanyang Polytechnic’s Centre for IT Innovation, the Season Parking eMap service by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, ShowNearby Analytics by ShowNearby and SG Cares portal by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre.

“The OneMap portal offers users a practical and critical local map base. Its structure provides consistent reliability and accuracy which enhances ShowNearby Analytics’ capabilities to provide users with push-map accessibility to public amenities and facilities,” said Mr Douglas Gan, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of ShowNearby.

The non-profit sector is also finding ways to leverage OneMap. “We are excited that OneMap will enable our SG Cares volunteers to search for volunteer opportunities in such an easy and visual way which will greatly enhance their search experience,” said Mr David Fong, Director, SG Cares.