Digital Maps Available at the National Land Agency

Last month, the National Land Agency (NLA) introduced Jamaica to one of its newest products, digital maps. Since the introduction, the agency has received requests for purchase from a number of local and international companies.
“We have submitted proposals to eight security companies. Discussion with one of the companies is very advanced as we are currently in the process of finalising the legal contract in terms of that purchase,” revealed Garfield Knight, Director of Business Development and Technology at the NLA.
In an interview with JIS News, Mr. Knight also disclosed that the NLA has “a number of demonstrations lined up with other companies, throughout the rest of the year”, and the plan is to intensify its marketing strategies for the product and secure a catalogue of major clients.
The availability of the digital maps is, however, as a result of years of intense preparation and work by the Agency and other Government institutions.
“Three years ago, as a part of the National Land Policy, the Government of Jamaica decided to convert a number of its paper maps into a digital format.
There have been various collaborations with other Government institutions to do some of the work. The Forestry Department handled the parish of Trelawny under that programme, some parishes were managed by the National Land Agency, using internal resources, and some of the work was sub-contracted to local and overseas contractors,” Mr. Knight told JIS News.
Through this collaborative effort, eight of the 14 parishes have been completed.
These digital maps, which include street names and addresses, are ideal for fleet management and vehicle tracking or any application in which road and address navigation is important.
Persons interested in purchasing a digital map for their company are invited to call the NLA’s Business Development and Technology Division, or visit the website at www.nla.gov.jm.
While the Agency has a standard packaged product that is offered to all interested parties, it is prepared to customise the package, making whatever modifications are necessary to suit the client.