In last December, the pro-government members of the parliament allowed that the University of Debrecen establish the 6,5 billion forints project of “Országos Környezetállapot Felmérés” (National Environmental Status Survey), that is, the preparation of the digital cartographic data base of Hungary. The project has been exempted from the procurement procedure because of national security reasons. Considering both the institution which asked for authorisation and the size of the project, this decision was unconventional – napi.hu wrote.
The University of Debrecen doesn’t have the technique, the building and the specialists for the project, but a 6 billion forint EU funding is available. Zoltán Szilvássy, the rector of the university said that the geographic information working group of Károly Róbert University College – which is composed of researchers from Debrecen – would have brought the project to Debrecen and for this purpose, the university would have established an independent institution from the EU funding. During the project, they would prepare the entire digital data base of the country with remote sensing (aerial photography) technology which would be the base of both the analog and the digital map. It was forty years ago that an unified national cartographic survey was prepared in the country, so this data base about the land surface and partly about the objects of the underground of the entire country would serve as the data base of further researches.
Only the acquisition of the aerial remote sensing technology would cost net 1,9 billion forints, while the building project would cost 670 billion forints. Another 150 million forints would be paid for the aviation activities and 550 million for the IT developments.
