India: Adopted Guidelines on Geo-Spatial data and Geo-Spatial Services

The Government of India’s Department of Science & Technology has adopted the "New Guidelines for Acquiring and Producing Geo-Spatial data and Geo-Spatial Services including Maps". The Guidelines request foreign entities to obtain a licence to create and store geospatial data beyond a certain level of spatial accuracy. Foreign companies can use such data only to serve Indian users and subsequent reuse and resale are prohibited. Moreover, Geo-Spatial data must be stored and processed on servers or cloud services physically located in India. Finally, the guidelines prescribe that all Geospatial Data that is produced using public funds shall be made easily accessible to Indian entities for scientific, economic and developmental purposes.